B Creative poets at Anomalous Space in Pentonville Road. From left: Sagal Hussein, 17, Ambia Begum, 19, Sarah Douglas, 29, Emma Pritchard, 26, and Tolu Elusadé, 21

A GROUP of young poets made their voices heard as part of the International Women’s Day celebrations when they drew attention to some of the issues they face.

The poetry group, called B Creative, were speaking at an event organised by the All Change project, an arts charity based in Old Street.

Sharing their thoughts on what it means to be a woman, one poet cried “I wish men could understand how women go through period pains” while another talked about wanting to be paid more.

A key theme across the evening, held last Thursday at Anomalous Space in Pentonville Road, was the call for equality.

Anita Grant of Islington4Women presented an interactive quiz for women to take part in via an app on their phones, and revealed the average figure for the percentage of women across public jobs is 30-ish per cent: 35 per cent of MPs are women; 28 per cent in the House of Lords are female; and just 30 per cent of FTSE 100 CEOs are women.

Enough! After ‘Daughters’

by Phoebe Stuckes

Enough of

Periods

Period pain

Fake love

Staring men

Not feeling safe

Sitting with my legs tightly closed, crammed next to a man spreader on the tube

Enough of men controlling us

Men telling us what to wear what to do how to run our lives

Men telling me to get a taxi home as a safer option

Enough of telling women what is beautiful

Enough of exploiting insecurity

Enough of mental health stigma

Enough of bullying

Enough of women killed, walking down the street, just minding their own business

Let us be equal

Let us be free

Let us be safe

Let us walk home!

Let us survive

Let us be safe in our community

Let us live our life

Let us wear what we want

Let us not be judged

Let us decide for ourselves

Let us be ourselves

Let us be listened to

Let us be believed

Let us achieve our goals without men degrading us

Let us be paid the same as men

Let us follow our dreams

Let us shine together on top on the world

You are you

You are perfect just the way you are no matter what people say about you

You are beautiful

You are an angel

You are worth more than your looks

You are strong strong like Athena, fearless like Beyoncé

You are a star

You are a warrior

You are a queen

You are a friend

You are kind

You are respected

You are clever

You are more than a body

You are independent

You are boss You are on fire

You are brave

You are fighting

You are a woman

– B Creative