I don't look autistic because, like many autistic women, I mask my autism. Hiding it after a lifetime of being taught that stimming is embarrassing and not making eye contact is rude is why autistic women are trapped in a unique world of immense struggle whilst looking perfectly fine.

The theme for International Women's Day 2017 was Be Bold for Change. An important part of that change is having more women of colour in leadership positions around the world. However, while being individually 'bold' is important, it is never going to be enough.

We need to start celebrating women for their achievements, rather than their looks, so that girls have positive role models. We need to be introducing programmes in secondary schools to ensure girls know that they are just as capable as their male classmates of pursuing careers in any industries, at any levels.

You are walking down the street, minding your own business. You're on your way to university, school or work. You have big dreams of what you would like to achieve with your future. You're thinking about your children or what you want to do tomorrow.

My active interest in women's rights and the fight against domestic violence only really became acute after one of my scenes from season five of Game of Thrones aired. It was a scene in which my character - a 15 year old hostage - was raped by her captor. There was a huge response and not a particularly positive one: People were boycotting the show, multiple articles were being produced online and it was a trending topic on Twitter...

Jess Phillips is the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, elected in May 2015, and author of Everywoman: One Woman's Truth About Speaking The Truth

In the midst of these challenging times for women in the U.S. and around the world, women have risen up as some of the strongest voices of dissent. We have spoken, we have marched, we have persisted. And today, women across the U.S. will strike as part of a #DayWithoutAWoman.

The slogan for this year's International Women's Day is 'Be Bold for Change'. In the face of immense challenges being faced by women around the world and the huge strides made towards gender equality under serious threat, the case for bold action cannot be understated.

As the Chief Executive of Women's Aid, the national domestic abuse charity, I all too often see the worst experiences of women 2017. The fact is, that women are abused because they are women: because we as women are not equal. Abuse feeds off our inequality - and abuse feeds our inequality too.

Throughout my life, you have always been there... loving and supporting me, working hard, never giving up on me (even at times when I have felt like giving up on you), being so resilient, adaptable, courageous and strong. I have never stopped to think how brilliant and amazing you are, let alone thank you for it. I guess I took you for granted.

International Women's Day feels more necessary, potent and significant this year than ever. Just six weeks since women marched for our rights on every continent on earth, there's a sense of the day reasserting its roots in protest...

Darling girl,

It is International Women's Day today. It's a great day to celebrate the achievements of women but it's also a day to raise awareness. All over the world millions of women are still facing hardship, prejudice, injustice, fear, pain and misery on a daily basis.

Catherine Mayer, co-founder of the Women's Equality Party and author, has issued a rallying cry for Brits to "seize the opportunity of turbulence" to make long-lasting change towards gender equality.

"The system isn't working for most people and never has worked for most women," she she told The Huffington Post UK, urging women (and men) to take action offline and get political.

For model and blogger Faith Roswell, a lack of control over her own body was one of the most frustrating elements of her fight to be sterilised.

Finally accepted for the procedure in her late twenties, she spent a decade pleading with GPs over the operation.

"I told my doctor: 'I'm 28. If I told you that I had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years, you would be helping me."

While it's tempting to laugh at how ridiculous these statements are, there's nothing funny about the gender pay gap - the most recent government figures show women in the UK earn around 18% less than men.

As part of The Huffington Post UK's month celebrating All Women Everywhere, we bring you 10 women all leading their individual fields across the entertainment spectrum.

As they all point out, there should be more of them, but here we champion 10 pioneers all inspiring others with their efforts and achievements...

Three Pankhurst women share their hopes and dreams for women in 2016 - plus what Emmeline would think of America's new leader.

As I read recently, kindness is sexy, it's good for us, it makes us feel happy and valued. Positive action starts with small individual deeds that accumulate over time and become a movement... a movement toward a more equal society where kindness anchors our feet to the ground while giving us the momentum to keep chipping away together.

With my voice, I hope the feminist mind set my family instilled in me becomes the new normal, and boys and girls are raised to know they are equal.

On the 8th of March in Ireland, on International Women's Day, strike. Though not a traditional industrial strike, whether in Ireland or abroad, take the day off work, forgo domestic chores if possible, wear black, ask local businesses to close their services in support. Show your solidarity with women in Ireland, women in Iceland, women in the US, women in Argentina, women in Poland, women around the world, and get ready to fight.

Living with my Lady Beard has been amazing, but that doesn't mean that I have not had to face hard times too. I have been body shamed all my life, and I have come to realise that it will never stop unless I try to change people's perceptions of what beauty really is.

Three in ten young women experience discrimination when working or looking for work. I am one of them. Like the other women responding to the Young Women's Trust survey that uncovered this shocking statistic, I was treated differently at work simply because I was born a women.

For women's organisations at the round table the lack of clarity about what trading and other arrangements will replace EU membership was causing deep anxiety about the economic, legal and funding environment they may face in the future.

If you think about the women you follow on Instagram, do you follow them because you think they're clever, or because they are pretty? Do you envy their successes, or do you envy their bodies. As a society, we are obsessed with women who are pretty, we are obsessed with women who we think are perfect. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with a bit of inspiration but when does it stop being #inspo and start affecting our self esteem.

This week something revolutionary happened. After years of effort from young people, students, parents, teachers and campaigners the Government announced its intentions to make sex and relationships education (SRE) statutory in an amendment to the Children and Social Work Bill while also paving the way for further action on PSHE education in its entirety. From the age of four all children will have access to lessons that have the power to change their lives.

Next week sees International Women's Day being celebrated around the world. As women we've come so far in achieving equality in the workplace and in wider society. But sadly we've still got a lot of work to do when it comes to tackling the gender pay gap.

New research published by the TUC reveals that the average woman has to wait nearly a fifth of a year (66 days) before she starts to get paid, compared to the average man.

When will the Government take women seriously? All the latest research says that we are, as usual, falling behind men in terms of pay.

But at least as troubling as the general, depressing discrimination we all face is the fact that it seems to be skilled and trained women losing out most of all.

It is everyday terrorism against women, but it is not recognised as such because the targets are women, and the perpetrators are the very people who claim to love us. While many of us have been directly harmed by male violence, the threat alone is enough to keep women as a class in a state of fear, controlled, pliable.

Yet when reporting on male violence, mainstream media neglects to call it what it is, with headlines often stating the sex of the victim while downplaying the sex of the perpetrator, if even mentioning him at all... I am tired of being polite. I am sick of trying to convince men of women's basic humanity. I am tired of asking men nicely to stop raping and killing us.

Our belief is that bringing people together - by sharing and celebrating our similarities, while at the same time starting to address the issues which drive our communities apart - is a new, positive and fresh approach to challenging the prejudice, mistrust and deadlock holding us back.

And that change begins this Sunday.

In this vlog, Jamelia also discusses the kind of world she wants her daughter to live in, her own experience of growing up as a black woman and why she thinks we all need to talk about racism more.

'Just tell me I'm hot and ask me out for a drink, okay?'

To kick off All Women Everywhere, we're looking at five organisations who make it their goal to empower and enable women in the UK and around the world, through volunteering, mentoring and fundraising.

So instead of just reading about the problems facing women in 2017, here's how to be part of the solution this year.

What made the Women's March different and a turning point for how we deal with and treat women's issues, was the acknowledgement that women aren't a species that exists in isolation.

And while it isn't right that 52% of the population is still having to fight for basic equal rights, my god, wasn't it fantastic that 100% of us decided enough was enough?

So here we are, on the cusp of launching our third annual All Women Everywhere project, which will run for the month of March.

Poverty is sexist. Demanding governments break down the barriers that prevent girls going to school can end gender injustice, it can help prevent poverty, and it will strengthen global security.

The fight against extreme poverty and for better security starts with getting an education for 130million girls.

As many as one in five women develop a mental illness during pregnancy or in the first year after delivering their baby and women with a history of mental health problems are at significant risk of relapse during pregnancy, particularly if they stop taking their medication.

What is particularly distressing is that the number of maternal suicides has not changed since 2003 and suicide is the leading cause of maternal deaths in the UK within a year after childbirth. Despite these alarming figures, in almost half of the UK pregnant women and new mothers have no access to specialist community perinatal mental health services.