Last Friday, along with Tile Hill we hosted a dinner for International Women’s Day at The Chapel Bar in Islington. With a beautiful menu crafted especially for us by Emma Foley of the Two Sisters Supperclub. We created beautiful goody bags filled with mocktails from Mocktails and non-alcholic spirits from Caleño, delicious cocktails from GATHER, sweet treats from Haldiram’s and New Forest Shortbread, as well as goodies from Malibu, Badiani’s, Beanies Coffee, Nourished, Fresh Wipes, Je Joue, and Tony’s Chocolonely. Yes you read that right, we gave our amazing attendees luxury sex toys from Je Joue, IWD is all about empowering women after all.

It was a great chance to get together with likeminded women, the change makers in their space - from marketing, F&B, employment, sexual wellness to politics - every woman there was shaking up their sector in their own way.

Food was served in a sharing style, to honour the spirit of women coming together - a powerful force that transcends borders, cultures and generations. Across the world, in almost every culture, the act of preparing a meal is a role often taken up by women, so this time, we enjoyed it, and a man, Emma’s Dad Alex, did the washing up!

We had the honor of hosting Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, who gave an inspiring speech. When reflecting on the intersectionality of feminism and recognising the glass ceilings we need to smash through, for our Global Majority and LGBTQ+ sisters, the ceiling is even higher.

Councillor Anntoinette Bramble said: “When you think about what women have endured, how women have advocated for other women, where women have come together to build a platform to pioneer, strengthen, galvanize and how they continue to make sure they're building a platform for the women coming after them.

“Our time is right now”.

International Women’s Day comes round every year as part of Women’s History Month, and this year, the theme is #AccelerateAction. To help even the playing field, and accelerate action for women in business, it’s important to try to support female founded and led companies where you can.

Currently, only 19.1% of active UK companies are female-led.
There are almost One Million women-led companies in the UK. The current figure is 997,090.
But the pace of registrations is slowing and closures are rising. 171,400 incorporated in the last year, a 6.6% drop in registrations from the previous year. The number of closures outpaced registrations in the final quarter of 2024.
Women-led companies received just 5.8% of all investments.
There was a 4.37% increase in ethnic minority female-led companies in the last 12 months.

(Source: Companies House 2025 data collated by Prowess).

Since its inception over 114 years ago, IWD has been an opportunity for women to reflect on our position in the world - how far we’ve come and how far we have to go.

Goho prides itself on uplifting women - over 70% of the brands we work with are women owned, and we will continue to platform women and make sure they have a seat at the table - it's the only way real tangible change can happen.

During the dinner we had fascinating discussions, and thought-provoking chats - when questioned to think about one of the biggest changes in history that benefited women, we had a host of stories - from well known historical figures who championed changed for generations to come to personal heroes in our lives - mothers, sisters, grandmothers.

Women have always been agents of change - in today's climate we need to be resilient, supportive and galvanized.

Leaving you with some final words from Councillor Anntoinette Bramble: