To mark International Women’s Day, Isle of Man Freethinkers have invited prominent women to discuss their careers and whether their gender has impacted the course they took.

The event is entitled A Woman’s Placeâ?¦, and the assembled panel includes women of all ages, backgrounds and occupations.

These include past and present MHKs, women in medicine, the finance sector and other professions.

Each will spend a few minutes outlining their experience.

A question and answer session will follow, before opening the floor for anyone to participate.

Stuart Hartill, secretary of Isle of Man Freethinkers, said: ’Prior to the last election, the Isle of Man had an even lower percentage of women in local politics than Afghanistan, where at least the death threats were an obvious explanation for female under-representation.

’The subsequent Manx election, and campaigns like abortion reform, suggest things are improving. But do we know why it took so long, have we learnt from past mistakes and eliminated obstacles, and is that progress matched across all Manx society? We think this is a good time for a public discussion of such questions.’

The venue is the Douglas Bay Yacht Club Function Room on Sunday, March 10, from 6pm. Refreshments are provided, and there is a suggested donation of £2 towards costs.