Hello again and thank you for joining me – Jilly – as we acknowledge International Women’s Day 2025, with my second Showcase of the month. It’s so important women are celebrated in this way because we all have a great deal to offer. What’s the old saying? Behind every successful man there is a woman, or something like that, but you get the gist.

I’ve never considered myself a feminist, but I’ve always felt it’s unfair women have to work so much harder than men to be acknowledged and recognised in their own right. You only have to look at history. The Bronte sisters – among other female writers – had to submit their first works under male names because writing was not considered a fit career for women. The suffragettes had to take military action in order to gain the vote, some dying in the process. Women were not considered ‘funny enough’ to be professional comedians (try telling that to the likes of the late Victoria Wood, who was one of the funniest women ever and someone I always admired). Women at the Dagenham Ford factory were told their jobs were not as skilled as the men’s, which meant they were paid considerably less… and the list goes on.

None of this is a bad reflection on the majority of men, I hasten to add. However, the question remains: how many societies in the world see men as inferior compared to the number seeing women as inferior? I think you’ll find there are none, so why is this still the case in the 21^st century?

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My first piece for this Showcase is a poem by Helen Aitchison. It brilliantly demonstrates how frazzled we can all feel at the end of a busy day as a mum, wife, daughter, niece, auntie – you name it.

The Engine Of My Mind

Melting like a pool of ice cream in the summer sun.
Mind swirling
an artist palette of colours
merging together, unable to stop.
The bleed, the thoughts running alongside one another,
Racing.
Pushing.
Sprinting to a finish line that never feels in sight.
Noises,
voices,
colours.
Movement on the TV screens in my head.
Louder,
flashing
unable to turn off
until I crash the car of my mind.
Body; the scaffolding
but bricks still fall,
collapse,
implode.
A re-set, a rest, a need to ear plug the world away.
Just for a while until the urge to rev the engine
turns on once more.

(c) Helen Aitchison, 2025

Connect with Helen on Facebook: Helen Aitchison Writes, Instagram: @helen.aitchison_writes, X: @aitchisonwrites or via her website: helenaitchisonwrites.com

I chose Helen’s poem because it features the internal battles of every woman. Most of us have to juggle busy jobs with running a home and bringing up children, so is it any wonder we sometimes feel as though we’re fighting a losing battle? Helen’s penultimate line really resonates with me: A re-set, a rest, a need to ear plug the world away.

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My final piece is by Viv Foster, whose book Maths To The Matterhorn is available to buy from Amazon and good bookshops everywhere. It tells a wonderful, inspiring story of a woman conquering possibly the greatest challenge of them all: mountaineering.

Mountains That Empower

If you were to ask a roomful of people to name a famous mountaineer, I’d be willing to wager that almost all, if not all, of them would name a man. Lhaka Sherpa, a Nepali woman has climbed Everest ten times, but very few in the western world would have heard of her. I entered the world of mountaineering, at the tender age of 18, way back in the 70s when it was very much a man’s world: the clothing only made for men, the language very macho; men still conquered mountains, rather than climbed them.

Fortunately, having spent my young life in London’s East End, all of this sailed merrily over my naïve head. I was just totally enthralled by this wonderful world, finding my new environment exciting and empowering.

Mountains don’t distinguish between genders or nationality; all are treated exactly the same. Whether you’re small and slight or tall and muscular, they soak, freeze and fry equally. They give the same degree of difficulty, the same wonderous views and experiences to all that venture into their world.

It took me a while to realise this. The experiences are shared, as are the responsibilities to keep each other safe. It’s not a one-way street. Mountains are beautiful but they’re also dangerous if treated with anything but the utmost respect. After many years learning the craft and watching their changing moods, I felt ready to take my first step.

With everything on my back needed for two weeks trekking a mountain route, I stepped off the road of security onto the path of the unknown. It was life-changing, I had to carry everything: food, clothing, shelter, everything to sustain and keep me safe for two weeks away from civilisation and aid – no mobile phones then!

As I stepped onto that path, I had the most amazing sense of freedom, excitement and, yes, empowerment. The mountains were kind to me on that trip. The going was steep both up and down and carrying 20 kilos-plus was a challenge, but the rewards far outweighed the effort an,d after a while, my rucksack became my friend. It was the home on my back.

I returned a different person: stronger both mentally and physically, with a hunger for more. Other adventurous treks followed. I was scaling higher mountains outside of Europe and was growing alongside them. The respect began to feel mutual: if I watched and listened to their mood, recognised when to stop and when to backtrack, my respect was returned – they kept me safe.

Of course, I met many amazing people on my travels. After being abandoned by our guides in the Karakoram Mountains in Pakistan, we were taken in by the Commanding Officer of a Pakistan army division going to the front line of the war between themselves and India. They fed us and offered to help us. In return, I taught him how to rescue his men from crevasses which, he told us, killed more men than the battle! But that’s another story.

Mountains. They’re a wonderful environment. They inspire and challenge and, if treated with respect, they empower.

© Viv Foster, 2025

Connect with Viv on Threads or Instagram: @PhilDavies1, on Facebook: PhilDavies1960 or via X: Davies1Phil

Viv’s writing is as empowering as the mountains she so loves. It really shows how anything can be overcome; not only having no one but yourself to rely on, but also being able to rely on something so huge to help you through any challenge. That’s is it for this week. Thank you for reading.

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If you’d like to see your writing appear in the Write On! Showcase, please submit your short stories, poetry or novel extracts to: pentoprint.org/get-involved/submit-to-write-on/

Hear extracts from Showcase in our podcast. Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo or find us on Spotify for Pocasters.

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