International Women's Day 2021 - Voices you could follow

To mark International Women's Day 2021 we thought we should highlight some diverse voices you could follow who are speaking out on issues like racism, equality and liberal values.

British East Asian voices

A recent BBC Three documentary exploring Beauty, Sex and Bodies, presented in a very honest way by Elaine Chong is still available to view on BBC iPlayer.

besean.n - Are a grassroots movement born from six ESEA women, created to shine a light on Britain's East and South East Asians.

For books that celebrate own voice authors and illustrators, especially children's books which do not regularly feature East Asian central characters, a Bookshop list is here.

North American anti-racism voices

Fellow activists in the United States, which has seen a huge rise in COVID-related hate crime, have come to the fore recently. Voices to follow on this include (but not limited to):

Liz Kleinrock is an anti-bias anti-racist educator and consultant based in Washington, DC. A transracial adoptee, Liz was born in South Korea and grew up in DC before attending Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Check out her Ted talk here.

Michelle Kim describes herself as an immigrant queer woman of color, Michelle has been a lifelong social justice activist and a community organizer. Her recent blog highlights the issues of anti-Asian hate crime and the damaging toxic legacy of being seen as a "model minority":

Jocelyn Chung is a graphic designer who has launched various anti-racism pieces, including easy to read resources on internalized racism in and amongst racism as well as one exploding the model minority myth .

This is a sample list and following these activists will link you to others in this space.

East Asian LibDem women

Christine Cheng is a Lecturer in War Studies at King's College London and also sits on the Liberal Democrats Federal Policy Committee She tweets @cheng_christine.

Find her TedX talk on Gatekeepers and role models: women in politics

Co-founders of the Chinese Liberal Democrats, Linda Chung and Merlene Toh Emerson

Linda is the founder and director of an international executive search agency. She is a former member of a large acute health trust, worked in employment tribunals and a former Lib Dem councillor in Camden. She is an active Trustee on the boards of four charities, including as Chair of Camden Chinese Community Centre. Linda is interested in community engagement, health, environment and social justice. Follow her on Twitter @lcinnw

Linda is also one of the main founders of CARG - COVID-19 Anti-Racism Group (together with our Chair Yeow Poon). For more info on CARG click here.

Merlene joined the Liberal Democrats over 15 years ago and co-founded Chinese Liberal Democrats in 2006 as a bridge between the party and the Chinese & SE Asian diaspora communities in the UK and stood as Parliamentary candidate in Hammersmith in 2010 and for the London Assembly in 2012 and 2016. Having recently returned to Singapore Merlene is interested in forging closer social, business and political links with our ASEAN neighbours and to give a stronger voice to Brits living abroad. She is currently a LibDem Representative on ALDE Party Council and serves on the Finance Advisory Committee. Follow her on Twitter @merleneemerson

Do you have other voices to recommend? Please get in touch - info@chineselibdems.org.uk