South Yorkshire fringe festival to celebrate women for International Women’s Day

This year’s festival, which is now in its fourth year, is expected to be the biggest yet with events taking place over 10 days.

Daisy Bradford, aged 22, is volunteering at SheFest and says ‘it is more important than ever’ to talk about gender equality.

“We put on the festival to promote and celebrate gender equality,” said Daisy, who is a PR media student at Sheffield Hallam University.

She added: “It’s more important than ever that we talk about equality - in the wake of #meetoo it’s still vital.

“We wouldn’t be putting the festival on if gender equality wasn’t still necessary.

“This event is open to all people - it’s not just for women.”

The festival will start on Thursday, March 5, in Doncaster with a performance of Tonehenge by the Lioness Theatre and will end on Sunday, March 15, in Sheffield with a closing party at Boxie.

There will be 38 events in total across Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, and Barnsley.

“The co-founders set this up in 2016 because they felt there weren't enough events for women,” Daisy continued.

“We think that women are important and that they do a lot and should be celebrated.

“Especially in the North - there isn’t anything similar for women in the north of the country.

“Sheffield has a lot of different types of women and we think it’s important to show that off.”

SheFest is run by a group of 12 volunteers who meet weekly to organise the event.

The event has expanded and will be held across South Yorkshire this year.

“We want this festival to be accessible to as many people as possible,” said Daisy.

“It’s important to take events out into different communities to people who may not be able to travel into Sheffield to experience the event.”

SheFest hopes to create opportunities for women in the area and employ as many females as possible, from performers and artists down to the sound techs.

The theme of this year’s SheFest is ‘each for equal’.