A special advisor on gender equality to the leading global aid organisation CARE International – primarily in Ethiopia and in the UK. Helen Pankhurst is also a Professor at MMU and the First Chancellor of the University of Suffolk. She holds an honorary doctorate from Edge Hill University and from the University of Manchester.

The granddaughter of Sylvia, and great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst the leaders of the British suffragette movement, Helen carries on the legacy. This has included involvement in the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and in the 2015 film Suffragette and leading CARE International’s events on or around International Women’s Day in the UK. She convenes the Centenary Action (a coalition addressing barriers to women in politics) and GM4 Women 2028 (a charity looking at data and the lives of women and girls in Greater Manchester).

Publications include the book: Deeds Not Words, the Story of Women’s Rights, Then and Now (2018). The book, which combines historical insight with an inspiring argument, reveals how far women have come since the suffragettes, how far we still have to go, and how we might get there. Each of the five chapters within the book explores a different theme; politics, money, family and identity, violence, and culture, then rates how far we have come in each sphere out of five. Helen has artfully combined the voices of both pioneers and ordinary women into her analysis and offers suggestions on how we can gain a better understanding and strengthen feminist campaigning.

Helen's focus areas are women’s rights and local to global feminism, reflecting on past, present and future. She particularly enjoys taking part in interactive Q&A sessions at events as this is where she believes real change and learning is achieved.

In 2019 Helen was honoured for her services to gender equality, receiving a CBE from HRH Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle