International Women's Day is taking place on March 8 as a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and to celebrate to take a look at some of the achievements of the best known an most influential woman from the Portsmouth area.
5. Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb is a television presenter, property expert and former model who is best known for presenting A Place in the Sun and appearing in the Scottish Widow adverts. She was born in Portsmouth and was brought up in Havant where she worked as an estate agent and part-time as a barmaid for five years before becoming a model and then a television presenter. She continues to be known for her property knowledge and most recently presented Holiday Homes in the Sun. Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie
6. Margaret Rock
Margaret Rock was one of 8,000 female mathematicians who worked at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. The former Portsmouth High School student was recruited by the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park in 1940, where she trained and worked alongside mathematicians and professors to break and decode enemy messages with the Enigma machine. She was considered by Dilwyn Knox, Chief Cryptographer, to be one of the best in the whole Enigma staff and 'as useful as some of the professors'. Margaret received a promotion to the grade of 'linguist', the closest a woman could get to being called a codebreaker and was awarded an MBE in 1945 and her life is commemorated in Kerry Howard's book Dear Codebreaker. Photo: Portsmouth City Council
7. Katy Sexton
Katy Sexton became the first British swimmer to win a World Championship title, when she won gold in the the Women's 200m Backstroke competition at the 2003 World Championships. She is twice an Olympian and has represented Great Britain in four World Championships, the first in 1998 when she was 16, and in three Commonwealth Games. She attended Springfield School in Drayton and was given the MBE for services to swimming in the 2004 New Year Honours list.
The Katy Sexton Swim Academy was founded in 2010 where she teaches and inspires the next generation of swimmers and she mentors up and coming sportsmen and women from around the South Coast. She also regularly takes part in charity events in the local area. Photo: Sarah Standing
8. Alison Owen
Portsmouth-born Alison Owen is an English film producer who attended the Northern Grammar School for Girls - now known as Mayfield School.
She started her film career at Limelight making music videos, she produced her first film Hear My Song a comedy in 1991 and her film credits include Moonlight and Valentino (1995), Elizabeth (1998), Sylvia (2003), Shaun of the Dead (2004), The Other Boleyn Girl (2007) and Brick Lane (2007). Allison is mother to the singer Lily Allen and her brotgher Game of Thrones actor Alfie Allen. Photo: TIBRINA HOBSON/Getty