A regional daily has held a “female takeover” to mark International Women’s Day.

The Eastern Daily Press has run a special edition looking at women’s issues to mark the annual event.

The special, pictured below, forms part of a range of initiatives led by EDP publisher Archant’s Women’s Network to mark the day, including a series of panel discussions to be published on the company’s staff website.

The first panel will feature a conversation between David Powles, editor of the Norwich-based daily, and Hampshire Life editor Liz Kirby, while the second session will focus on the impact of social media and other digital platforms and its influence on equality, with social lead Autumn Lewis and SEO expert Jamie Brown.

Finally, Lorna Willis will speak about her career so far and being Archant’s first female chief executive.

Archant women’s network co-chair Laura Adams said: “International Women’s Day is the perfect opportunity to shine a light on the brilliant work that the women of Archant do — day in, day out.

“From front-line reporters to designers and sales account managers to data analysts, to name just a few, there are women working across the business who deserve so much recognition.

“Alongside this, we need to assess how we represent women through our newspapers and magazines. It shouldn’t be just one day of focus — equality and diversity should be embedded into the heart of our journalism and this initiative is the first step in developing a strategic approach to this.”

Laura’s fellow co-chair Liz Nice added: “I very much hope that the sessions we are planning will lead to everyone one of us considering our unconscious biases towards particular groups and endeavouring to address them.

Sometimes, such conversations can be uncomfortable, but it’s much better to have them than not, I think, because getting things out in the open is the only way to make our work place a better and more inclusive home for all.”