Throughout history, women and girls have been breaking barriers, rewriting the world’s rules and creating great social, cultural and political change.

International Woman’s Day is an important opportunity for us to celebrate the superb sacrifices, solidarity, achievements and advocacy efforts of all women and girls, from our own relatives to famous trailblazers like Gloria Steinem (Action Aid, 2024) (Action Aid, 2025).

Despite everyone’s brave, applaud-worthy actions, World Economic Forum data shows us that change is still too slow for thousands of women (Action Aid, 2025). In response, one of the theme’s for 2025 is  Accelerate Action which reminds us that if we all act swifter, we could save at least five generations of people from facing huge injustices simply because of their gender (Action Aid, 2024):

Furthermore, celebrating together helps “us all feel a little less invisible regardless of their gender or neurotype”, connecting us with more allies and driving us to work faster on achieving change.

“Maybe someday, we won’t need International Women’s Day in order to feel seen, but until then, there is work to be done”. (National Autistic Society).

Challenges facing neurodivergent women

As we all know, neurodiverse identities including ADHD and Autism are all perfectly valid, just like height, hair and eye colour. However, neurodiversity continues to be misrepresented in mainstream culture, being described as a disease, deficit or disorder rather than learning difference, neuro-difference or differently abled. In addition, discourse about challenges dominate the media, with scarce information about people’s special skills like creativity, eye for detail and problem solving (LEXXIC, 2024).

It is crucial that we address such negative stereotypes and terms surrounding neurodiversity, because they can affect neurodiverse people, particularly women, in the following ways:

  • Feeling pressured to mask, for fear of facing discrimination, and comparison with outdated stereotypes and expectations about how to be a “proper girl”.

For instance, Hermione Cameron, advocate for the National Autistic Society reports that she felt pressured to be “extra polite and socially accommodating as an autistic woman – attributes that may not fit with people’s stereotypical preconceptions about autism”.

  • Not getting the required diagnosis, empathy and support because of masking and not presenting the stereotypical traits of neurodiversity.
  • Not getting the same respect, recognition and opportunities as neurotypical people, which can make neurodiverse people feel more invisible and alone (National Autistic Society).

From the past to today, countless neurodivergent women including autistic environmentalist Greta Thunberg and ADHD gymnast Simone Biles continue to face challenges with grace, taking off the mask in more social situations, “coming out to the world as autistic”, highlighting many social issues (e.g., underdiagnosis in girls), inspiring others with their work and reaping all the rewards – a testament to their perseverance and passion to pursue whatever they want, whatever the odds.

Where do we go from here?

To accelerate our progress towards more social justice for all, we need to share stories of diverse women, their incredible sacrifices, advocacy efforts and life lessons in both everyday conversations and virtual platforms. This can ignite stronger empathy for all they endured, admiration for what they fought for, gratitude for all they did for us and motivation to continue their fight for social justice. We should also create and share multimedia content, representing diverse life stories and raising awareness of global issues like child marriage (Action Aid, 2024). For instance, Florence Leslie, the autistic journalist created and actively hosts the Stories from the Spectrum interview series where autistic people can share their stories (National Autistic Society).

It is also important that people create and actively engage in advocacy groups and platforms. For instance, the National Autistic Society has an Online Community platform where neurodiverse people and allies can express themselves, befriend and support each other in reaching any goal both individual (e.g., getting the right medical support) and collective (e.g., gender equality). Finally, we should practice listening patiently and non-judgementally to all people, as they are the experts in their own experiences (LEXXIC, 2024) and be sure to use positive and inclusive language when describing different identities.

  • Rithika Nadipalli is a Content Contributor for United Response