Dave McNicholl is chief executive of Warrington Youth Club and writes a regular column for the Warrington Guardian.

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day is a day where a spotlight is shone on gender inequality and to commemorate the achievements of women across the world.

However, it is the days, weeks, months after where we must strive to close the gap.

IWD must be more than a social post, it must be companies taking steps to close the gap for future generations of females.

It is important to us at Warrington Youth Zone to lead by example for our young people and push the boundaries around gender bias whilst helping to close the inequality gap.

For us this starts from the very top.

From providing our staff with equal pay to holding a range of sessions aimed at improving staff wellbeing – it is our responsibility to continue making changes, to keep knocking down barriers by doing this we are showing our young people that we not only respect the women in our team but that their opinion matters.

Gender inequality is a subject that we encourage conversations around, not just with girls and young women but all young people.

We want to give them the confidence to ask future employers about gender pay gaps, to be able to question the number of women in senior positions and to encourage positive change.

Young people first, excellence, ambition, respect, collaboration, social responsibility. These are values that are not only kept by the charity and our team, but we hope will resonate throughout our work with children and young people.

Whether it’s females standing up for themselves, females standing up for other females or males standing up for female inequality, it is a social responsibility to ensure gender inequality is challenged on every level.

Warrington Youth Zone, which is set to open in summer this year, will provide a platform from which girls and young women can try new activities, train or join teams to really enhance their skills.

As well as a broad range of activities, children and young people will have space and time to explore a range of social issues including gender inequality, with the support from volunteers and youth workers.

 Please check out our International Women’s Day interviews on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/UCDeJB9_Dna-wdMHbpNCWLYQ.