Rachael Saunders couldn’t resist a ‘selfie’ after giving a talk on leadership in London’s East End to mark the end of Women’s History Month.

The deputy Tower Hamlets mayor, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services, paid tribute to women’s achievements.

“It is important not to settle for what society deems is acceptable for women,” Cllr Saunders told her young audience at Stepney’s Haileybury youth centre. “Strive to reach your potential—being female shouldn’t be a barrier to high achieving.”

Then came the ‘selfie’ on her pink mobile phone to mark the end of a month of events at youth centres and Ideas stores.

The East End was pivotal in women’s history in Britain, from the 1888 Matchstick girls’ strike at Bryant & May’s factory in Bow, which inspired men in the Great Docks Strike a year later, to the Suffragettes for women’s votes who set up their campaign HQ in 1916 in the same neighbourhood.

A Women’s Forum has been set up by the council’s Youth and Community service with volunteers from Society Links community group.