More than 150 #100Women debates going on around world asking if women are under pressure to conform
Women in London have been discussing whether you need to be beautiful to succeed in the workplace
Email stories and comments to BBC100.Women@bbc.co.uk on Tuesday 1 December 2015
This hour we have debates starting in Morocco from the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) and the Rape Crisis Centre in Somerset West, South Africa.
Albesa Aliu, the coordinator of 100 Women conference in Athens, Greece, also just sent us this photo as their debate got under way.
Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from UK, Greece, Denmark, Mauritius, Madagascar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Canada and Australia have been talking at the Sangam World Centre, India.
On the subject of leadership, Katrine from Denmark said: "Someone told me I was too sensitive to ever be a leader but, I don't think sensitivity goes against leadership, they go together."
Norway
Sadhana, Asha and Pasang are Nepalese students living in Norway and are taking part in one of our franchised debates around the world.
They said: "An ideal woman is the one who breaks the limits of being ideal and who lives her life the way she wants, leaving a good impression on society."
The BBC's Shaimaa Khalil is back with the panel in London and they are discussing image on theBBC World Service.
Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos said: “We see our bodies as a work in progress, there’s always something to fix, something to change.
Quote MessageWomen only outrank men in pay in three areas of life: modelling, pornography or prostitution.”
Abuja, Nigeria
“My grandma told me, ‘If a boy touches you, you’re pregnant'.”
Reflecting on her teenage experience, Abuja social media activist Glory Ahagwu thinks poor sex education is a big problem for Nigerian girls.
She says this issue is particularly important when discussing gender equality, and also the fight against HIV, as today is also World Aids Day.
100 Women: 'Not enough sex education'
Many of the day's debates are well under way so let's look back at some of the best bits:
Thanks for all your contributions and do get involved by emailing BBC100.Women@bbc.co.uk, external
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A reader from Somerset, UK
Quote MessageAt least women get the choice of a career or a family; very few men feel free to stay at home to look after the children. To me it feels as though there is an unwritten rule that men must be undermined but women must be encouraged. Having said all that I prefer women to men any day!"
Thailand
From our Google hangout:
Quote MessageThere is always the word ‘good’ in every aspect of women’s life. Women need to be good girls, good sisters, good mums, and good wives. But how many of them are perfect women? What’s going to happen to those women who are not perfect? In fact women are different. I’m a bisexual. I’m also a mum. I feel that I’m not fitting with the social framework because I’m divorced; I’m living with a woman; I’m not living with my child. However, I understand and know how to heal myself. I am happy with the life I choose."
Anticha Sangchai, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Prince of Songkla University
India
Image source, AmritsarThanks to Mary Voight from St Paul, Minnesota, for sending in this response to an earlier email from Lindy Magoffin suggesting 100 Women should not be the BBC's top story on the site.
Quote MessageTop billing registers "women" as a serious force to be reckoned with and as a powerful emerging force on the planet. Adapt and celebrate or be surprised and angry."
Tanzania
Jackie, 29, founded the Young Strong Mothers Foundation in Tanzania after she had her first child at 15.
During our debate in the country, she says she would tell her teenage self: "It doesn’t matter if you have an education or not, if you have a child or not - you have a huge opportunity to take responsibility for shaping what kind of life you have.
Quote MessageKnow yourself, respect yourself. Fear is your greatest enemy."
Rebekah Brown emails from the US:
Quote MessageI am seeing much rhetoric affirming the importance of beauty. WAIT! This angers me considerably. 'Beauty' has been defined by consumerism and by MEN, then adopted by too many women. Face and body size determined by genetics should not play on the importance or the success of a woman. Yes, our appearance should show we care about and take care of ourselves. However, what a woman looks like on the outside has nothing to do with her abilities to lead - she needs her heart, her head and her work ethic. Let's change the ideal of beauty to what goes on inside - let's get men to adopt that change."
The 100 Women debate in London ended with a final word from psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos.
She said: “I think the online world has a lot to answer for... because everyone can give us their opinion, everyone’s opinion matters. We are not just taking photographs, we are editing them so it’s a cognitive exercise in body distortion.”
The debate has finished on BBC World TV but the discussion is continuing online.
Get involved:
Nairobi, Kenya
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Andrea Valenzuela Benavides emails from Chile:
Quote MessageWe think that perhaps in Chile there is a supply problem regarding women applying for a high-responsibility job. We also think that this issue has its foundations in women's decisions to develop a career despite their children or family lives. We also wonder: is this a problem of support among women themselves? Is it important to have female co-workers in order for women to motivate themselves?"
India
Deepa, 32, is lawyer in Mumbai. She says: "Wearing provoking clothes is not bad, but you need to be careful in a gradually progressing society like India. We are not ready.
Quote MessageUnanimously the group agreed on one point - that women are not responsible for any provocation to men when it comes to clothes."