To mark International Women's Day 2023, Punchline-Gloucester.com has been talking to women in senior roles in Gloucestershire.

All four women are at the top in their respective fields and talk about the prejudice they have had to deal with in getting there - and how they would like things to improve for women in the workplace now and in the future.

Rachal Geliamassi is managing director of Stagecoach West, having previously been an operations manager and operations director across Stagecoach. She started out with the business as a graduate trainee in 2007.

Rachel Geliamassi said: "International Women's Day puts diversity in business on the agenda. But it's not a one day a year thing, it's something we should have embedded in our strategies every day of the year.

"I encourage people to look at their own businesses and own teams and think 'is my team diverse?'. If it's not diverse, what are the barriers that are holding my team back? Why haven't I got a good blend of different types of people in my workforce?"

Angharad Trueman is MD of CGT Lettings & Sales and vice-president of ARLA Propertymark. She was the winner of the Rising Star Award at Negotiator Awards 2018 and shortlisted in the Top 100 Inspirational Women in the West Awards 2019.

Angharad Trueman said: "For me, International Women's Day represents celebrating female achievement. It represents supporting other women and it also represents women being positive role models in business, to encourage other women to see what is possible."

Rachel Treweek has been Bishop of Gloucester since 2015. She was the first female diocesan bishop in the Church of England.

Bishop Rachel said: "International Women's Day is that opportunity to make women visible in those places where women are a bit more hidden or where we still don't have large numbers of women in leadership.

"I think it's wonderful on International Women's Day when girls and young women can see women in all different sectors across the community and across business."

Cicely Elliott-Berry is co-founder and director of Sibling Distillery, a small batch distillery based in Cheltenham. Cicely is in charge of operations, production and events planning at the business she founded with her siblings.

Cicely Elliott-Berry said: "I have a unique position, in that I'm in business with my brothers, so I've seen various sides to it - the good, the bad and, in many cases, the ugly.

"At a meeting in London, the guy we were meeting with just spoke to my brother, even though I planned the meeting and set it up with him. When we got there, he saw it as I was my brother's assistant and he would do the 'real business' with my brother and I would just take notes.

"My brother was very angry by the end of it. This guy assumed I had very little authority in the business and assumed I didn't know my stuff in terms of our products. There have been cases like that are beyond frustrating."

International Women's Day takes place globally on March 8 every year, in honour of the women who campaigned for women's rights and those who continue to do so today.