WOMEN and gender differences have featured heavily in the media over recent months.

The #metoo movement shows no signs of slowing up, and continues to be the subject of discussion and sometimes criticism.

This, alongside this year being the centenary of some women finally achieving the opportunity to vote in the UK raises a lot of questions.

How powerful are women? And how powerful can we be?

Dr Finn Mackay, who has a reputation for being a thought-provoking and dynamic speaker, will be talking about all of this and more at the Rehearsal Room at Nuffield City, Southampton on Saturday, September 29 in her talk, Powerful Women.

To mark 100 years since the first women gained the right to vote in the UK, Nuffield Southampton Theatres are hosting Bungalow Café Festival, a season of events celebrating and lifting the voices of women.

In her Powerful Women talk, Dr Mackay will be exploring the themes of women, power, politics and gender identity.

Dr Mackay is a senior lecturer in sociology at the University of the West of England in Bristol, and author of Radical Feminism: Activism in Movement.

A long time feminist activist, she founded the London Feminist Network in 2004 and revived the Reclaim the Night march in the UK.

She speaks and writes regularly on feminist theory and social justice issues, appearing on BBC Woman's Hour, The Moral Maze and writing in The Guardian and Huffington Post amongst others; recently she delivered a TEDx talk on what is feminist about equality. Her current areas of research are masculinities and gender identities

She will give a 45 minute talk, followed by opportunity for audience questions. Tickets are £8 in advance, from www.nstheatres.co.uk/whats-on/dr-finn-mackay

The event will feature a collection point for The Homeless Period Southampton. Donations of sanitary towels and tampons will be distributed to homeless and vulnerable women in the area.