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In recent years women have worked their way up, almost to the very top of public office in Guernsey - with a female deputy Bailiff, a female vice-president of Policy and Resources, and a woman who served longer in the States than the men she worked alongside.
It's a journey which started almost one hundred years ago - when Marie Randall was elected to the States.
In 1924 she was the first woman elected into the States - almost 20 years before female members of the public had equal voting rights to men.
While tax paying single women had been allowed to vote in parish elections since the late 1800s, married women over 30 could only vote from 1920, and the voting age was equalised between men and women in 1945.
Pictured: Marie Randall is recorded in history for her election to the States in 1924.
Ms Randall served in the States for 31 years - a long stretch by any reckoning, but it also covered the period of the Second World War when the States was disbanded and 'The Controlling Committee of the States of Guernsey' was in position instead.
Many female politicians have followed Ms Randall into political life in Guernsey but they remain outnumbered by men. Currently women make up just 20% of the States, while around a third of Douzeniers are female.
One of the island's longest serving States members is Mary Lowe - who was elected on seven occasions, between 1994 and 2020, serving the island for almost 27 years.
Following the 2012 election she was the longest serving States member in government at the time and became the island's first 'Mother of the House' - replacing the title 'Father of the House' which had always previously been bestowed on the longest serving States member.
On assuming the position of the longest serving States member, then-Deputy Lowe also became the first woman to act as Presiding Officer of the House when either the Bailiff, or Deputy Bailiff, were indisposed.
Pictured: Former Deputy Mary Lowe - one of the island's longest serving States members; she was also the first woman to lead Social Security and to sit on the Policy Council.
The current longest serving female deputy is Heidi Soulsby - having been elected for the first time in 2012 she is now approaching 11 years in the States
In 2020 she was President of Health and Social Care and was one of the public faces of the Bailiwick's response to the covid pandemic, for which she was awarded an MBE.
Following the island wide election in October of that year she was made Vice President of the Policy and Resources Committee - sometimes known as the Deputy Chief Minister of Guernsey. She was the first woman to occupy this role and has been tipped to be the island's first Chief Minister in the future.
Pictured: Deputy Heidi Soulsby was the second most senior politician in Guernsey until she resigned from P&R in protest at the committee's Tax Review plans.
Aside from politics, women are also soaring ever higher in public life in Guernsey.
There are currently seven female Jurats in the island, compared to nine men. Jurats sit in the Royal Court and decide on judicial matters. A minimum of seven, but usually nine, are needed for all Royal Court criminal cases and a minimum of two, but usually three, sit for civil cases unless the Judge is able to sit alone.
Of the 16 Jurats, four are Lieutenant-Bailiff, including Jurat Claire Le Pelley.
Catherine Fooks is the only woman out of the three Judges listed on Guernsey's Royal Court website, although the island is currently recruiting an additional Magistrate.
Sitting above all other court officials are the Bailiff and his Deputy.
Pictured: Guernsey's Bailiff, Richard McMahon, and Deputy Bailiff, Jessica Roland.
Jessica Roland was appointed Deputy Bailiff of Guernsey in May 2020, after a respected career in the legal sector.
Her appointment, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of England, lasts until the age of 68.
Ms Roland is the first woman to be appointed to the role of Deputy Bailiff - and by coincidence she was born in the same year that the role of Deputy Bailiff was created.
Madam Deputy Bailiff is likely to be the island's first female Bailiff as well, if she follows in the footsteps of the previous incumbents of her current position who have taken on the role of Bailiff too.
She hopes other women will follow her into public office or into roles which see decisions being made.
“My words of advice are: Be brave," she told Express.
"Taking good risks goes hand-in-hand with challenge and failure but like every good life lesson it takes practice. Recognise it will sometimes be uncomfortable but this will build your resilience.
"I wouldn’t say I was inspirational but I recognise that it is an important step for a woman to have the role of Deputy Bailiff and I quote Ruth Bader Ginsberg: 'women belong in all the places where decisions are made'.”
Pictured: The current Lieutenant Governor was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. His successor will be appointed by her son and heir, King Charles III.
One role in Guernsey which has not yet come close to being occupied by a woman is that of the Lieutenant Governor.
Lieutenant-General Richard Cripwell is the current Governor meaning he is the Sovereign’s personal representative in the Bailiwick.
A spokesperson confirmed that while the office of Lieutenant Governor in the Channel Islands tends to be filled by retired senior Military Officers, in the Isle of Man the post has been filled in recent years by retired Diplomats.
The spokesperson also confirmed there is no bar to the appointment of a female Lieutenant-Governor.
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