PUPILS at a Bradford school have learned about some of the most influential women in the country during an event at a local art gallery.

Bradford Grammar School and Bradford Girls' Grammar School pupils recently visited the award winning 100 Leading Ladies Exhibition at Cartwright Hall Gallery in Lister Park to take part in a panel featuring influential women from around Britain.

The photographer behind the exhibit, Nancy Honey, showed the pupils around the exhibition and led a panel that discussed issues such as feminism and gender inequality.

100 Leading Ladies is a photographic project featuring portraits of influential senior women in Britain.

Over the course of two years, Ms Honey endeavoured to photograph 100 of Britain’s most respected women over the age of 55, from academics to entrepreneurs and fashion designers to composers. The Leading Ladies shared one characteristic, that they were leading figures in their fields and are seen to have defied gender stereotypes.

Photos include images of well-known ladies such as Germaine Greer and Averil Mansfield, the UK’s first female professor of surgery.

The exhibition came to Cartwright Hall in December, and it is the first time it has been exhibited in a gallery outside London.

Ms Honey said: “I've had a connection with the North of England and especially Bradford since I was the Fellow of Photography at the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television from 1991 until 1992 and I've worked with Bradford Grammar School since 2002.

“It’s also wonderful to have the exhibition specifically at Cartwright Hall because it’s a gallery where the project can be on view for a while, which gives people plenty of time to go and see it.”

During the event, attended by students from Years 11 to 13 of Bradford Grammar and students from Bradford Girl's Grammar, she gave a tour of the photography and talked about her journey in documenting these women. The day included a discussion and debate with over 100 guests. Special guests on the panel included Rita Britton, renowned fashion designer, founder of the famous Barnsley boutique, Pollyanna and one of the 100 Leading Ladies, Hattie Garlick, former Times journalist, who led the discussion, Lis Merrick, mentor and coach, Victoria Davey, lawyer, and Suzanne Watson from Approach PR.

Topics included Harry Potter star's Emma Watson's 'He for She' campaign, what modern feminism looks like and whether men can be feminists too.

Bradford Grammar student Maariah Hussain, age 15, said: “The event with Nancy Honey was fantastic and very essential for both boys and girls. I particularly loved the variety of experiences, ages and professions of the women on the panel.

“What I found prevalent was there’s a lot of misunderstanding around defining feminism due to the stigma attached.

"When we debated about what the word ‘feminism’ means and how our generation could redefine this, it was suggested it now means gender equality and it really is down to us all, male and female, to take it forward.”

In the exhibition cookery writer Prue Leith is photographed leaning against her bookcase with a cup of coffee; wine critic Jancis Robinson sits on her bed, by a painting of her children; Professor Mansfield, beams at the camera with the wind in her hair and a railway viaduct in view behind her; Newsnight presenter Kirsty Wark is relaxing in her kitchen; and Professor Greer, writer and leading feminist voice of the 20th century, is wandering around her garden.

Professor Lesley Yellowlees, professor of Inorganic Electrochemistry and the first female president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, is pictured in fits of laughter, standing next to a quirky lamp.

The exhibition runs until Sunday April 10.