When the BBC needed a person who embodied the concepts of feminism, academia, equality and creativity to counter balance the views of BNP leader Nick Griffin, Bonnie Greer was put in the hot seat.

The Anglo-American playwright and OBE, appeared opposite Griffin after the BBC made the controversial decision to have him on Question Time in October 2009.

But this weekend Bonnie will sit on a more amenable panel when she comes to Clifftown Studios in Southend to mark the centenary of International Women’s Day.

She’ll lead a panel debate alongside women from the town including Southend mayor Ann Holland and East 15 director Ainslie Masterton and there’ll be special performances from East 15 students.

“What I want to do is just take the audience through a kind of voyage of the last 100 years,” Bonnie says. “I want it to be lighthearted and fun, but also just to let people know the achievements of women all over the world.”

Bonnie says she’s interested in both high profile and regular women: “I really want to talk about women in Egypt now, who are in a traditional society that keeps women at home - these women have come out on the streets.

“You don’t have to be famous, you don’t have to have done something huge to affect change.”

Bonnie’s prize winning plays have won accolades and she often works in theatre with women and ethnic minorities. She says the proudest achievement in her own career is being appointed to the board of trustees at the British Museum.

“That to me, when I think about it, is what I’m most proud of,” she says. “We have three deputy chairs and two of them are women.

“It’s really very important that women feel part of the great institutions of this country and really come to affect change from within.”

But Bonnie says women should feel supported in whatever they choose to do in life - in the boardroom or at home and adds: “We need to be sisters and helpers to younger women and also to those who want to stay home and raise children - that should be allowed.

“A lot of women are saying just because I’m a mum I’m not considered important, but to be a mother is the noblest profession of all.”

The biggest social change Bonnie says she’s witnessed is in men and she says: “That makes me feel great.

“I love seeing younger men claiming paternity leave and it’s ok now for a man to walk with his baby down the road and say ‘I want to stay home with the children’.

“I think that’s the most wonderful thing and I think that will be one of the most important means through which we can create a more humane society - when fathers are allowed to feel it’s ok to be a dad and a nurturer and show that part of masculinity.”

Bonnie Greer Clifftown Studios, Nelson Street, Southend March 5, 7.30pm, £10 01702 328335