Queen of the Jungle Jill Scott: How the lioness and other sporting women are leading the way to equality

Lioness, and now I’m a Celebrity winner, Jill Scott can add her Queen of the Jungle crown to her collection of trophies from her incredible career. Scott was favourite to win the competition from very early on and it’s easy to see why.

Queen of the Jungle Jill Scott made history in the summer when she was part of the English national squad, also known as the Lionesses’, when they won the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022. In August 2022, Scott retired from football, and as England's second-most capped international footballer (for men and women), behind Fara Williams.

In her career, she played as a midfielder and featured on many teams both at national and international level including Sunderland, Everton and Manchester City as well as a loan at Aston Villa. During her time at Everton she contributed to the Blues' FA Women's Premier League Cup win in 2008 and FA Women's Cup victory in 2010. Scott was also voted 2008 FA Players' Player of the Year and 2011 FA International Player of the Year.

Scott was also awarded an MBE in the Queen's 2020 New Year Honours list, in recognition of her service to women's football. So, which other women in sport are smashing ceilings in the industry and inspiring the future generation? Here are some of our top picks.

Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor has fast become one of the most famous names in boxing. The Irish boxer has won five consecutive gold medals at the Women's World Championships, gold six times at the European Championships, and gold five times at the European Union Championships.

Taylor is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017, she also held the WBO junior-welterweight title in 2019. Following on from her victory over Delfine Persoon in 2019, Taylor became one of only eight boxers in history (female or male) to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO simultaneously.

Stephanie Gilmore

Professional Surfer, Stephanie Gilmore made history on the finals day of the World Surf League 2022 season and became the most decorated female surfer of all time after winning her eighth world title. Gilmore came into the head to head rounds at the bottom, and was very much the underdog. She faced off against the other four finalists, beating every one of them to crawl her way to first place and her eighth world title.

Stephanie Gilmore is now the second most decorated surfer in the world coming just behind male surfer Kelly Slater who has won 11 world titles. Gilmore won her first world title in her rookie year in 2007 at the age of 19 and won consecutive titles in 2008, 2009, 2010. After winning her fourth world title, Gilmore was attacked and sustained wrist and head injuries. She came back stronger than ever and won her fifth world title in 2012.

Heather Knight

Heather Knight is the captain of the women’s cricket team for England and has played for teams across the world such as the Sydney Thunder. Knight played in her 100th Women's One Day International match for England in December 2019.

She is a right-handed batter and right arm off spin bowler. Knight was named captain of the England team for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia in January 2020. During England's second match of the tournament, who played against Thailand, Knight scored her 1,000th run in WT20Is. Knight also scored her first century in WT20I cricket, and became the first cricketer to score a century in all three formats of women's international cricket.

Following on from her role as captain of the England team that won the World Cup at Lords against India and thus propelling the women's game forward in 2018, she was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List for leading her team to victory.

Fallon Sherrock

Fallon Sherrock is an English professional darts player. She plays in events for the World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

In 2019, Sherrock became the first female player to win a match against a man at a World Championships. She won two consecutive matches at the PDC World Championships, first by beating Ted Evetts 3–2 in the first round, and then Mensur Suljović 3–1 in the second round, before eventually losing 2–4 to Chris Dobey in the third round.

Sherrock won the 2022 inaugural Women's World Matchplay, where she beat Katie Sheldon and Lorraine Winstanley, to reach the final and defeated Aileen de Graaf 6-3. Sherrock’s win meant that she qualified for the 2022 Grand Slam of Darts.