Last week the body of Pauline Campbell was discovered close to her daughter's grave in Oakhills cemetery in Cheshire. Sarah, Pauline's only daughter, died of a drug overdose in Styal prison shortly after being admitted for non-violent manslaughter. She was 18.

Pauline became a determined campaigner against the deaths of women in custody. She highlighted the vulnerability of many women in the prison system who suffer from mental health issues and who arguably need help instead of punishment. Since her daughter died, every time another woman died in custody she would stage a demonstration outside the prison gates. She was arrested 15 times over the years. You can read a tribute to her here. There seems to be no news on the cause of her death.

Jen Lemen is a writer and artist living in Silver Spring, Maryland. I read her blog regularly and love the way she writes from the heart about connecting with people, overcoming blocks to creativity and pursuing your dreams. Over the last month she has told the story of an upcoming trip to Rwanda, where she will visit Grace and Lillian, the daughters of her friend Odette. Odette is in the US hoping that her daughters will be able to join her at some point, but unable to go and visit them herself. When Odette was seven, living in a refugee camp in Rwanda, she and her brother Innocent set up a microfinance project keeping chickens and selling the eggs to fund some of their friends through school.

I went to the Brilliant Women exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery today. It 'explores the impact of the original 'Bluestocking Circle', a group of celebrated women writers, artists and thinkers who forged new links between gender, learning and virtue in eighteenth-century Britain. These women were not just brilliant, they were exceptional, both for their individual accomplishments and for breaking the boundaries of what women could be expected to undertake or achieve.' The group also included a number of men who were willing to engage with the debate. Some of the names were familiar - like Hannah More and Mary Wollstonecraft - but most were new to me. You can read more about it online.

Yesterday I was at CMS in Oxford for a meeting and we met in the Li Tim-Oi room. I'd never heard of her either but Li Tim-Oi was the first woman to be ordained in the Anglican Church in January 1944.

Christmas is a great time of year for list-lovers. Not only can you make lists of presents to buy and cards to send, but as it's December it's also time to review the best of the year gone by. The Guardian today lists its Women of 2007, opening with 'While the media focused on Paris and Britney, a host of women were changing the world with their courage and ingenuity.'

Tomorrow sees the start of the third annual Be the Change conference in London. It aims to provide delegates with ideas about what they might do to combat the pressing issues of our times, in particular global warming. This year’s conference celebrates the launch of a book telling the stories of 28 of the most inspiring individuals connected to Be The Change, 12 of whom are featured in today’s Independent.

When Rebecca Hosking saw the devastating effect of plastic bags on marine life in Hawaii for a BBC documentary that she was filming, she was determined to do something about it. Back at home in Modbury, Devon, she suggested in the pub one evening that the town should become a plastic-bag-free zone. Six months later, it has happened and carrying a plastic bag in Modbury is now seen as anti-social behaviour. At least 50 towns and cities are following suit, with Mull, Arran and Guernsey all racing to become the first plastic bag-free island in the world.