When Chavez visited London in 2006 I, along with hundreds of others, heard him speak to a packed Camden town hall.

That day Chavez painted a picture of what had been in Venezuela, how it needed to change, and how it was changing.

He covered the beginnings of their Bolivarian revolution, socialism of the 21st century, bringing about participative democracy, changing the economy so that it worked for all and not just the few at the very top, and the struggle for peace and justice, among much, much more.

The quote at the top of this article is from that same day. It captures something myself and everyone I know who has visited Venezuela during the past decade ahs been inspired by - women play a leading role at all levels of the social change taking place in Venezuela.

And it is difficult to describe just how enormous that social change has been. But a year after the death of Chavez, and in the midst of the recent wave of violence by extreme right-wing sections of the opposition, it seems appropriate on International Women's Day to reflect on what exactly the "the involvement of women in political struggles" has meant for women in Venezuela.

Both the significant gains made in poverty reduction and the effective creation of public services, through the social "missions," have a gender dimension. Structural societal inequality means that poverty disproportionately affects women worldwide.

When Chavez was first elected president in 1998 nearly half - 49 per cent - of Venezuelan households were in poverty.

Since then millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in line with the Millennium Development Goal targets.

The health and education social missions have eradicated illiteracy, providing education up to degree level.

Many have seen doctors and dentists for the first time in their lives and now receive ongoing healthcare.

Food programmes have tackled malnutrition, to the extent that even the average height of children has increased.

Targeted social missions to reduce the marginalisation of women have included Misión Madres del Barrio ("mothers of the neighbourhood"), addressing the extreme poverty faced by women working in or from home while caring for children.

These women are now entitled to and receive a basic wage from the government.

Such policies were the practical result of the groundbreaking Article 88 of the new constitution, which recognised women's unwaged work as economically productive and ensures their entitlement to social security.

More recently, the Labour Law introduced in 2012 enshrined a whole series of rights for all working people - the right to strike, including secondary action, increasing pension provisions across the economy and ending all outsourcing and many more positive aspects.

And it has specific key achievements for women. These include an increase in post-natal maternity leave, increased job security for new parents who will now be protected from dismissal for two years following the birth of a child and improvement in childcare provision.

Every workplace with more than 20 workers will have to provide a crèche for children aged from three months to six years. There are also crèches in local communities, so women can choose.

Women going for job interviews in the private sector had been subject to extra testing compared to male candidates, including pregnancy tests.

This and other discriminatory practices are now outlawed. Even before the Labour Law, women's position in the labour market had significantly improved - their participation rates increasing by a fifth to 42 per cent under the Chavez-led government.

These are all concrete steps that increase women's independence and autonomy in a machismo culture.

But women have not been passive beneficiaries of these policies. Their lives have been transformed through their own activism.

Being able to read and write, receive wages and gaining childcare are some of the actions that enable greater and greater women's participation in the reshaping of Venezuela.

In this context it is not an accident that when I and others visited Venezuela we were struck by the prominent role of women.

There were women fighting for women's rights in Venezuela before the election of Chavez - but it is only with that election and the birth of the wider changes in the country that women have gained in political power and economic resources.

There has been a flowering of a women's movement within the wider growth in political participation.

The conscious decision to provide the economic resources and political space for this to happen means that if you visit a community council in Venezuela - decision-making bodies of 200-400 or so households - women tend to form the majority and play a leading role.

This involvement then stretches upwards. The candidate lists of political parties for the National Assembly have to be 50-50 in gender.

There is a government Ministry for Women that oversees the work of Venezuela's National Institute for Women (Inamujer) and the Women's Development Bank (Banmujer), which gives micro-loans to women co-operatives, provides training and gives workshops and advice on business administration, gender equality, sexual and reproductive health and community organisation.

None of this is to say that everything is perfect, or that equality has been achieved.

But in much of the media narrative there has been no coverage at all of the gear change in women's political power, their participation or their leading role in changing their country.

Why? Because to highlight such a transformation as part of Chavez's legacy would undermine the international campaign of media and misrepresentation - often echoed here in the British media - about events in Venezuela.

We have International Women's Day as a day explicitly recognising the oppression of women across the globe and to highlight and celebrate the contribution of half of humanity that is frequently dismissed or ignored.

This makes it an appropriate time to send a message of solidarity to women in Venezuela.

What is taking place is an unfolding process, it is their own Bolivarian revolution, and it should be allowed to continue as they wish, without external intervention.

Sian Errington is an executive committee member of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign with responsibility for VSC's Women for Venezuela work. She will be among participants at the May 10 Conference on Hugo Chavez's Legacy & the Ongoing Transformation of Venezuela - find out more at www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk.