When Covid hit, it quickly became clear that while we are all indeed all in this storm together, we are not all in the same boat. While the virus itself zeroes in on some groups more than others, its consequences devastate the social and economic circumstances for women and girls across the world. So much progress, hard won across the years, has been set back, destroyed even, in just a few short weeks. And yet all over the world there are amazing examples of women and girls all over the world doing groundbreaking things towards recovery all over the world globally all over the world.

Join The WOW Foundation’s Founder Jude Kelly and guests as they look at the impact of Covid-19 on women and girls; how Black Lives Matter and protests against racial injustice are bringing about change; and how women’s leadership is able to bring fresh approaches and brilliant new ideas to the economic and social challenges we face.

Speakers include:

Part 1

• Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• India Gary-Martin, Entrepreneur and Co-chair, WOW USA (USA)
• Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, Gender Specialist & Mountaineer (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
• Esra A. Aysun, Curator, WOW Istanbul & Head of Arts Turkey, British Council (Turkey)
• Lola Shoneyin, Poet, Author and Founder of Ake Festival, Africa’s largest book festival (Nigeria)
• Cathy Hunt, Executive Director, Of One Mind & Executive Producer, WOW Australia (Australia)

Part 2

• Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• Nidhi Goyal, Founder and Executive Director (India)
• India Gary-Martin, Entrepreneur and Co-chair, WOW USA (USA)
• Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, Gender Specialist & Mountaineer (Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Do you want to be part of the movement for a fairer and more equitable world? In this panel we’re going to talk about the one investment that can unlock hope, opportunity and build a better planet: girls' education. Did you know educating girls has been proven to save lives and builds stronger families, communities and economies? Despite this, girls and young women in many parts of the world miss out of education. Half of the 1.5 billion children who were out of school because of the coronavirus pandemic were girls – and many have been faced with multiple barriers and disadvantages preventing them from having a safe place to learn.

Join us to explore how the disruption to education through this pandemic is affecting girls throughout the world, and the wider impact to skills, health, and communities. And moreover, what you can do to make a difference.

In partnership with Theirworld

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Sarah Brown, Chair of Theirworld and Executive Chair, Global Business Coalition for Education (UK)
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iwaela, Board Chair, GAVI; Former Nigerian Minister of Finance (USA)
• Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director, Education Cannot Wait (France)
• Jamira Burley, Head of Youth Engagement and Skills, Theirworld and Global Business Coalition for Education (USA)

Featuring a short filmed reading from:

• Thandie Newton, Actor

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

The Black Lives Matter movement has people across the world raising their voice to end the deep rooted systemic and structural racism that results in deaths and continued danger - both physical and mental - to the Black community. From the USA to Kenya, come and hear about what is happening on the ground, the racial injustice we face as a global community and the successes and breakthroughs being made.

Speakers include:

• India Gary Martin, Entrepreneur and Co-chair, WOW USA (Washington, USA)
• Zukiswa Wanner, Writer, (Nairobi, Kenya)
• Munroe Bergdorf, Model and Activist (UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

What is climate justice and how can we achieve it? Our panel of experts, activists and world leaders discuss how we can bring together the knowledge of the world’s Indigenous women and climate scientists to build understanding of the planet and resilience of communities of all kinds to cope with climate change and care for the planet. From climate agreements and the New Green Deal, our panellists unravel the policies and layers of injustice and inequalities that have been reinforced by Covid-19 and focus on both personal and collective solutions for action. In partnership with Connected Women Leaders

Speakers include:

• Pat Mitchell, Connected Women Leaders Forum/Curator TEDWomen (USA)
• Mary Robinson, Former President of Ireland, Chair of The Elders (Ireland)
• Christiana Figueres, Costa-Rican diplomat and Former Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (Costa Rica)

• Fatima Ibrahim, climate justice campaigner and Co-Director of Green New Deal UK (UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

We invite women at the forefront of global health responses to offer us a snapshot of what women's sexual, physical and mental health looks like right now. We ask who the pandemic is affecting, how we can protect women and girls during a pandemic and what are the models for getting it right?

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• Prof. Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor, University of Global Health Equity (Kigali, Rwanda)
• Collie Mashaba, District Coordinator, (Mpumalanga, South Africa)
• Dr. Yasmeen Qazi, Family Planning & Reproductive Health Expert (Pakistan)
• Sonia Adesara, Medical Doctor (London, UK)
• Madara Hettiarachchi, Director of Programmes and Accountability Disasters Emergency Committee (UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film featuring Mirian Goldenberg, Anthropologist, Researcher and Professor – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).

Globally, women are more likely to be unemployed than men, are over-represented in informal and vulnerable employment, bear disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work, and are paid less than men. In many societies, if you’re a Black woman or a woman of colour, it’s even worse.

When disaster strikes, women and girls are most vulnerable. We want to know - how do we build a financial system that really works for women? Who is trying to create one, who is succeeding, and what can we learn?

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Rose Beaumont, Senior Vice President, Business Enablement and Europe Communications, Mastercard (London, UK)
• Sam Smethers, Chief Executive, The Fawcett Society (London, UK)
• Daniella Jenkins, Executive Director of WOW and researcher in pension inequalities (London, UK)

Featuring a short filmed reading from:

• Gillian Anderson, Actor

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Gender based violence is rising at an alarming rate. Whether it’s structural violence to abuse in the home - what is happening to prevent the pandemic of violence? With isolation, strains on public services and limited access to hospitals and healthcare providers, what are the implications for women and girls who face physical, sexual and racial violence, and those who are at risk of abuse? WOW’s panel of experts discuss what must be done to protect women and girls. In Partnership with Care International and DEC

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Hannah Azieb Pool, Journalist, Bernie Grant Arts Centre Artistic director and CEO (London,UK)
• Halla Gunnarsdóttir, General Secretary of ASÍ (Reykjavík, Iceland)
• Alexandra Moncada, CARE Ecuador Country Director (Quito, Ecuador)
• Mikki Kendall, Author (Chicago, IL, USA)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film featuring Madara Hettiarachchi, Director of Programmes and Accountability Disasters Emergency Committee (UK).

Review sessions are pre-recorded, with live commentary and introduction from Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation.This first review features HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, President of WOW

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka kicks of this session in conversation with Jude Kelly, on what she is seeing around the world with Coronavirus and its disproportionate effects on women, and women of colour particularly.

The next segment looks at the shocking rise in domestic abuse since Covid-19. We hear from HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and others about the work they’re doing to draw attention to and campaign to prevent it.

Speakers include:

• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women (NYC, USA)
• Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall, President of WOW (London, UK)
• Suzanne Jacob, Chief Executive, SafeLives (London, UK)
• Gina Miller, Co-Founder SCM Direct Investments, Campaigner and Philanthropist (London, UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

How do we teach girls about ambition, their own histories, healthy relationships or that ‘male subjects’ like science and technology can belong to them too? How do we persuade families and governments that education will transform girls, their communities, their countries and our world?

These speakers discuss the work they’re doing with Jude Kelly.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (London, UK)
• Susan Warner, Head of Community Engagement, Founder of Girls4Tech, Mastercard (USA)
• Chernor Bah, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Purposeful (Freetown, Sierra Leone)
• Mandu Reid, Leader, Women’s Equality Party (London, UK)
• Catia Djalo Camara & Nuzhat Nuruzzaman from Mulberry School for Girls (London, UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

In the midst of lockdown, when growing authoritarianism threatens to silence the voices of truth and justice, meet the women who risk their lives to speak the truth and refuse to be silenced, despite grave danger.

This WOW Global 24 session brings together international women of courage who stand for human rights and justice in war and conflict zones, and are winners of the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya Award, presented by RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War).

Our speakers shine a spotlight on abuses, exacerbated by the pandemic, committed against women and girls in conflict areas, and the price of speaking out for justice, including during the anti-racism protests in the USA. In partnership with RAW in WAR.

Speakers include:

• Mariana Katzarova, Founder, RAW in WAR (Bulgaria)
• Alex Crawford, Sky News Special Correspondent (Turkey)
• Svetlana Alexievich, 2015 Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature (Minsk, Belarus)
• Jineth Bedoya Lima, Deputy Editor of El Tiempo newspaper (Bogota, Colombia)
• Sister Helen Prejean, anti-death penalty campaigner, spiritual adviser to death row prisoners and author of "Dead Man Walking" (New Orleans, USA)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

We are in a climate emergency, and impactful climate communication is more critical than ever before. We believe in the power of storytelling to accelerate action for climate justice. This session will feature the work of storytellers from The Climate Story Lab, an initiative that brings together storytellers and community organisers, scientists and political strategists, faith leaders and cultural organizers, to help catalyze the most important climate narratives. In partnership with Connected Women Leaders

Speakers include:

• Megha Agrawal Sood, Director of Programs, Exposure Labs/Climate Story Lab
• Mona Yeh, Program Manager, Exposure Labs/Climate Story Lab, (Los Angeles, USA)
• Selina Nwulu, Writer and Poet, (London, UK)
• Katie Basile, Director/Producer, To Keep As One Bethel, (AK, USA)
• Tanya Noushka, Director, The World is (Y)Ours, (London, UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

How do women protect their health at a time of physical danger and social unrest? What are the biggest health challenges facing women today and where do you get help when you are cut off from your usual support systems during life in lockdown? Does the suffering of the wider community bear down on personal well-being, and how do we achieve health justice for women being left out of global health infrastructures and conversations?

WOW invites a group of health experts and activists to discuss these health challenges; examining how the physical impacts our mental well-being, as well as exploring examples of resilience and resistance from various global communities. We ask how women who are marginalised navigate access to vital medical care, and what more must be done to protect the health of women and girls from around the world?

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Leyla Hussein (UK)
• Ilda Kuleba, mothers2mothers Country Director (Mozambique)
• Devita Davison, Executive Director (Detroit, MI)
• Neena Prasad, Public Health Physician (Toronto, Canada)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Continuing the themes from Economy 1, we look at how women are over-represented in informal and vulnerable employment, bear disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work, and are paid less than men. In many societies, if you’re a Black woman or a woman of colour, it’s even worse.

When disaster strikes, women and girls are most vulnerable.

Here, we speak to a group of women who are paving the way. How do we build a financial system that really works for women? Who is trying to create one, who is succeeding, and what can we learn?

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• Laura Mackenzie, Senior Vice President, Global Prepaid And Financial Inclusion, Mastercard (USA)
• Sandie Okoro, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the World Bank Group, and Vice President for Compliance at the World Bank (UK via USA)
• Arlene Isaacs‐Lowe, Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Moody's Corporation (USA)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Angela Davis returns to WOW for an interview with Jude Kelly. The legendary activist, writer and academic will be speaking live at the festival to discuss some of the key themes from the Black Lives Matter movement to the potential ramifications the pandemic poses to the fight for gender inequality.

Speakers include:

• Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• Angela Davis, Activist, scholar and Writer (Oakland, USA)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Responding to the pandemic is not just about rectifying long-standing inequalities. It is also about securing that women’s and youth leadership and contributions are at the heart of the COVID-19 response, resilience, and recovery efforts. UN Women ask how grassroots women’s and youth organisations are responding to the challenges in practical ways in order to recover faster and build a better future for women and girls.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Lopa Banerjee, Director of Civil Society Division and Executive Coordinator of Generation Equality Forum at UN Women (New York, USA)
• Shantel Marekera, Country Director for Zimbabwe with the Global Peace Chain (Zimbabwe)

• Aasha Shaik, Beijing+25 Youth Task Force (New Jersey, USA)

• Joanna Wetherborn, Creole journalist and Communications Specialist, Human Rights Advocate (Guatemala)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

How do we teach girls about ambition, consent and healthy relationships or that ‘male subjects’ like science and technology belong to them too? And how do we persuade families and governments that education will transform girls, their communities, their countries and our world?

Jane Caro speaks to women around the world who are bringing new ideas to how girls and women learn.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR - Jane Caro, Walkley Award winning Australian columnist, author, novelist, broadcaster, documentary maker, feminist and social commentator (Australia)
• Chizuko Ueno, Feminist thinker, Sociologist and Academic (Japan)
• Julienne Loh, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Partnerships for Asia Pacific at Mastercard (Singapore)
• Vanessa Heleta, Founder and Director of the Talitha Project (Tonga)

Featuring a short film from:

• Professor Carolyn Evans, Vice-Chancellor and President of Griffith University (Australia)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Here we bring together justice seekers from across the world who are reimagining, reshaping and reinventing our structures so women and girls are protected by the systems we’re in. Join us to ask: How can we make justice work for women and girls?

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Rusaslina (Lin) Idrus, Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Zainah Anwar, a founding member and the Executive Director of Musawah (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Gary Barker CEO Promundo-US (Washington, USA)
• Khylee Quince, Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology (Auckland, New Zealand)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Women and girls are more vulnerable to the effects of climate change, from the surges in gender-based violence following natural disasters to lack of access to food, water and household essentials. WOW meets the leading young activists and agents for change working at the intersections of climate justice. From the Amazon to Standing Rock and the American Deep South, our panelists paint the picture of what environmental injustice looks like in their communities and offer actions for change.

WOW meets the leading young activists and agents for change working at the intersections of climate justice. From the Amazon to Standing Rock and the American Deep South, our panelists paint the picture of what environmental injustice looks like in their communities and offer actions for change. In partnership with Connected Women Leaders

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Savannah Miller, Vice President of Sustainability for Better Earth (USA)
• BriontéMcCorkle, Executive Director, Georgia Conservation Voters (Georgia, USA)
• Takota Iron Eyes, Indigenous Feminist and Climate Activist (Pine Ridge, South Dakota)
• Iara Vicente, Founder of Nossa Terra Firme (Brazil)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Covid-19 has worsened the situation for women's health and frontline workers, but what is the current picture of the crisis? What are the differing challenges women and girls are facing in urban vs rural areas and how do we ensure women have access to vital healthcare and information?

WOW talks to frontline workers and activists from the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to Pakistan and the Philippines to discuss how they have had to rapidly adapt their services to continue to provide lifesaving and vital healthcare and education to women and children.

In Partnership with CARE International and DEC

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Faiza El-Higzi OAM; Political Scientist and Social Justice Advocate (Australia)
• Aileen Riel- Espina, Chair of WWPWFM (Philippines)
• Dr. Tasnova Sadneen, SRH Expert & Public Health Professional, (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh)
• Tanzila Khan, Founder Girlythings.pk (Pakistan)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

This session we look at how women are over-represented in informal and vulnerable employment, bear disproportionate responsibility for unpaid care and domestic work, and are paid less than men. In many societies, if you’re a Black woman or a woman of colour, it’s even worse. When disaster strikes, women and girls are most vulnerable.

Here we speak to a group of women who are paving the way - how do we build a financial system that really works for women? Who is trying to create one, who is succeeding, and what can we learn?

Speakers include:

• Cathy Hunt, Executive Director, Of One Mind & Executive Producer, WOW Australia (Australia)
• Leanne Kemp, Queensland Chief Entrepreneur & CEO of Everledger (Brisbane, Australia)
• Khara Jabola-Carolus, Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women (Hawai’i, USA)
• Ayla Hoeta, Ayla Hoeta, TSI Youth Innovator
• Maya Juwita, Executive Director, Indonesia Business Coalition for Women Empowerment

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

What is happening on the ground to prevent gender based violence? What are the specific issues and whose working to change them? From Governments to grassroots, our panel of change makers and activists look at the projects and ideas making a tangible difference, and discuss how to accelerate and replicate what’s working.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Kate Jenkins, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission (AUS)
• Maizi Li, Queer feminist activist (Beijing, China)
• Hana Assafiri, OAM Social Justice, Human Rights Advocate (Melbourne, Australia)
• Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala, Gender Specialist & Mountaineer (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
• Noelene Nabulivou, Feminist activist and organiser, DIVA for Equality (Fiji)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

The world needs people who can deliver change more than ever before. Jude Kelly leads a conversation with two women who are leading the way.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation (UK)
• Senator Sherry Rehman (Pakistan)
• Minna Salami, Author and Speaker, (London, UK)

Stick around for an amazing WOW Sounds performance and Big Idea short film before the next session starts!

Bring your morning coffee or evening meal for the final session of WOW Global 24.

Over the last 24 hours we’ve heard hundreds of stories of action, creativity and hope. Join Jude Kelly, Julia Gillard and others as they discuss what we heard, what we learnt, and the actions we can take forward into the world.

Jude Kelly will also interviews Sir Patrick Stewart on his support of domestic abuse charity Refuge, and why he is committed to change.

Speakers include:

• CHAIR: Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation
• Hon. Julia Gillard, 27th Prime Minister of Australia and Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King's College, London (Australia)
• Nimco Ali, campaigner and founder of The Five Foundation (UK)
• Olga Miler, co-founder, SmartPurse (Switzerland
• Sir Patrick Stewart, actor (Los Angeles, USA)
• Patti Harris, CEO, Bloomberg Philanthropies (New York, USA)