In 2020, WOW launched the Young Leaders Directory, connecting inspiring girls, young women, and non-binary activists from across the globe. Since then, 149 incredible young leaders have been part of this movement for change!

This October, we’re celebrating their achievements and sharing their stories to inspire you to take action for a gender-equal world.

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They’re changing the world. Will you?

By Aladeselu Margaret Ayomikun, Young Leaders Directory 2023, Nigeria

About 11 years ago, I saw a man speaking passionately about something on TV but it wasn’t what he said that stuck with me, it was how the TV presenter described him – “an activist”. I quickly looked up the word and decided that that was what I wanted to be.

I’ve been advocating for women’s rights since I was about 11-years-old. “Why women?”, people would usually ask me. For me, it’s never been a question of “why”, it’s always been “Why not?” I saw how unfair the world was to women very early in life. I saw it in how Papa from Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus treated Mama like a subject with no relevance. I saw it in the women around me who had been silenced by the men in their lives. For those women who lost their voices, I decided to find mine.

Being a WOW Young Leader has helped me tell my story to the world. The worst thing that can ever happen to someone who carries the stories of silenced women is not being able to tell them. WOW listens, WOW shares and WOW pushes the world to listen too.

In 2022, I decided to leave my comfort zone and call for a change that felt too big for a 19-year-old girl from a small town. I started a petition that has now gathered over 6,000 signatures, urging the Nigerian government to remove taxes on all menstrual products, not just locally manufactured ones. Women deserve to menstruate without worrying about where the money for their next pad or tampon will come from.

My petition hasn’t achieved its goal but those 6,000 people mean the world to me. 6,000 people believe that period poverty needs to end in Nigeria. If I had a dollar for everytime someone asked me what period poverty means, I'd be so rich by now. But the point is people are asking and they are finally starting to care. I don’t intend to stop calling for the change I want to see until policies are set in place to make the lives of Nigerian women better.

To young people across the world, I’ll borrow my favourite quote from Tunde Onakoya’s book – you can do big things from a small place. You can reach the world from the four corners of your room. You have something you need to say and the world needs to hear, you can’t afford to be silent anymore.

Follow Aladeselu on Instagram and Twitter.