PRESS RELEASE - Friday 11 October 2024

IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE
Facebook / Instagram / Website

WOW - WOMEN OF THE WORLD MARKS INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL 2024

• 300WOMEN, GIRLS AND NON-BINARY PEOPLE TAKE OVER THE LASTMINUTE.COM LONDON EYE FOR A MASS MENTORING SESSION.

• MENTORS INCLUDED PERRI SHAKES-DRAYTON, LIB PECK, HELEN PANKHURST, SHOBNA GULATI, DR RONX IKHARIA, NATASHA DOWIE AND MANY MORE

• STUDENTS TOOK PLACE IN A SERIES OF SPECIAL CAREER-BUILDING WORKSHOPS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NATIONAL THEATRE AND WOW’S GLOBAL GIRLS CHAMPION STANDARD CHARTERED

Today, WOW – Women of the World celebrated the 12th International Day of the Girl by bringing together 150 inspiring women and non-binary people and 150 secondary school students on The lastminute.com London Eye for a morning of speed mentoring sharing dreams, ambitions and challenges as they soared over London.

WOW is a global movement promoting gender equity and celebrating women, girls and non-binary people, run by UK charity The WOW Foundation. Since 2012, 11th October has marked International Day of the Girl to address the needs and challenges faced by girls all around the world and to highlight their phenomenal strength and power.

Now a much-anticipated event, WOW Day of the Girl 2024 offered secondary school girls (aged 13 to 18 years old) from schools and community groups across London and the south east the opportunity to meet highly influential and inspiring women and non-binary people including: WOW Founder and CEO Jude Kelly; actor Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street) and Rhea Norwood (Heartstopper); paralympic archer Jodie Grinham; former GB athletics champion Perri Shakes-Drayton; former Liverpool FC Women’s footballer and current club ambassador Natasha Dowie; TV presenter and Doctor Ronx Ikharia; Director of the Mayor of London's Violence Reduction Unit Lib Peck; activist and founder of Free Periods Amika George MBE; campaigner Doreen Lawrence; artist Lubaina Himid and activist Helen Pankhurst CBE.

Each student was matched with three different mentors for 15-minute mentoring sessions during two complete rotations of The London Eye. The mentors joined from a wide range of professional backgrounds and industries which spanned the world of business, sport, politics, public life, the arts and more, enabling students to have a snapshot into the ways in which women and non-binary people are paving the way for the future.

This afternoon the young people will take part in a series of creative career-building activities with WOW working in partnership with the National Theatre and WOW's Global Girls Champion Standard Chartered. Workshops will include confidence building, problem solving, creative-writing, dancing and a behind-the-scenes tour of the National Theatre.

Speaking at a WOW event earlier in the year, HM The Queen, President of The WOW Foundation, said "I have been enormously impressed to hear of the mentorship that has been offered [at WOW], the panel discussions that have challenged and strengthened those present, and the partnerships that have been forged with organisations that are, year round, doing incredible work with young people. So I want to say, quite simply – well done and thank you."

Jude Kelly, WOW Founder & CEO said: “As WOW looks ahead to our 15th anniversary in 2025, celebrating girls and giving them the space to explore their hopes and dreams is of utmost importance to us. We are at a time where injustice faced by women is at an unprecedented level, but we are continually inspired by the creativity and bravery of girls around the world. They energise us to continue to stand up and strive for gender equity. By bringing together these 150 students today with 150 incredible people to share their stories and dreams, we hope to demonstrate to them that their voices are important and their potential limitless.”

Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Strategy and Talent Officer at Standard Chartered said: “We are delighted that Standard Chartered is set to deepen our partnership with The WOW Foundation for the second year as the Global Girls Champion. We continue to drive greater economic equality and a more inclusive future for all, and we are excited about the opportunity that girls, women and non-binary young people involved in the Bank’s community initiative Futuremakers have from greater involvement with WOW events. These opportunities to celebrate achievements and inspire others, not only raise ambitions for a brighter future, but also serve to empower participants with the tools to help them succeed. We will continue to connect even more clients, colleagues and communities to these events for maximum impact.”

WOW Day of The Girl follows recent WOW Festivals in Rotherham and Manchester in the UK, and in Pakistan, Turkey, Greece and Australia, all of which have taken place in the build-up to WOW’s 15th anniversary in 2025 that will be celebrated at the Royal Albert Hall on 8th March with WOW at 15, featuring legendary activist Angela Davis. Founded in 2010, WOW Festivals and events celebrate women, girls and non-binary people and take a frank look at the obstacles they face. Run by charity The WOW Foundation, WOW has reached five million people across the globe to date.

The WOW Foundation is proudly supported by its Global Founding Partner Bloomberg and Global Girls Champion Standard Chartered.

ENDS

For further information please contact Bread and Butter PR
Kate Hassell | kate@breadandbutterpr.uk | 07921264564
breadandbutterpr.uk | @breadbutterpr

LISTINGS

Royal Albert Hall and WOW - Women of the World Present

WOW at 15

Saturday 8 March 2025

The Royal Albert Hall

https://thewowfoundation.com/events/wow-at-15

NOTES TO EDITORS

About The WOW Foundation
The WOW Foundation was created by Jude Kelly CBE in 2018 to run the global movement that is WOW - Women of the World Festivals. The Festivals began in the UK in 2010, launched by Kelly at the Southbank Centre London, where she was Artistic Director, to celebrate women and girls, taking a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, raising awareness globally of the issues they face, and discussing solutions together.

To date, WOW has reached five million people in 45 locations on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA.

Over the last 13 years the Festivals have developed a reputation as a space for world renowned artists, activists, thinkers and performers including Angela Davis, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Salma Hayek, to come and participate, alongside thousands of women and girls who don’t have public profiles but are doing amazing things. WOW provides platforms for people of all kinds, changes attitudes, brings communities together and provides a unique space for people to work together towards gender equity in their own communities. One example of the Festival’s impact came in 2015, with the founding of the Women’s Equality Party by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer.

In 2018 Kelly left the Southbank Centre to run The WOW Foundation full time as a charity working to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable through festivals and empowering women and girls. The unique festival model creates numerous pathways for participants to take part in WOW projects, amplify their own causes, or start new initiatives which have a wide impact on communities. It is the biggest, most comprehensive and most significant festival dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equity for women and girls.

WOW Festival was originally produced and presented by Southbank Centre.

The President of WOW - Women of the World is Her Majesty The Queen.

WOW Festivals will be taking place around the world in the next 12 months:

• WOW Australia: 25 October 2024

• WOW Kathmandu: 23-24 November 2024

• WOW Athens: 4-6 April 2025

• WOW Baltimore: 5 April 2025

About Bloomberg

Bloomberg – the global business, financial information and news leader – is a founding supporter of WOW - Women of the World Festivals. Bloomberg has long supported organisations and causes that advance gender equality and seek to address challenges women face around the world, from maternal and reproductive health to women’s economic empowerment and inspiring the new generation of female leaders. Bloomberg has proudly supported WOW Festivals since 2012 www.bloomberg.com/women

About Standard Chartered

We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 53 of the world’s most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 64. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, here for good. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges.

For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

About the National Theatre

The National Theatre makes theatre that entertains and inspires using its creativity, expertise and unique reach. The National Theatre shares unforgettable stories with millions of audience members across the UK and around the world – on its own stages, on tour, in schools, on cinema screens and streaming at home.

World-leading artists make their best work at the National Theatre with the widest possible audience and impact. The National Theatre invests in talent and innovation on stage and off, taking seriously its role as the nation’s theatre. Of the new productions developed each year with a wide range of theatre companies, a third of that research and development resource is dedicated to shows staged at theatres outside London. =

Through touring our work to local theatres and schools and nationwide education and community programmes, we are active in 71 of the 109 levelling up priority areas in the UK. A registered charity with deeply embedded social purpose, the National Theatre works with hundreds of schools and communities across the UK to fire imagination and inspire creativity, and to develop skills and pathways for careers in theatre.

The National Theatre Skills Centre provides engagement, skills development, career support and training opportunities nationwide for over 5,000 people each year. The Skills Centre will supercharge specialist skills needed across the whole creative sector and inspire future artists, craftspeople and technicians.

For more information, please visit nationaltheatre.org.uk @NationalTheatre @NT_PressOffice