This year’s festival will address gender inequality across the globe with informative talks and panels
BY SOPHIE GRIFFITHS, IMAGE BY WOW FESTIVAL
Going virtual for the first time instead of at its usual spot at the Southbank Centre, Women Of The World Festival (WOW Festival) returns this March with a diverse line-up of world-class speakers, activists and performers tackling the important issues for women and girls in 2021.
This year’s WOW Festival UK takes place 1-21 March to mark International Women’s Day and will include over 30 digital events, exciting guest speakers, workshops and discussions – exploring themes such as sex during lockdown, radical childcare and gender equality in the tech industries.
The three-week-long packed programme will take a frank look at new obstacles women, girls and non-binary people now face; discussing creative solutions for change whilst celebrating amazing stories of resistance and progress.
As in all WOW Festivals, it will be packed with challenging conversations but also moments of joy, spontaneity, laughter and optimism. This year’s opening session will bring together voices from across the globe to highlight the need for us to work together to build a more inclusive and sustainable post pandemic world.
Jude Kelly, Founder and Director of The WOW Foundation says: “Throughout 2021, WOW is bringing together courageous women and girls from across the globe who are driven by a desire to change the world. These brilliant activists will join WOW Festivals around the world in groundbreaking conversations, workshops and projects; focusing on gender, racial and social inequality, all of which have been exacerbated in the past 12 months.
“We can already see that women and girls have been the hardest hit by COVID-19 finding themselves in ever more precarious positions, especially those already marginalised. With cases of domestic abuse rising and access to education diminishing, the impact of the pandemic is being felt in both domestic spaces and the labour markets with devastating social and economic consequences.
“COVID-19 looks as if it could set gender equality and women’s rights back a staggering 25 years, without immediate and direct action. We must act now to build a post pandemic world which is inclusive, supportive and where the UN’s goal of gender equality by 2030 can be achieved.”
For more info about WOW and the full programme listings, check out their website here.
Only reading DIVA online? You’re missing out. For more news, reviews and commentary, check out the latest issue. It’s pretty badass, if we do say so ourselves.
