The Queen spoke of “nurturing opportunities for girls throughout the world” as a new festival launched on International Day of the Girl to support young women.
The WOW Foundation announced the WOW Girls Festival where a custom-built bus will tour the UK offering girls the chance to take part in a creative exploration of gender equity, through play, reading, digital experiences and a recording studio. The WOW Bus will also host speed mentoring, panel talks and discussions and workshops.
Camilla, who is president of the foundation, which runs London’s Women of the World festival, said: “I am delighted that WOW is launching its first Girls Festival aboard the WOW Bus, to celebrate girls throughout the world and to do all that we can to promote their potential and nurture their opportunities.”
“As the proud President of WOW, I know that girls have always been at the heart of everything that you do. I am sure that this festival will equip young people across the United Kingdom with resilience, confidence and self-belief – and that you will have lots of fun along the way!”
The festival will run through to International Women’s Day on 8 March next year.
It launched on Wednesday with a morning of live events on the bus situated on London’s South Bank as well as speed mentoring on the London Eye, live talks for guests hosted at the National Theatre, the launch of four new activity packs for schools and the fourth annual WOW Young Leaders Directory of inspirational figures.
Poorna Bell, author and journalist who is one of the mentors, said: “It’s an incredibly important event to be part of because these girls are at such a formative age of thinking about their future. That future should feel limitless, they should be allowed to dream as big and wide as they want, and I think having the right mentors and role models at this point can be life changing.”
“When we think about how much we have yet to achieve in terms of equity for girls and women, events like this have never been more vital.”
A report by Steer Education in 2022 found that girls as young as 11 are hiding “deep distress” from their parents and struggling with doubts about their future. Another report found that girls’ confidence dips between 14-18 and does not recover.
The foundation has joined hands with BBC Children in Need as part of the WOW Girl Festival to tackle this issue.
Founder, Jude Kelly, said: “Young people have been at the heart of our work since I founded WOW in 2010 and I am so excited that for the first time ever we are offering them their very own WOW Festival.”
“We know that girls are facing more pressures than ever before and we are so looking forward to meeting young people across the UK and finding out what matters to them, as we work together to make a gender-equal world a reality for future generations.”
WOW Girl Festival also partnered with Milk Honey Bees, a creative space for black girls, recognising Black History Month.
As part of the partnership, the WOW Bus will make a stop at the Windrush Square on October 13, to pay tributes to the Windrush generation and will include workshops and talks amplifying black voices.
Founder of Milk Honey Bees, Ebinehita Iyere, described the partnership as “incredibly important,” for their organisation.
She said: “In line with this Black History Month’s theme this year of ‘Saluting Our Sisters’, this partnership aims to nurture, support and uplift black girls, whilst also reminding them that their voices matter.”
The WOW Bus will include stops at Liverpool, Bradford, Glasgow and Belfast.
