WOW Foundation announces ‘first-ever’ online festival for women

The Women of the World (WOW) Foundation has announced what it describes as the first-ever online festival focused on women and girls.

Organisers say WOW Global 24 has been created in response to the “separation, deprivation and inequalities” highlighted and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement “has increased our sense of urgency,” WOW said.

The 24-hour online festival, produced by the UK-based charity, will be curated by teams from around the world, including in the US, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Nigeria, Brazil, Australia and India.

Organisers say the festival will explore local and international issues on two livestream channels.

The channel dedicated to global issues will concentrate on the themes education, justice, climate, health, the economy and violence.

Jude Kelly, WOW founder, said: “Now more than ever we need to find community; to connect women, civil society and governments and make women’s stories central to future planning across the globe. This is an opportunity to join hands, listen and ask ‘what do we need to change, and how’?

“Like many others, the WOW Foundation has had to go from live events to full online broadcasting in a matter of weeks, adapting to the technical challenge of lockdown.

“It is important that we utilise digital resources to connect women and girls in a time where existing issues of gender inequalities are exposed and exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.”

WOW Global 24 will be available to watch for free from June 27-28 via thewowfoundation.com.