Date: Monday 19 February 2018 Contacts: [email protected] / 020 7921 0967 ​ ​ [email protected] / 020 7921 0678 ​

New names and events announced for ’s WOW - Women of the ​ World festival ​ Southbank Centre today announces new events and artist appearances for its WOW - ​ Women of the World festival, supported by Bloomberg, including a Clarence House ​ ​ ​ International Women's Day reception with the Duchess of Cornwall, performance from Laura Mvula as part of Women on the Move Awards, an exclusive Tatty Devine partnership and ‘How to change the world in a day’ event for more than 200 school girls. ​ From 7-11 March, Southbank Centre’s annual flagship festival, WOW - Women of the ​ ​ ​ ​ World, brings together leading voices across culture, business, politics, art and activism for a ​ packed programme of enlightening talks, debates, music, comedy, poetry and networking, ​ celebrating womankind.

New names featured in this year’s line-up include: Diane Abbott, Sughra Ahmed, Nazeem ​ Akhter, Diane Atkinson, Dane Baptiste, Cally Beaton, Hermon and Heroda Berhane, ​ ​ ​ Sophia Blackwell, Malia Bouattia, Rosie Boycott, Nina Brochmann, Victoria Adukwei ​ ​ ​ Bulley, Christine Burns, Gemma Cairney, Jen Campbell, Angela Clerkin, Michelle ​ ​ Daley, Caitlin Davis, Stacey Dooley, Reni Eddo-Lodge, V.A Fearon, Janie Galloway, ​ ​ ​ ​ Emma Gannon, Carrie Gracie, Professor Jacqui Gibb, Ayesha Hazarika, Afua Hirsch, ​ ​ Dame Vivian Hunt, Libby Jackson, Mariéme Jamme, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Anna ​ ​ ​ Kessel, Vanessa Kingori, Rachel Krys, Samara Linton, Ayan Mahmoud, Laura Marks, ​ ​ ​ ​ Francesca Martinez, India Martin, , Zara McFarlane, Louise Marshall, Pat Mitchell, Michelle Moore, Ayesha Mustafa, Laura Mvula, Sue Nelson, Lola Olufemi, ​ ​ Cressida Pollock, Jack Rooke, Esmeralda Conde Ruiz, Alice Russell, Julie Siddiq, ​ ​ Jackie Simmons, Anna Soubry MP, Ellen Støkken Dahl, Jo Swinson MP, Halla ​ ​ ​ Tómasdóttir, Sophi Tranchell, Katharine Viner, , Natasha Walter, Jenny ​ ​ ​ ​ Waldman, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, Deborah Williams and more. ​ ​ ​

This year’s festival celebrates the seismic changes brought about by women and men historically on , and identifies the future solutions still needed to overcome modern day challenges for women and girls.

The wider WOW London 2018 line-up includes Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Laura Bates, ​ ​ ​ ​ Munroe Bergdorf, Josette Bushell Mingo, Vicky Featherstone, Janice Galloway, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Hyeonseo Lee, Kathy Lette, Li Maizi, Dame Helena Morrissey, Dr Helen Pankhurst, Angela Saini, June Sarpong, Ahdaf Soueif, Jordan Stephens, ​ and Ruby Wax. ​ ​ View the full listings for WOW London 2018 HERE. ​ ​ ​ In the100th anniversary year since the first British women won the right to vote, WOW ​ London 2018 celebrates those who have broken silences and changed the world throughout ​ ​ history, and provides space for those still finding their voice. ​ ​ ● Dr Helen Pankhurst, great-granddaughter of Suffragette leader Emmeline, explores ​ women’s rights, then and now; ● Women on the frontline of global movements, such as Patrisse Khan-Cullors, ​ ​ ​ co-founder of Black Lives Matter, and Laura Bates of Everyday Sexism, join those ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ making a change in their neighbourhoods, like Women for Grenfell, who share their ​ ​ perspective nine months on; ● Leading voices such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Dame ​ ​ Helena Morrissey and June Sarpong and politicians Sophie Walker, Diane Abbott ​ ​ ​ ​ MP, Anna Soubry MP and Jo Swinson MP take a candid look at the position of ​ ​ ​ women in society, from the home to the boardroom, the prejudices still present there and how to make change; ● Southbank Centre will host Make a Stand from the Mayor of London’s ​ ​ #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign, an exhibition of life-sized images of key figures ​ ​ from the suffrage movement and pioneering contemporary women, united across time by courage in their convictions and the strength to stand up for change; ● Outstanding performances from Sandi Toksvig’s Mirth Control: Arts over Tit, and ​ ​ Gemma Cairney’s Margate club night Gem’s Jam, to EVE Female Pro-Wrestling a ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ jaw dropping wrestling and stunt show fueled with cabaret, comedy and more.

International artists and thought leaders bring their personal reflections from Li Maizi, one of ​ ​ ​ ​ China’s ‘Feminist Five’, detained by police on the eve of International Women's Day 2015 for protesting sexual harassment on public transport, and Gulalai Ismail, a Pashtun human ​ ​ rights activist and recipient of the 2017 RAW in WAR ‘Refusing To Be Silenced’ award, to ​ ​ ​ survivor activists Silke Grygier and Winnie M Li. ​ ​ ​ ​ Women’s sexual, reproductive and mental health will be widely discussed. Author Angela ​ Saini, Gina Rippon, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Neuroimaging and Adam Rutherford, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ scientist and BBC broadcaster, discuss how science got women wrong; the myths of the vagina are debunked with scientists Nina Brochmann and Ellen Støkken Dahl authors of ​ ​ ​ ​ The Wonder Down Under: A User’s Guide to the Vagina which will be published on ​ International Women’s Day.

International Women's Day activities, on 8 March, see more than 200 London secondary ​ ​ ​ school girls amass at Southbank Centre for a ‘How to change the world in a day’, WOW ​ Schools Day. Girls and teachers attending will write a protest-song with Girls Rock London, ​ learn about the Suffragette Centenary with Fawcett Society, become Future Inventors with WOW supporters AIG and Greenlight for Girls and join a mass celebratory dance with Myself UK dance and female DJ collective Born and Bread.

The same day,The Duchess of Cornwall, President of WOW - Women of the World ​ ​ ​ Festival, will host a WOW reception at Clarence House to celebrate this year's festival and ​ ​ ​ the growing WOW movement of women and girls, attended by a glittering list of influential ​ ​ women.

For WOW London 2018, Southbank Centre is working with long-time partner, independent ​ ​ British jewellery company Tatty Devine, on an exciting new range. Tatty Devine have ​ ​ collaborated with artist Poppy Chancellor, of Poppy's Papercuts, to interview six amazing women, and created jewellery as a response. The women are: founder of Hackney Gazettes Bwalya Newton, Gemma Shiel, Director and Designer at Lazy Oaf, artist Lakwena Maciver, Hula hooper extraordinaire and author Marawa Ibrahim, artist and prop maker Rosy Nicholas and performer and writer Rhyannon Styles. The new range will launch on 1 March at Southbank Centre's shop, and be on sale there exclusively for the first week of a month-long Tatty Takeover, in celebration of WOW - Women of the World. The ​ ​ ​ WOW Market is also returning, showcasing the best of female entrepreneurship and those ​ British businesses working towards a more gender-equal world. ​ WOW London 2018 also sees the return of the Women in Creative Industries Awards on 7 ​ ​ ​ March, recognising the women progressing equality in the arts and creative industries, with judges including Tate Director Maria Balshaw CBE; Anne-Marie Curtis, Editor-in-Chief of ​ ​ ​ ​ ELLE Magazine; Martin Green, CEO & Director, Hull City of Culture 2017; Amy Lamé, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ London’s first Night Czar and co-founder of Duckie; and Dame Julia Peyton-Jones DBE, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Senior Global Director of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. View the Women in Creative Industries Awards shortlist nominations here. The Women in Creative Industries Day will feature ​ ​ networking and keynotes curated by Creative Industries Federation, including, announced today, Cressida Pollock, CEO of English National Opera, on Being a Leading Lady, and ​ ​ ​ ​ keynotes from comedian, writer and actress Francesca Martinez and Vanessa Kingori ​ ​ ​ MBE, the youngest and first female publisher of British GQ, the first black publisher in Condé ​ Nast UK history and the new UK Vogue publisher.

Further topics explored across the festival include: disabled motherhood, deafness, ​ childlessness, childcare, endometriosis, sexual pleasure, the dating game, pensions and power and women in politics and homelessness. Additional subjects covered will be, women in space, women in business, China’s two-child policy, sexual consent, ‘code switching’ survival strategies for black women at work, women and alcoholism and if women dream of a different future, celebrating women in science fiction and the bicentenary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Founded by Southbank Centre Artistic Director Jude Kelly in 2010, who announced in ​ ​ ​ January that she will leave the arts centre in May 2018 to further globally develop the

festival, WOW is now the world’s largest convener of women and girls, with more than ​ ​ 480,000 visitors during WOW London 2017, and over 2 million participants globally. ​ ​ WOW - Women of the World festival founder and Southbank Centre Artistic Director, ​ Jude Kelly CBE, said: “There has never been a more timely need for our WOW festival, an ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ unsparing but lively public examination of the untapped potential of women and girls and how we can fulfill it, buoyed by a riotous celebration of what we are and how far we’ve come.

“It’s 100 years since the majority of women in the U.K. finally won the vote and as those women showed it’s only by standing together side by side that we can produce the seismic societal shifts we saw last year. But in the intervening years, so much has remained unjust, cruel even, and it is that that we must address. In our five-day festival we will celebrate and relish all that girls and women have done and are doing, not just because we deserve it but because it gives us, at the same time, the strength and optimism to analyse and tackle all that remains to be done.

“Through art, drama, music, comedy or simply conversation, WOW provides an open space ​ ​ for women to share experiences with people they may never have met before, and to speak out as one. There is no silence on any subject and no sense that women, or those who identify as women, should be shamed by the circumstances of inequality. We are very excited to be taking WOW even further forward and joining women together across ​ ​ countries, to break down social barriers and make crucial positive change.”

Jude’s vision for the expanded global festival will be announced in due course.

Highlights of this year’s festival include:

● No More.: an evening bringing together women on the frontline of global movements, ​ transforming the future by demanding 'No More', including Patrisse Khan-Cullors, ​ ​ the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Laura Bates, founder of the Everyday Sexism ​ ​ Project; co-organiser of the London Women’s March and founder of the Women in ​ Leadership publication Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, and Indian disability and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ gender rights activist Nidhi Goyal. ​ ​ ● Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun and We ​ ​ ​ ​ Should All Be Feminists, talks to Reni Eddo-Lodge, journalist and author of Why ’m ​ ​ ​ ​ No Longer Talking to White People About Race about race, gender, feminism and ​ more.

● Double Mercury Prize-nominee and composer, singer and songwriter Laura Mvula ​ performs at Women on the Move Awards, celebrating inspirational leadership from ​ ​ ​ migrant and refugee women.

● Southbank Centre’s Artist In Residence, award winning broadcaster and author Gemma Cairney presents a special edition of her Margate club night Gem's Jams ​ ​ for WOW London 2018 - a night of beats, boogieing rhymes and rhythms, from DJ ​ ​ sets to spoken word, bringing together the most eclectic mix of music with special guests to be announced.

● Sandi Toksvig’s Sweep Through the Year: 12 months in 12 minutes, followed by ​ keynotes from those at the centre of the stories including BBC journalist Carrie ​ Gracie and model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, the first trans model to front a ​ ​ ​ L’Oréal campaign. ​ ​ ● Health and mental health: Author, comedian and leading mental health campaigner, ​ Ruby Wax discussing her new book, How to Be Human: The Manual with her great ​ ​ ​ friend and barrister Helena Kennedy QC; a panel on how one in five women suffer ​ ​ ​ mental health problems, with writer and editor Samara Linton and Rianna Walcott, ​ ​ ​ ​ founder of Project Myopia, Tania Diggory, founder of wellbeing charity Calmer, and ​ ​ ​ ​ behavioural change specialist Shahroo Izadi. The higher risks of depression, ​ ​ assault, suicide and self harm for d/Deaf women is discussed with Rubbena ​ Aurangzeb-Tariq, a Deaf British born Muslim artist, and fashion bloggers and twin ​ sisters Hermon and Heroda Berhane, who both went deaf at the age of 7. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Women in business: Dame Helena Morrissey delivers a rallying cry for change ​ ​ ​ and creates a roadmap for gender equality in the workplace; Leading from the Front ​ with Erika Irish Brown, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Hilary ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Browne, Head of Liabilities at AIG, Eva Lindholm CEO, UBS Wealth Management, ​ ​ ​ UK & Jersey, senior writer at The Pool Yomi Adegoke, entrepreneur and COO at JP ​ ​ ​ Morgan, India Martin, and brand marketer and author of Slay in Your Lane, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Elizabeth Uviebinené; Tea Uglow, Creative Director of Google’s Creative Lab, on ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Women and Creative Confidence; and the return of WOW speed-mentoring and the ​ ​ ​ WOW Den where the brightest female innovators can pitch new business ideas to a ​ panel including Olga Miler, Managing Director, UBS AG. ​ ​ ● Insuring Women’s Futures, a programme established by the Chartered Insurance ​ Institute in collaboration with the insurance and financial planning profession to improve women’s financial resilience, lead a think-in on the six pivotal points in life ​ ​ that leave women less financially secure.

● Brand Feminism: SRSLY, the pop culture podcast from the New Statesman hosted ​ ​ ​ ​ by Caroline Crampton and Anna Leszkiewicz, explores how celebrities champion ​ ​ ​ ​ women’s empowerment and if #feminism can translate into activism with a panel including Zing Tsjeng, UK Editor of Broadly, Simran Hans, film critic for the ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Observer, Jazmin Kopotsha, culture writer at The Debrief, and Emma Gannon, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ author, journalist and creator of Ctrl Alt Delete podcast.

● Silence Breakers: Winnie M Li author of Dark Chapter which was inspired by her ​ ​ ​ ​ own experience of being raped joins actor and musician Jordan Stephens, media ​ ​ ​ ​ producer and curator Pat Mitchell and author Snigdha Poonam, chaired by Jude ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Kelly.

● Politics: Politicians Sophie Walker, Diane Abbott, Anna Soubry and Jo Swinson ​ ​ ​ ​ discuss the disproportionate amount of online abuse and harassment female MPs receive In the Line of Fire; and Egyptian novelist and political and cultural ​ ​

commentator, Ahdaf Soueif joins Jacqueline Rose, internationally known for her ​ ​ ​ ​ writing on feminism, psychoanalysis, literature and politics in conversation.

● Women in the Media: Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media ​ ​ ​ discusses the importance of progressive and diverse media in rapidly changing world, joined by author, journalist and co-founder of the Women's Equality Party Catherine Meyer and Jackie Simmons, Executive Editor of Global Business, ​ ​ ​ Bloomberg.

● International voices: Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-Australian mechanical ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ engineer and 2015 Young Australian of the Year, author and North Korean defector ​ ​ Hyeonseo Lee, Jayanthi Kuru Impatala, the first Sri Lankan to summit Mount ​ ​ ​ Everest, Li Maizi, one of China’s ‘Feminist Five’, Hana Assafiri, Melbourne based ​ ​ ​ ​ activist, owner of the Moroccan Soup Bar and founder of Speed Date a Muslim, and Quhramaana Kakar, Gender Adviser to the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration ​ Program and Joint Secretariat of the High Peace Council. Laila Alodaat, MENA ​ ​ Director, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, writer and editor Malu Halasa and Itab Azzamm, producer of BAFTA winning documentary Exodus: ​ ​ ​ ​ Our Journey To Europe discuss Women, War and Peace Building in Syria; and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Mei Fong and Tania Branigan, Guardian journalist ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ and former China correspondent speak about China’s new two-child policy. ​ ​ ​ ● Sexual health and pleasure: Yes yes yes! a whistle-stop tour of female pleasure ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ with Ruby Stevenson, sex educator at Brook, the Young People’s Sexual Health ​ ​ ​ Charity; of The Cup Effect and Gabby Edlin of Bloody Good Period, ​ ​ ​ ​ winners of the 2017 WOW Den, are back with their biggest menstrual-cup party yet; and Chrystal Genesis and Heta Fell, host a live recording of Stance Podcast, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ exploring ‘Dead Bedroom’ sexless relationships with an expert panel including broadcaster and counselling and relationship psychologist Anjula Mutanda. ​ ​ ● Women and science: Rocket Woman Libby Jackson, British physicist and ​ ​ ​ engineer at UK Space Agency and author of A Galaxy of Her Own: Amazing Stories ​ of Women in Space, joins Sue Nelson, former BBC Science correspondent and ​ ​ ​ ​ co-director of Boffin Media to discuss women in space; and Leila Abu El Hawa, ​ ​ ​ Organiser of the Post-Apocalyptic Book Club & Dark Societies and poet and writer Fiona Sampson discuss women in Science Fiction. ​ ● Women and sport: sports journalist and campaigner Anna Kessel leads a panel on ​ ​ ​ women in football including award-winning consultant, educator and former athlete Michelle Moore and Louise Englefield, Director of Pride Sports; and Muslim Girls ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Fence present demos of their project, busting preconceptions about young Muslim ​ girls, and girls in sport.

● The Face of Defiance: an exhibition featuring survivors of and campaigners against ​ female genital mutilation (FGM) across the world, by photographer Jason Ashwood, ​ ​ Leyla Hussein, psychotherapist and global end-FGM activist and The Girl ​ ​ Generation, the global platform for the African-led movement to end FGM. ​

● Hair Nah - a fast paced video game about a black woman who is tired of people ​ ​ ​ touching her hair, by Momo Pixel, Art Director, singer and game designer. ​ ​ Performance and literature highlights include:

● Sandi Toksvig’s Mirth Control: Arts Over Tit - an evening of comedy, music and ​ performance curated by Sandi and featuring Piccadilly Comedy Comedian of the Year 2018 Cally Beaton, Josette Bushell Mingo performing an extract from her ​ ​ ​ ​ show Nina & Me - a searing tribute to Nina Simone, WOW Orchestra performing ​ ​ ​ ​ works by Elisabeth Lutyens, Ethel Smyth and Joan Tower under conductor Alice ​ ​ ​ Farnham and further performances from jazz and soul singers Alice Russell and ​ ​ ​ Zara McFarlane. ​ ● Author Kathy Lette performing her one woman show Girls’ Night Out. ​ ​ ​ ● MANWATCHING, a Royal Court Theatre production written by an anonymous ​ woman and performed by an unprepared man. Directed by Lucy Morrison with ​ ​ performances by comedian Dane Baptiste. ​ ​ ● Multi-award winning film composer and interdisciplinary choral conductor Esmeralda ​ Conde Ruiz brings her project to WOW, interviewing grandmothers of all kinds - not ​ just those with children and grandchildren - to experience the memory of female voices and translating those interviews into songs.

● Comedy from Cally Beaton, Jack Rooke, London Hughes and the Funny Women ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ founder Lynne Parker; a panel of comedians including Ayesha Hazarika ask Is ​ ​ ​ ​ Donald Trump Making Feminism Great Again?, curated by the team from WOW Apollo in Harlem, USA.

● EVE Female Pro-Wrestling is a death-defying, jaw dropping, action packed, ​ ​ ​ wrestling and stunt show fueled with cabaret, comedy and more, created by a bipolar, homeschooling mother of two.

● Performances including: Fangirls - a bloodthirsty musical about teenage fangirls who ​ ​ ​ are prepared to kill for love, by Yve Blake, Joan - Joan of Arc’s story of courage, ​ ​ ​ ​ conviction and hope performed by drag king champion Lucy Jane Parkinson, Yap ​ ​ ​ Yap Yap - hilariously irreverent and teary recreations of women’s speeches ​ throughout history, written and directed by Deborah Coughlin, Yvette, a one-woman ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ show about a stolen childhood, written by Urielle Klein-Mekongo and produced by ​ ​ China Plate, and following a critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, ​ Naomi Sheldon performs extracts of her debut play Good Girl. ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Wickedly Wild Cabaret featuring a line-up of emerging feminist, queer and crip ​ ​ performance artists in an evening hosted by Doris La Trine. ​ ​ ● Pop-up performances from Lips - the London-based trans-inclusive all-woman choir. ​ ​ ● The Butch Monologues: a powerful and humorous collection of secret stories ​ exploring sexuality, vulnerability and desire, taken from interviews with butches,

masculine women and gender rebels living world-wide. A collaboration between ​ Hotpencil Press, Vital Xposure, and The Drakes. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● Polari literary salon brings together the best queer and non-binary voices in poetry, ​ hosted by Paul Burston and including Jen Campbell, award-winning poet and short ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ story writer, Christine Burns MBE, author and editor of the new book Trans Britain, ​ ​ ​ performance poet Sophia Blackwell, actress, writer and theatre maker Angela ​ ​ ​ Clerkin, and black British queer crime writer V.A. Fearon. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ● British-born Ghanaian poet, writer and filmmaker Victoria Adukwei Bulley performs ​ ​ her poetry, and hosts a screening of Mother Tongues a poetry, film and performance ​ ​ project weaving intergenerational stories through culture and translation.

See the full WOW London 2018 listings here ​ ​ ​ Tickets are on sale now at southbankcentre.co.uk/wow or on 0203 879 9555 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ WOW London 2018 would not be possible without its generous sponsors and supporters - ​ Bloomberg, UBS, American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and the Chartered Insurance Institute.

#ENDS#

For more information visit southbankcentre.co.uk/wow ​ Join the conversation: @WOWtweetUK / @southbankcentre / #WOWLDN / Facebook / @wowglobal (instagram) ​ ​ Images available to download HERE ​ Full listings HERE ​ For further press information please contact the Southbank Centre Press Office:

Phoebe Gardiner [email protected] / 020 7921 0967 ​ ​ Naomi French [email protected] / 020 7921 0678 ​ ​ Requesting Press Accreditation

If you’d like to request press accreditation for WOW, please send an email to ​ ​ [email protected]

In your email, please clearly state which event(s) / day(s) you’d like to attend and provide full details on your coverage plans.

In any coverage, please include the following tagline: “Southbank Centre’s WOW - Women ​ of the World festival runs 7-11 March, supported by Bloomberg.” ​

NOTES TO EDITORS

Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of ​ London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, , and as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk. ​ ​ ​

In 2017 Southbank Centre was recognised for its leadership on workplace gender equality in The ​ Times Top 50 Employers for Women list, published in partnership with Business in the Community, ​ the Prince’s Responsible Business Network. The list acknowledges UK employers making gender equality a key part of their business strategy, with consistent commitment to creating inclusive workplace cultures and progressing women in the workplace that covers their entire organisation at all levels

About WOW ​ Southbank Centre's WOW – Women of the World festival is a global festival movement launched by ​ ​ Jude Kelly CBE in London in 2010, followed by the first festival in March 2011, that celebrates women and girls and looks at the obstacles that stop them from achieving their potential. To date, WOW has ​ ​ reached over 1.5 million people worldwide and this number is growing year on year.

Each festival across the world - made up of talks, debates, music, activism, mentoring, pop ups and performance - celebrates women and girls, takes a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, and raises awareness globally of the issues they face and possible solutions. It reaches girls and women, boys and men from a broad range of social backgrounds and supplies a completely different sense of action and energy than a conventional conference approach. Speakers have included Malala Yousafzai, Christine Lagarde, Angela Davis, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Salma Hayek, Annie Lennox, , Julie Walters, and many more including hundreds of women and men who don’t have public profiles but are working everyday to achieve gender equality.

Over 480,000 visited Southbank Centre during WOW London 2017 and thousands more have come ​ ​ to WOWs across the world including WOW Karachi, WOW Apollo in New York, WOW Kathmandu, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ WOW Ake in Nigeria, WOW Baltimore, WOW Bradford, WOW Brisbane, WOW Derry-Londonderry, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ WOW Katherine and more. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall has been President of ​ WOW since 2015.

The WOW London 2018 Committee is: Sughra Ahmed, Munroe Bergdorf, Melanie Eusebe, Nadia El ​ ​ Sebai, Ayesha Hazarika, Lucy Litwack, Fatima Manj, Francesca Martinez, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Simone Roche, Dr Nicola Rollock and Sarah Sands. The Standing Committee is: Rosie Boycott, Shami Chakrabarti, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Catherine Mayer, Kate Mosse, Frances Osborne, Dame Gail Rebuck, Sandi Toksvig and Gauri Sharma Tripathi. southbankcentre.co.uk/wow

WOW festivals around the world include: ​

2018: 17 Feb – WOW Kathmandu, Nepal 7 – 11 Mar – WOW London, UK, #WOWLDN @WOWtweetUK Facebook 6 – 8 Apr – WOW 2018 Celebrating Women of the Commonwealth, Gold Coast, Australia ​ ​ 27 – 29 Apr – WOW Norwich, UK

29 Apr – WOW Baltimore, USA Sep – WOW Beijing, China 28 – 30 Sep – WOW Perth, UK, #WOWPerth Oct – WOW Exeter, UK, #WOWExeter 16 – 18 Nov – WOW Rio de Janeiro , Brazil 16 – 18 Nov – WOW Bradford, UK, #WOWBradford 23 – 25 Nov – WOW Cardiff 2019: Apr - WOW Dhaka, Bangladesh

Bloomberg Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service. Bloomberg’s enterprise solutions build on the company’s core strength: leveraging technology to allow customers to access, integrate, distribute and manage data and information across organisations more efficiently and effectively. Bloomberg's support of Women of the World builds on a long history of collaboration across Southbank Centre that encompasses a wide range of arts exhibition, public commissions and literature programmes. For more information on Bloomberg, visit Bloomberg.com/company ​ For more information on Bloomberg Philanthropies, which encompasses all of Michael R. Bloomberg's charitable activities, visit www.bloomberg.org ​ ​

UBS UBS provides financial advice and solutions to wealthy, institutional and corporate clients worldwide, as well as private clients in Switzerland. The operational structure of the Group is comprised of our Corporate Center and five business divisions: Wealth Management, Wealth Management Americas, Personal & Corporate Banking, Asset Management and the Investment Bank. UBS's strategy builds on the strengths of all of its businesses and focuses its efforts on areas in which it excels, while seeking to capitalize on the compelling growth prospects in the businesses and regions in which it operates, in order to generate attractive and sustainable returns for its shareholders. All of its businesses are capital-efficient and benefit from a strong competitive position in their targeted markets. UBS Wealth Management has recently announced a five-year plan to significantly scale its efforts for female clients.The business has been developing new approaches and is now scaling this expertise across its organization. The initiative includes a commitment to increase the financial confidence of one million women by 2021.