Picture: Deborah Frances White from The Guilty Feminist
SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON
6 – 8 March
Expect powerful music, inspiring speeches and informative discussion.
Returning as the biggest and boldest festival yet over the week of International Women’s Day, 8 March. The festival will feature talks, debates, performances, workshops and the smash hit WOW Speed Mentoring. British Vogue will present “Forces for Change”, with Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful OBE, launched in The September Issue of British Vogue guest edited by HRH The Duchess of Sussex. The editor-in-chief has invited artists, activists and fashion pioneers to join him for an evening of conversation exploring the publication’s ongoing movement, sharing stories of female trailblazers setting the agenda across the globe.
We’ll also be able to take part in a Mayoral Debate, featuring the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and 2020 electoral candidates including Maud Reid (Women’s Equality Party), Rory Stewart and Siobhan Benita.
#March4Women Rally – the ultimate International Women’s Day activity, with an urgent call to action for women on the front line of the climate crisis. This Care International annual event is led by Helen Pankhurst, Special Adviser on Gender Equality and the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and granddaughter of Sylvia Pankhurst, with Jude Kelly, founder of WOW. Previous years’ guests have included Annie Lennox, Beverley Knight, Michael Sheen, Emeli Sandé, Sue Perkins, Layla Hussein, Muzoon Almellehan, Helena Bonham Carter, Bianca Jagger and David Tennant.
Remembering Toni Morrison, an afternoon of contemporary responses to the seminal American author. Featuring performances, readings and tributes from special guests, this event will be a joyful response to the life, influence and legacy of the Nobel Prize winner.
Look out for even more amazing women in the programme: Naomi Wolf, Shazia Mirza, Scarlett Curtis, Sandi Toksvig, Mary Robinson, Elif Shafak, Julia Gillard, Caroline Criado Perez, Emma Dabiri, Shazia Mirza, Bobby Baker and live recordings of two of the UK’s most popular podcasts – Scarlett Curtis: Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and The Guilty Feminist.
Sunday is also the 10th birthday party for WOW
A joyful celebration of the last 10 years with Founder Jude Kelly; WOW’s Big Sing workshop, giving attendees the chance to experience the power of singing with hundreds of people; and WOW favourite Views on the News in a special decade edition.
Over the past 10 years WOW Festivals have reached more than two million people across six continents, from Baltimore to Brazil, Cardiff to Karachi.
In 2018, Jude Kelly founded The WOW Foundation to run the global movement as an independent charitable organisation. The WOW Foundation produces festivals across the world to celebrate women and girls, and raise awareness globally of the issues they face and possible solutions. Led by Kelly, the organisation works to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable through WOW festivals and empowering women and girls.
Sudha Bhuchar 
Layla Saad 
Jess Phillips 
Sandi Toksvig 
Edward Enninful OBE
There will also be two award ceremonies:
Women on the Move Awards 2020: The Greatest Hits presented by Samira Ahmed,which celebrates inspirational leadership from migrant and refugee women and will this year bring together previous winners to celebrate 10 years of WOMA including Mariam Yusuf, Joon Lynn Goh and Rossana Leal; and With and For Girls Awards with WOW, which will bring together 25 girl-led and girl-centered groups from across the globe to celebrate their trailblazing achievements.
Helen Pankhurst, CARE International UK’s Special Adviser, said: “This will be our ninth annual #March4Women and what better place to hold our rally than WOW. Like WOW, #March4Women is an opportunity for feminists of every age and gender to come together in solidarity for a fairer and more equal world. This year March4Women will be calling for support for women on the front-line of the climate crisis. Around the world, women and girls are hardest hit by the devastating impacts of climate change – yet they play such a vital role in finding solutions.
SOUTHBANK CENTRE, LONDON
6 – 8 March
Day passes: £40
southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/women-of-the-world
