The Queen celebrates WOW’s 15th anniversary
Published
The Queen, as President of WOW – Women of the World, hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark 15 years since the first WOW Festival.
The Queen has supported WOW since its launch in 2010, and became President in 2015, attending The WOW Festival in London and events around the world.
The Women Of The World festival is a global network of festivals which champion gender equality, celebrating the achievements of women and girls everywhere and examining the obstacles that stop them from fulfilling their potential.
To mark the organisation’s 15th anniversary, The Queen was joined by the Founder of WOW, Jude Kelly CBE, to meet guests including WOW supporters and staff as well as women leading their fields from the arts to education and business.
Her Majesty also met young women and girls involved in WOW’s young people programmes, which focus on gender inequality and promoting inclusion for the next generation.
Addressing guests, Her Majesty said:
As we look forward to the next 15 years, the task of forging a gender-equal world is a daunting one. At the current rate, globally, it will take an estimated 286 years to remove discriminatory laws, 140 years for women to hold half the positions of leadership in the workplace and 47 years to be represented equally in national parliaments. But by following in the footsteps of these amazing women and girls who will not take ‘no’ for an answer, we members of the WOW family fervently hope that this will be achieved in a much shorter time.
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