How WOW - Women of the World Was Created

Jude Kelly CBE, Founder & Director of The WOW Foundation, explains why she started WOW - Women of the World Festival a decade ago.

I called it WOW - Women of the World because I wanted that comic book explosive sound in the title. A whoop of admiration and amazement for females. I also said “If you identify as a woman, or you know a woman, it’s for you.” Feminist is a term I use to describe myself, but for many reasons it doesn’t chime correctly with many women across the globe. So I wanted everyone to self-define and self-include because I truly believe that WOW is for everyone. 

I made it a Festival and not a conference or symposium because I wanted us to first and foremost to celebrate and thus to attract women from all walks of life. 

Festivals conjure up an idea of fun, energy, spontaneous encounters, unexpected delights, adventure, and levity of spirit. I was always adamant that in amongst all the gravity and seriousness of some of the issues we would necessarily be examining we needed to build a place of warmth and inclusiveness and fun. 

All of these ingredients make up the WOW - Women of the World Festivals. There's so much to celebrate. We have a glorious but scarcely told history. We have made extraordinary progress in the 20th and 21st century, often under extreme duress, and there’s nothing that women haven’t shown themselves able to achieve if opportunity allows. A brave future is compelling, exciting and tantalisingly close if we can combat prejudice, misogyny and most importantly recognise the intersections for women that need tackling in order to have equality for all.

In the 10 years since that first WOW, we’ve held more than 60 events and festivals in six continents in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Finland, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA. Over two million people have become involved and the Festivals have turned into a movement, which is growing at great speed. 

WOWs provide a physical place and time to convene and share our bewilderment, pain and uncertainties, and examine face to face the issues raised by such movements. We need to talk, debate, listen to stories of all kinds and deepen our own understanding of the complexities of women’s lives.