World Woman Foundation Unveils Its Second Edition of World Woman Hour: a 60-Minute Digital Series Spotlighting 60 Female Leaders of Change

NEW YORK, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, in celebration of International Women's Day, the World Woman Foundation is launching its second annual World Woman Hour, a powerful digital series spotlighting female leaders from around the world. This is the second edition of World Woman Hour's #myLEADhERer — See It. Dream It. Do It event is a socially powered digital movement that will take place in 60 minutes and feature 60 women breaking stereotypes, shattering glass ceilings, challenging the status quo, and fighting inequality around the world. The event will highlight a notable group of world-class leaders, along with their innovative ideas that are changing the world, to educate, empower and inspire future female leaders as doers, dreamers, and disruptors.

These dynamic women include high-achieving innovators in science, health, business, arts and media, and more.  The headliners included — Lauren Ridloff, Tony-nominated Actress, Marvel Cinematic Universe's First Deaf Superhero, Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for this global action group and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. Ashlan Gorse Cousteau, Journalist, Explorer and Ocean Advocate, Brooke Baldwin, Award-winning Journalist and Thought leader, Leyna Bloom, Model, Activist, and Actor, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Emmy winning, Oscar-nominated actress, Tegan and Sara Quin, Canadian indie-pop duo, Hannah Bronfman, Advocate, Author, Founder of HBFIT and Investor Maya Higa, founder of Alveus Sanctuary, Christina Koch, Engineer and NASA astronaut, Michelle Klein, Meta's Vice President of Global Business Marketing and several others.

Every hour somewhere in the world, members of national parliaments or legislatures are making decisions on important issues, and worldwide only 24.3% of these key people are women. The World Woman Hour honorees will share perspectives to lead the new era of a sustainable, peaceful and healthier, and equitable world for women and girls around the world.

The hour will inform viewers how every hour, women have a lack of access to healthcare, education, sanitation, energy, equal pay, and its impact on gender inequalities worldwide. 

• Every hour 2512 women and girls are uprooted by conflict, violence, and climate change and 35 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. 
• Every hour as many as 48.1% of girls remain out of school in some regions. About 3,000 women are subjected to arranged marriages. 
• Every hour 35 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth worldwide. 
• Worldwide, women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours daily collecting water. 

Today women are frontiers of change and faces of the future. Women continue to navigate obstacles pertaining to gender gaps in leadership. For instance:

• Every hour, somewhere in the world, members of national parliaments or legislatures are making decisions on important issues, and worldwide only 24.3% of these key people are women¹
• In U.S. business, only 37 of the Fortune 500 companies have women CEOs and less than 30% of the world's scientific researchers are women.
• Minority women are especially underrepresented in STEM fields – of all U.S. women earning PhDs in science and engineering, fewer than 4% were Latina and under 3% were Black²

We've Come a Long Way … and Now Is the Time to Go Further

A key message throughout this digital series is that we are living in a pivotal time for the empowerment of women. While great strides have been made in moving toward gender equality, allowing more women than ever to realize their human potential, much more needs to be done in this regard. And the need is especially urgent now. Rupa Dash, CEO of the World Woman Foundation, states the case plainly. The entire world is at a tipping-point stage marked by "complex crises," says Dash, which means we must unleash the creativity and brain power of women everywhere to meet our challenges: "Women's roles as leaders are critical for a thriving economy, a sustainable planet, and a peaceful world. We know that ultimately, equality for women is progress for all."

See the end of this release for some key data on the present status of women globally. The data show that women are still far from parity in areas ranging from politics and professional work to basic quality of life. Each year, the World Economic Forum publishes a Gender Gap Report estimating how long it would take to reach full parity, across a spectrum of such measures, at current rates of change—and the forecasts are daunting.  WEF's 2020 report, based on statistics gathered before the Covid-19 pandemic, projected a staggering 99.5 years to achieve gender parity. The 2021 report showed the pandemic putting a huge additional dent in women's prospects. The timeline to global parity now stands at over 136 years …  unless the pace of progress can be ramped up dramatically.

"This crisis gives us a mandate to design a world for exponential change," says Rupa Dash. World Woman Hour showcases 60 female leaders who are doing exactly that, leveraging their own achievements to bring other women to the fore.  It's a time for each woman and girl "to recognize her superpowers," Dash says—and for all to pull together as legions of superheroes. 

Indeed one headline at World Woman Hour, actor Lauren Ridloff, broke new artistic ground by playing a deaf superhero in the movie Eternals. This is Ridloff's statement to all of us in the real world:

"It does not matter how we voice our power. Leadership could look like the written word, the spoken word, the signed word or artistic expression without words.  What is most important is that we voice our power honestly to foster leadership among women. Women who voice their beliefs are leaders, and World Woman Hour offers a platform for women to listen and lead, lead and listen."

The socially powered digital World Woman Hour #LEADhER series will include plenty of artistic expression. Original musical performances during World Woman Hour are produced in partnership with mentees from She Is The Music, a nonprofit founded by Alicia Keys to empower female creators in the music industry. Featured performers include singer Cristina Rae, America's Got Talent Finalist (Season 15), along with spoken-word artist Serena Yang, 2021 New York City Youth Poet Laureate, and 2021 U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate finalist.

The World Woman Foundation has worked with WPP affiliate agencies including BCW and Hogarth Worldwide and their Gramercy Park Studios New York, Fulton Street Music Group, to bring World Woman Hour to life. Our Headliner Partners, without whom this would not be possible, include Billboard, Organon, Chief, Endeavor Impact, Pfizer, Global Entrepreneurship Network, Hootsuite, Johnson & Johnson, Twitter, and Schneider Electric. Strategic Partners include She Is The Music, and We Are Rosie.Max Mara is the Global Fashion Partner for World Woman Hour 2022.

World Woman Hour will premiere at 1 PM EST on March 8. For the latest additional news and information, visit  www.worldwomanhour.com any time. Follow World Woman Hour on Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook to see more and share your hero using the #myLEADhER hashtag.

About the World Woman Foundation

World Woman Foundation is a US-based 501(c)(3) public charity with a current global footprint in 20 countries and 15,000 members worldwide. Our vision is to empower 1 million women and girls worldwide by 2030. Our global community of women leaders is committed to scaling and accelerating the impact of women and girls with long-term investments to expand skills, connections, capacity, and visibility. Over the last 5 years, we have built a network of 300 change-makers and 55,000 Global Mentorship Program Graduates in 20 countries who are solving the world's greatest challenges.

Guided by our mission, we launched the global moonshot to reimagine the #equalfuture—a bold new way to accelerate women's leadership that is about dignity, equality, and choice. In practical terms, this will elevate women's socioeconomic milieu by providing access to capital, community, coaching, and commerce opportunities.

Media Contact:

Cathleen Koo (she/her/hers) | burson cohn & wolfe | o: 212.601.3460 | m: 347.834.5580
[email protected]

¹ Copyright © UN Women (2019) Facts and Figures: Leadership and Political Participation
² Copyright © Built by Me (2019) 8 Statistics and Facts About Women in STEM

SOURCE World Woman Foundation