Evening Standard: Inspiring Girls International: New video hub launched to inspire the next generation of global female leaders
Jo Swinson, Sheryl Sandberg and Dame Mary Beard joined a host of fellow role models to mark the inspirational new platform
A charity working to give girls around the world access to female role models, has launched a landmark new online platform.
Inspiring Girls Video Hub will showcase stories from inspirational women of all nationalities in a bid to raise the aspirations of girls worldwide.
Influential figures from broadcaster Mishal Husain to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg joined Inspiring Girls founder Miriam Gonzalez Durantez to mark the event at a global summit in London on Wednesday.
Hosted by Google, Thursday’s launch saw local schoolgirls participate in interviews, networking sessions and workshops, and gain advice from women who have excelled in their chosen fields.
“If you see a woman doing a job you want to do it inspires you to believe you can do that job too,” former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told delegates. “Women can do anything.”
The platform features interviews with women who have excelled in a diverse range of professions - from apprentices to CEOs, engineers to prime ministers.
It enables all women, from all backgrounds and nationalities, to record short interviews of around 3-6 minutes in length, which are then categorised by career and uploaded to the platform to make them easily accessible to girls worldwide.
Schools will also be able to arrange live-streamed talks with female role models through the Hub.
“Our new Video Hub enables girls to hear from diverse women role models with just a few clicks,” Ms Gonzalez Durantez said.
“It is a truly exciting opportunity to use technology to increase aspirations and widen horizons for young girls everywhere.”
With the latest research finding that 70 per cent of girls feel differently about their futures after hearing from women role models, Inspiring Girls feels confident that its hub can make a difference.
Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg agrees. She told the conference: “The support of bold, ambitious women is so important for creating the next generation of leaders.”
O2 Chief of Staff Ann Pickering added: “If I were to give a girl one piece of advice, it would be ‘don’t listen to that little voice that says you are not good enough to do something’.
“You are.”