Women in the World

Women in the World is an annual summit launched in 2010 by Tina Brown, the British-born former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Talk, Newsweek and The Daily Beast and author of The Diana Chronicles, a biography of Diana, Princess of Wales. First held at New York’s Hudson Theater, the summit now takes place at Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theater, convening women leaders, activists and political change-makers from around the world to share their stories, and offer solutions to building a better life for women and girls. Former ABC news producer Kyle Gibson is senior executive producer and managing editor of the event.[1]

The inaugural summit took place from March 12–14, 2010 and included appearances by Queen Rania of Jordan, Meryl Streep, Valerie Jarrett, Christine Lagarde, Hillary Clinton, Madeleine K. Albright, Nora Ephron, and Katie Couric. At the second summit, held from March 10–12, 2011, participants included President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, Dr. Hawa Abdi, Condoleezza Rice, Sheryl Sandberg, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Diane Von Furstenberg, Melinda Gates, Ashley Judd and more.

In 2011, three-day summit moved to Manhattan’s Lincoln Center and was attended from March 8–10 by more than 2,500 women. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Madeleine K. Albright, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, Dalia Ziada, Meryl Streep, Nancy Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Zainab Salbi, Christiane Amanpour, Amy Chua, Tzipi Livni, and Sheryl Sandberg were featured in the program.

In 2012 Women in the World expanded outside of the U.S. with a summit held in São Paulo, Brazil, co-hosted by Tina Brown, Diane von Furstenberg, Nizan Guanaes, Gloria Maria, Juliana Azevedo and Vânia Somavilla featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Major Priscilla de Oliveira Azevedo, Maria da Penha Maia Fernandes, Xuxa, Claudia Lago, Raquel Barros da Silva, and Dalia Ziada.

In 2013, The fourth annual summit April 4–5, featured participants Hillary Rodham Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Eva Longoria, Susan Rice, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Garry Kasparov, Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Michaela DePrince, Tom Hanks, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and a video presentation from Malala Yousafzai.[2][3]

Beginning with the 2012 summit, Toyota and Women in the World partnered for the “Mothers of Invention” series. In 2012, the honorees included: Asenath Andrews of the Catherine Ferguson Academy, Talia Leman of RandomKid.org, and Jessica Matthews and Julia Silverman of sOccket. In 2013, honorees included Kavita M. Shukla of FreshPaper, Sejal Hathi and Tara Roberts of Girltank, and Caitria and Morgan O’Neill of Recovers.org. In January 2014, Toyota and Women in the World announced Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta, co-founders of the LuminAid, as the first of three 2014 Mothers of Invention honorees.

The Women in the World Foundation launched in September 2011.[4]

In 2013 the Foundation expanded its partnership with the non-profit Vital Voices Global Partnership. Vital Voices Global Partnership now houses the Foundation and its initiatives including Women of Impact Awards, Women in the World on Campus and the solutions database that showcases nonprofits that advance women and girls.[5]

• Women in the World.org Global Platform: An online community and platform that maps need and resources, showcasing organizations working to advance women and girls.
• The Women of Impact Awards: Awards grants to organizations working on the ground to advance women and girls, including: Liberian Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee; Dr. Hawa Abdi, Somali human rights activist; Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya, who runs an all-girls school in Kenya; Raquel Barros Da Silva, who works with mothers and pregnant women at risk in Brazil; Maria da Penha, a survivor of horrific domestic violence whose activism prompted the Brazilian government to enact a law toughening penalties for domestic abuse; Dona Anna Marcondes Faria, a leader and educator in Brazil’s violent, impoverished favelas; Molly Melching, for her work teaching African communities to change cultural practices that harm women such as female genital mutilation; Susana Trimarco, for her fight against human trafficking and rescues of young girls from brothels in Argentina; Ugandan chess champ Phiona Mutesi who “triumphed over daunting circumstances in Kampala” and who hopes to become a doctor; Humaira Bachal and Khalida Brohi, two young Pakistani activists who risk their lives to educate girls in Pakistan.
• Women in the World Next Generation: A college campus outreach program of Women in the World connecting young female leaders to leading women in business.

• Women in the Word
• Tina Brown Media
• Women in the World Chicago featuring Leymah Gbowee; YouTube