Voices Shaping the Future

Voices Shaping the Future is a two‑day celebration of conversations, performances, and workshops by and for young women and those interested in their views on gender inequality and intersecting injustices in the world today. The program will incorporate a National Youth Summit of 100 young women organised by Julia Gillard’s Global Institute for Women's Leadership (GIWL), a public Conversation Series based on the issues young women want to discuss, and a Schools Day event hosting over 200 Queensland school girls and featuring young women who are changing lives with their big ideas, practical workshops and the much‑loved WOW speed mentoring on the Wheel of Brisbane! 

The program will wrap up with award winning concert Spinifex Gum featuring Marliya, where the voices of young First Nations women from Gondwana choirs combine with the poetic yet compelling lyrics of The Cat Empire’s Felix Riebl and choreography by Deborah Brown, promising a performance that will live with you long after the final note has been sung.

Voices Shaping the Future is presented by QPAC and WOW – Women of the World Australia, with contributions from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and the Australian Human Rights Commission and celebrates the UN International Day of the Girl Child which falls on 11 October 2023.