Women Political Leaders mobilize global network to offer vision of a gender balanced world

 June 26, 2019

What does a balanced world between women and men look like to you?

For International Women's Day, Women Political Leaders (WPL) tapped into their worldwide network of women politicians and leaders to ask this question. Over 100 from 51 countries around the world answered.

The women struck the iconic #BalanceforBetter pose and offered up quotes about their vision for a balanced world. Collectively, these influential women provided a tangible call for people across countries to help forge equality between women and men in politics and society, as well as inspiring future generations of female leaders thanks crosslink with the WPL #Girl2Leader initiative.

In a world where networks and connections are vital, WPL believes in the power of mobilizing communities to inspire change. For IWD, WPL mobilized this power by asking credible influencers in the global political arena to speak out. Read more abut it in their newsletter.

And it was the global aspect of this IWD #BalanceforBetter campaign that made it particularly innovative. The women specifically adapted their vision of a balanced world to mirror the realities of the regions where they lived and worked.

Social media certainly helped WPL achieve an impressive global reach. The campaign showcased 102 contributions from 51 countries across their social media platforms. They also ran a parallel campaign on their Girl2Leader pages to inspire a new generation of female leaders, because change can't happen without girls.

The campaign also gained further visibility and momentum beyond social media due to WPL's press released picked up journalists.

Inviting politicians to join the IWD campaign 

WPL gained the support from some of the most important women in politics - including the leaders of various countries. 

The President of Malta, H. E. Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, invited politicians to join WPL's IWD campaign through a compelling video that emphasized the fact that women’s rights are human rights.  President Coleiro Preca said “Joining the WPL campaign is the occasion for your vision to become the destination for a balanced world and the opportunity to reaffirm the essential need for equity and equality."

Thought-leadership article from the WPL President

A further innovative element of WPL's campaign was a thought-leadership article written by Silvana Koch-Mehrin, WPL President, and published on International Women's Day in the OECD Newsletter. This helped raise awareness of the campaign and the topic of women empowerment.

A campaign with a lasting impact beyond IWD

A further impressive element of WPL's campaign is the continuing impact beyond IWD. WPL continues to promote #BalanceforBetter quotes via its website and newsletters, such as 'A world with balance between men and women? A peaceful world' which provided an impactful tagline for WPL's newsletter and news flash. WPL also published a further article on women from South America ahead of a major WPL conference in Colombia.

WPL continues to be inspired by the quotes from its IWD campaign and in turn continues to use their campaign to inspire its communities as an ongoing reminder about the importance of creating a balanced world.