Voices Shaping the Future was 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 on that day.
The program incorporated a National Youth Summit of 100 young women organized by Julia Gillard's Global Institute for Women's Leadership (GIWL), a public Conversation Series based on the issues young women wanted to discuss, and a Schools Day event that hosted over 200 Queensland school girls and featured young women who were changing lives with their big ideas, practical workshops, and the much-loved WOW speed mentoring on the Wheel of Brisbane.
The program wrapped up with an award-winning concert, Spinifex Gum featuring Marliya, where the voices of young First Nations women from Gondwana choirs combined with the poetic yet compelling lyrics of The Cat Empire's Felix Riebl and choreography by Deborah Brown, promising a performance that lived with the audience long after the final note had been sung.
Voices Shaping the Future was 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 it celebrated the UN International Day of the Girl Child, which fell on October 11, 2023.