WOW launches new strand of programming explore men and boys

PRESS RELEASE - 6 November 2025 

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WOW - WOMEN OF THE WORLD LAUNCHES NEW STRAND OF PROGRAMMING EXPLORING MEN, BOYS AND MODERN MASCULINITY 

• NEW SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED FOR WOW PRESENTS… AN EVENING WITH JORDAN STEPHENS:
• FINAL LINE UP INCLUDES COMEDIAN AND ACTOR ASIM CHAUDHRY, PERFORMER BIG ZUU, EQUIMUNDO FOUNDER AND CEO GARY BARKER, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST JAMEELA JAMIL, DIRECTOR OF FACILITATION AT BEYOND EQUALITY BEN HURST WITH POET MAUREEN ONWUNALIMO
• PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED GUESTS INCLUDE ECONOMIST AND AUTHOR GARY STEVENSON AND POET SAM BROWNE
• HOSTED BY WOW GUEST CURATOR JORDAN STEPHENS AND WOW FOUNDER JUDE KELLY, THE ONE-OFF EVENING WILL EXPLORE THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES AFFECTING MEN AND BOYS TODAY
• WOW AND EQUIMUNDO ALSO ANNOUNCES NEW PARTNERSHIP, THE MENCARE CHANGEMAKERS JOURNEY, CULMINATING IN TWO GLOBAL SUMMITS 

WOW - Women of the World today announces that Asim Chaudhry, Big Zuu, Jameela Jamil and Ben Hurst complete the line up for WOW Presents… An Evening with Jordan Stephens and Friends. Co-hosted by activist, singer and actor Jordan Stephens and WOW Founder Jude Kelly, the event is designed to interrogate the most pressing debates around men, boys and masculinity today from money, mental health, fatherhood to power and vulnerability.The evening will also feature poetry by Sam Browne and Maureen Onwunalimo, and a performance by London-based Palestinian composer and oud player Saied Silbak. It takes place on Saturday 15 November at Shoreditch Town Hall. 

Also announced today is a brand new partnership between WOW and long-time collaborator Equimundo, a US-based organisation dedicated to engaging men and boys in conversations around gender equality and preventing violence worldwide. Founder and CEO of Equimundo Gary Barker will also join Jordan Stephens at Shoreditch Town Hall. As long-time collaborators, WOW and Equimundo will continue their work investigating what it means to be a man in the 21st century, believing it to be vital that people of all genders are involved in advancing gender inequality. 

Launching the MenCare Changemakers Journey, WOW and Equimundo will work to mobilise over 100 influential stakeholders from around the world from business, the media, culture, civil society, governments and more. Their aim is to understand how to achieve health and wellbeing for men and boys together with women and girls and non-binary people, and how to solve some of the biggest problems facing men, boys and manhood today. 

This will culminate in the MenCare Changemakers Global Summit on ‘Caring Manhood’ to be held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2026. Focussing on driving solutions, each of the ‘Changemakers’ will be assigned one of seven themed action tracks – tackling themes from Caring Manhood in the Workplace to Boys and Education – with gender based violence at the intersection of each; the action tracks will interrogate a problem statement that the Changemakers will work together to solve. This will lead into a second MenCare Changemaker Summit to be held in Australia in 2027 with more details to be announced.

An eighth strand of activity, led by WOW, is developing the role of arts, festival and storytelling as essential tools for social change. Building on WOW’s 15 year methodology, WOW will engage the Changemakers and the wider public, in Rio and beyond, to shape a global festival methodology focused specifically on Boys and Men; one that can invite wide participation, discussion and share ideas across borders. At the 2026 Summit, WOW will convene a group of world leading artists in residence to spearhead this work. Changemakers and the general public will then experience first hand WOW’s work with a day-long festival programmed by WOW in the centre of Rio featuring workshops, conversation, music, art and more.

The resulting methodology will articulate how to work across the sectors of research, advocacy, activists, artists, business, service delivery and policy making to bring stories, new narratives and lived experience to life.

Jordan Stephens says: “I’m so excited to join WOW on this incredible journey. I've supported and collaborated with WOW for a long time and it has always been such a powerful voice for gender equity, always creating a space for difficult conversations, but also joy and fun. I can’t wait to bring more men and boys into the conversation in bold, creative ways. This is about sparking energy, connection and real change together.”

Jude Kelly, WOW’s Founder Director, says: "WOW has always believed it’s vital men and boys are invited into conversations exploring how to achieve gender equality – both as part of our audiences and on stage. Throughout WOW's 15 year history we've also presented work focused on men and boys to explore exactly what it means to be a man in the 21st century, and explore the issues they are facing that are stopping progress for everyone.

“Working with Equimundo to propel a new chapter of work for WOW with the MenCare Changemakers Journey will take this conversation and debate to an even wider audience and create tangible change. Together we are embarking on a journey to discover solutions that can lead to a better world for everyone."

Gary Barker, Founder of Equimundo added: “At Equimundo we have always believed that talking about men and boys must be a dialogue with women and so to partner with Jude Kelly and her team at WOW - Women of the World seemed a perfect fit. We’re honored to be a part of this necessary conversation about men for the benefit of men – and for women – and for all of us.”

Founded by Jude Kelly, WOW - Women of the World, is a global alliance of 33 partners working together to drive an equal and inclusive future for women, girls and non-binary people. Since 2010, WOW has delivered 150 festivals and programmes, across 71 places and six continents, inspiring millions of participants to take action and make change. 

Attracting five million people worldwide, WOW has supported thousands of activists, brought previously taboo subjects into mainstream dialogue and acted as a catalyst for the launch and success of countless campaigns. In its 15th anniversary year, events and festivals take place in Baltimore, Athens, Istanbul, Lahore, Rio, Rotherham, Edinburgh, across the North East and Brisbane and Gladstone in Australia.

The WOW Foundation is proudly supported by its Global Founding Partner Bloomberg.

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Kate Hassell kate@breadandbutterpr.uk

Chloe Heard chloe@breadandbutterpr.uk

LISTINGS 

WOW Presents… An Evening with Jordan Stephens and Friends 

Saturday 15 November, 2025 

Shoreditch Town Hall 

380 Old St, London EC1V 9LT 

£16 (£12 concessions) 

BSL Interpreted by Performance Interpreting 

Tickets on sale here 

WOW Presents… An Evening with Jordan Stephens and Friends is commissioned and produced by WOW - Women of the World in partnership with Equimundo 

About The WOW Foundation 

The WOW Foundation was created by Jude Kelly CBE in 2018 to run the global movement that is WOW - Women of the World Festivals. The Festivals began in the UK in 2010, launched by Kelly at the Southbank Centre London, where she was Artistic Director, to celebrate women and girls, taking a frank look at what prevents them from achieving their potential, raising awareness globally of the issues they face, and discussing solutions together. 

To date, WOW has reached six million people in 45 locations on six continents, in locations including Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somaliland, the UK and the USA. 

Over the last 15 years the Festivals have developed a reputation as a space for world renowned artists, activists, thinkers and performers including Angela Davis, Malala Yousafzai, Annie Lennox, Patrick Stewart, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Salma Hayek, to come and participate, alongside thousands of women and girls who don’t have public profiles but are doing amazing things. WOW provides platforms for people of all kinds, changes attitudes, brings communities together and provides a unique space for people to work together towards gender equity in their own communities. One example of the Festival’s impact came in 2015, with the founding of the Women’s Equality Party by Sandi Toksvig and Catherine Mayer. 

In 2018 Kelly left the Southbank Centre to run The WOW Foundation full time as a charity working to build, convene and sustain a global movement that believes a gender equal world is possible and desirable through festivals and empowering women and girls. The unique festival model creates numerous pathways for participants to take part in WOW projects, amplify their own causes, or start new initiatives which have a wide impact on communities. It is the biggest, most comprehensive and most significant festival dedicated to presenting work by women and promoting equity for women and girls. 

WOW Festival was originally produced and presented by Southbank Centre. 

The President of WOW - Women of the World is Her Majesty The Queen. 

About Equimundo 

Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice is the world’s leading applied research organization dedicated to advancing healthy masculinity to achieve gender equality and wellbeing for all. Equimundo and its many partners work globally, including the United States, to build structural solutions that facilitate healthier boyhoods, caring men, and social connection. Equimundo manages the MenCare Campaign, which engages men as fathers and caregivers to advance gender equality through the work of more than 132 partner organizations all over the world. www.equimundo.org 

The MenCare Changemaker Journey is led by Equimundo: Center for Masculinities and Social Justice, in partnership with WOW - Women of the World. The MenCare Changemaker Journey is funded by the Caring Masculinity Fund, with additional support from the Gates Foundation, Procter & Gamble, the Rise Together Fund, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 

About Jordan Stephens 

Jordan is a writer and performer, best known as one half of the chart-topping duo, Rizzle Kicks. As a screenwriter Jordan is developing his television series with Watford & Essex, based on his book The Wolf You Feed, following a competitive bidding situation for the rights. Having been publicly open with his own struggles surrounding mental health, Jordan has been very active in creating awareness around the stigma and he wrote an article in The Guardian about the negative effects that machoism has on men’s wellbeing, which served as the inspiration for The Wolf You Feed. 

Jordan’s mental health campaign #Iamwhole reached over 120 million people online and was mentioned in the Houses of Parliament and he has regularly been invited on television and to festivals to further discuss the matter. His children’s book The Missing Piece was recently shortlisted for the Waterstone’s Children’s Prize. 

As an actor, Jordan has appeared in television series Catastrophe, Feel Good and Glue, and films including Stars Wars: Rogue One and most notably Tucked, in which he played drag queen Faith. Jordan is currently making his stage debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Young Vic. Jordan received an RTS nomination for his presenting of the ITV2 show Don’t Hate The Playaz, which was also the first show on television to have an all-black all female panel. Jordan has also made music as part of Wildhood and is currently making new music under his full name Jordan Stephens. He lives and works in London.