One of them was for many years the artistic director of the Southbank Centre, the largest cultural organization in the UK. The other is the managing director of SNFCC. “Hey, what else do you want?” They both heard it. And if not so dry, then in other variations: “This is where a woman can go today, what kind of feminism are you talking about?”, “Have you seen how women live in Afghanistan, what rights do women have?”, “Women in the West today they they vote, they work, isn’t that enough?” Yes, we can say that both Jude Kelly and Ellie Andriopulu achieved what they wanted. But if the view from the glass roof gives you anything, it’s a clearer picture.

It’s easy to be misled. “My grandmother dropped out of elementary school and had 14 children. I also became the director of the largest cultural center in Europe. Three generations later, I ran this incredible place. I started to think that my dreams had come true,” Kelly recalls, speaking to K. Until one day he looked at the view from above and saw an artistic landscape created by human hands. “I suddenly realized that the history of mankind in art is told through men, and the woman almost always plays a secondary role. I began to think that from my position, too, I supported the idea that what constituted the central human experience could only be validly articulated by man. And that it is directly related to human rights. If the history of a woman is not as important as the history of a man, then her rights are not important either.”

In 2010, she decided to use her power to change her image by founding Women of the World, WOW Foundation, an advocacy organization that would honor women’s achievements and fight gender discrimination. It was clear to her: the path that she had traveled was largely associated with the struggle of other women. It was her turn. “It’s my turn to fight for young women not to be abused online, so they can have a job prospect beyond making coffee, and above all, so they don’t feel like they can’t go out at night without fear.”

Year after year WOW turned into an institution, into a movement. The WOW Festival is now the world’s largest event for women, girls and women, with festivals in over 30 cities on six continents. Finally in Greece! From April 1 to April 3, we meet him for the first time in Greece at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center. The idea existed, but crystallized last year when Ellie Andriopulu visited the London WOW festival. He describes it as a life-changing experience. “We saw a festival of empowerment, real inclusion, a celebration of women. There you will find out how many questions remain open to this day. She had her daughters with her, and she saw with her own eyes what an influence she had on them. “Since then, they have recognized even the most well-disguised sexist manifestations. One day she came home from school angry because the teacher asked who could help her carry the books, and while the girls were raising their hands, she wanted a boy. “But we are stronger,” her daughter told her. Or they are watching TV and notice that the advertisement shows a woman doing the dishes. We must fight for a new generation, give them the tools, language and everything they need to build an equal society.”

2010 still seems a long way off for women’s rights, who could have imagined a movement like #MeToo then? “Yes, compared to that time, many more girls know their rights, but at the same time there was a sharp reaction,” notes Jude Kelly. “The rise of social media since then has also created new challenges. Bullying, trolling, online harassment affect women much more than men. There is incredible misogyny. Women find their voice, but men react, which is disappointing. Today, however, we take off the band-aid and talk about things we were taught not to talk about. This does not mean that the problems have been solved, they exist, but we are talking about them. And because of that, they sometimes seem even bigger, but this is a stage that you need to go through.

One reason women don’t want to hear about feminism is because no one wants to feel like a victim all the time. It’s humiliating not to be equal. This is how you convince yourself that you are.

“However,” Ellie adds, “during the discussions about WOW, we found that many of the issues that previous generations fought for remain relevant to this day. Employers are still asking women to tell them if they will have and how many children, when they will have, the right to have an abortion, etc. is still emphasized.”

At the same time, the pandemic has acted as a magnifying glass of gender discrimination. “During the pandemic, on the one hand, women were shocked to realize that without a kindergarten and a mother, all the work fell on their shoulders, and on the other hand, violence became very visible,” Kelly says. “It was very frustrating, kind of a test that proved we don’t have to pretend we’re equal.”

They both agree that this is an ongoing struggle, although often even women need to be convinced that it’s worth it. Feminism still has a reason to exist. “New girls come to the front line and think that everything has already been decided. They have jobs, they have education,” Kelly continues. “And suddenly they discover sexism, online harassment, their biological clock is ticking, they understand what emotional labor means, that equality is an ongoing issue. We are more equal than we were, but the path is long, and as with any long journey, you must be patient and endure disappointments, because something amazing awaits you at the end, namely equality. Something we have never seen anywhere in the world, something we have never experienced. But when we see great athletes, artists, lawyers, politicians, entrepreneurs, we realize that the world would be fantastic if they didn’t hold back half the population.” As he says, if it was something simple, it would have already been done.

WOW wants to make it easy for women to join. Even its name (something like “wow”) it “screams” that feminism can be fun. “There is a lot to deal with, but that doesn’t mean everything has to be pathetic. But another reason women don’t want to hear about feminism is because no one wants to feel like a victim all the time. It’s humiliating not to be equal. This is how you convince yourself that you are. You want to internalize success in your life. It’s hard for women to participate, thinking that they should be angry and sad, when in fact we want to have fun, to feel joy and excitement and, yes, anger, but only because we want the world to become a better place.

Why has #MeToo (seem) to have fallen out of favor lately? “There was a terrible repression in Greece,” says SNFCC CEO Elli Andriopulu. “I can’t imagine what the women who came forward went through on a personal level. I think it takes more than courage, it takes a bit of madness to come out and speak up knowing what it means. #MeToo in Greece brought out the worst in a patriarchal society, even women, but brought the problem to the surface. However, small steps have been taken. The police and their role in domestic violence have changed. This did not happen everywhere, but in the past, when women reported the incident to the police station, they were told to return, which is no longer acceptable in society. And that’s progress.”

“#MeToo gave us the opportunity to speak up, but that doesn’t mean everyone has that kind of courage,” adds Jude Kelly, founder of the WOW Foundation. “We also ran out of energy, perhaps because friends and family pressured us not to talk and we still want to be loved, we want to be loved. We don’t want to be mean to men, we live with them.” And not only do we live with them, we also love them very much. “My son is a man, my grandson is a man, my partner is a man,” she continues. “WOW is not meant to push men away, but to let women get ahead.”

Gender stereotypes, violence, consent, invisible work

Sexist language and gender stereotypes, sexuality, abuse of women, the #MeToo movement, consent, male professions, invisible work, parenthood. “In order to come up with themes, we held discussions with group representatives from different fields who presented their ideas. We have material for five festivals!” – says Elli Andriopulu, who does not hide the fact that this is her favorite project – like all SNFCC women. Together, they have prepared a grand celebration of women’s empowerment and femininity to confront the obstacles and inequalities they face every day. Among other things, we will look at:

• Performance and exhibition: Partisans. The Guerrilla Girls are a group of anonymous activist artists who use headlines, outrageous visuals and shocking statistics to highlight gender or origin discrimination and corruption in art, film, politics and pop culture.

• A conversation with Elena Favilli (Italian journalist and author of the Bedtime Stories for Rebels series) about creating a project dedicated to raising a generation of more inspired and self-confident girls.

Themes of the great celebration of empowerment, which will be held at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center from 1 to 3 April.

• Maryland: A play by Lucy Kirkwood, translated by Alexandra K. Premiered at the Royal Court Theater and later at WOW London in 2022. This is a battle cry in response to the normalization of the horrendous acts committed against all women and victims of gender-based violence.

• Photo exhibition “Woman” by Dana Kyndrova in collaboration with the Athenian Photo World: The role of a woman from the mid-70s to the early 2000s Motherhood, tenderness, care, work, entertainment, charm, endurance.

• Discussion panel with Diotima: Justice VS Justice: Sexual Violence in and Out of the Courtroom.