Festival of The Girl turns 5 and launches their 2023 event to celebrate International Day of the Girl 2023

Festival of The Girl is back and bigger than ever for 2023 to celebrate the fifth birthday of their ground-breaking event designed especially for girls aged 7-11. The not-for-profit campaign and event aims to inspire, engage and to break down harmful gender stereotypes.

The first festival in 2019 was held for 80 girls and in just five years the 2023 event will now attract 800 girls plus their families following a jam-packed summer on the Camp Bestival and Primadonna Festival line-up as well as holding a panel event for parents and carers discussing body image and girls. High profile support over the years has been found from DJ Fatboy Slim, R.A.E, Tulip Siddiq MP, Laura Bates, Dr Sue Black OBE, Sarah Gordy and Alex Light with organisations including Mastercard, Hitachi, Travis Perkins and Taylor Wimpey involved as sponsors.

The 2023 Festival of The Girl will take place to coincide with the half term holiday on Saturday 21^st October at the Business Design Centre, Islington North London.

The key aim of the festival is for families and society to start the gender stereotype conversation before they become too ingrained. Their increasingly popular global interactive festivals give primary school aged girls access to an incredible line up of female role models, workshops and activities. They are safe environments where girls have fun, try something new, and most importantly; leave with a boost of self-confidence.

This year activities and workshops range from:

Coding and robotics to art and sustainability
F1 motorsports and rugby to aviation and gaming
Body confidence and music to podcasting and activism
Science and British Army bootcamps to choreography and wellbeing
Football tricks and design to construction and yoga
And much more…

The Line-Up includes The British Army, F1 in Schools and Girls on Track, Aunt Joy Gallery, WUKA, British Cycling, Sex Ed Matters, Flight Crowd and Everyday Racism.

The full line-up (with more to be announced) can be found here. Although aimed at girls, everyone is welcome.

This festival is particularly important in light of 2023 research from Girlguiding showing that girls’ happiness levels are at an all-time low (e.g. 89% of girls aged 7-21 feel generally worried or anxious).

Girlguiding – Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2023

In the run up to the festival on International Day of The Girl (11^th October) they will be asking people to share their #futuregirlpledge (a pledge being something one can do, big or small, to help create a more gender-equal future for girls) alongside a photo with hands on shoulders. This is a symbol that shows we’re standing on the shoulders of the women who came before us, and we want our girls (and boys) to stand on ours.

There is also a free activity book which if ordered by the 30^th September girls will receive in the post for International Day of The Girl (order here) which includes brilliant activities, inspiring women and creative games with a feminist twist. Plus, exciting content will also be shared on their YouTube channel on 11^th October including:

At this time when there is so much fake news, let’s empower our girls with the tools to spot what is fake and what is real: Becoming a lie detector
Inspiring girls to follow their dream of becoming a surgeon: Being a surgeon and so much more
Show our girls they have a voice, and we want to hear them: The FUNdamentals of debate
With anxiety levels rising in primary school age girls we need to gift them the tools of self-care: Self-care is the best care
Help our girls to realise just how strong they are: Basic Army Fieldcraft with the British Army