Skip to main content

2023 Op-Ed Project Public Voices Fellowship to Advance the Rights of Women and Girls

Equality Now, The OpEd Project, and Senior Advisor Ann MacDougall are delighted to be in partnership in launching the 2023 US Public Voices Fellowship on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls

This Fellowship is part of The OpEd Project’s Public Voices initiative to change who writes history and Equality Now’s mission to create a just world for all women and girls.

The OpEd Project is a social venture and leadership organization founded to change who writes history. Its programs elevate the ideas and knowledge of underrepresented expert voices to accelerate solutions to the world’s biggest problems – problems that cannot be solved justly or sustainably without a diversity of voices, expertise, experience, and identity.

Changing who writes history

The media plays a critical role in shaping public opinion on current and emerging issues, but evidence shows that women continue to be under-represented in public discourse.

To achieve gender equality for all women and girls in our evolving world, we need to prioritize a diversity of female voices and champion them as experts with knowledge and perspectives that are necessary to hear in the media.

To help advance this aim, we are seeking to assemble a cohort of twenty diverse thought leaders from across the USA to join this Fellowship. Participants will receive a year-long program of training and mentoring dedicated to supporting fellows to elevate their voices in the public sphere.

All participants commit to writing a minimum of two op-ed (opinion) pieces and hopefully more. We also encourage fellows to engage in other public forms of thought leadership (such as TED-style talks, podcasts, etc.) during their fellowship. They will receive one-on-one support, skills, and mentoring from journalist mentors to help their ideas shape public conversations in the media.

All workshops will be provided free of charge, and fellows commit to attending each of the four convenings continuously and in full, whether they are held virtually or in person. 

We are looking for inspiring individuals with innovative ideas and engaging insights about strengthening the rights of women and girls. 

Fellows will have noteworthy expertise or personal experience in their chosen field and will represent a diversity of specialisms and backgrounds, including age, diasporas, race, sexual orientation, nationalities, and other intersectional identities.

We are keen to showcase a wide range of issues and perspectives – some may already be high up the public agenda and would benefit from a gendered lens, others may be more at the margins or emerging and in need of greater attention.

Of particular interest is how the following topics intersect with women’s and girls’ rights:

  • Child marriage
  • Climate change and environmental protections
  • Digital rights, digital access, and artificial intelligence 
  • Disability rights
  • Domestic violence
  • Constitutional equality
  • Female genital mutilation
  • Gender pay gap 
  • Immigration rights
  • Incarceration 
  • Indigenous rights
  • Mental health 
  • Racial justice
  • Reproductive rights
  • LGBTQIA+ rights
  • Sexual violence

Individuals will have a demonstrated desire and ability to disrupt established assumptions and offer new ways of thinking, understanding, and doing. They can provide the innovative perspectives and solutions needed to accelerate gender parity and forge an equitable future for all women and girls.

The deadline for applications is Sunday, April 30, 2023, 12 Midnight PST.

More details about how to apply for the Public Voices Fellowship on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls.

Explore the twenty inspiring individuals who were part of the 2022 fellowship.