The Public Voices Fellowship on Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls is a year-long initiative to accelerate the ideas and impact of 20 thought leaders whose ideas can help break down the barriers that continue to hold women and girls back.
Equality Now, The OpEd Project, and Senior Advisor Ann MacDougall are looking for US-based fellows of all nationalities to participate in the fellowship, which entails nine months of dedicated coaching and a further three months of follow-on support.
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 cost of the year-long fellowship is funded by Ann MacDougall and Equality Now, which enables us to provide the placement to participants at no charge to them.
Each placement is a significant investment in that individual and we require full commitment from every fellow. All workshops are compulsory and fellows must be able to confirm they will participate in all four workshops in full on the following dates:
1st: September 12 (Thu), 10am – 5pm ET, and 13 (Fri), 9am – 12:30pm ET, in-person in NYC
2nd: November 21 and 22 (Thu, Fri), 12pm – 3:30pm ET, virtual via Zoom
3rd: February 13 and 14 (Thu, Fri), 2025, 12pm – 3:30pm ET, virtual via Zoom
4th: May 1 and 2 (Thu, Fri), 2025, 12pm – 3:30pm ET, virtual via Zoom
Plus a 1hr virtual meeting with all fellows, Equality Now, and The OpEd Project, on October 17, 4pm – 5pm ET.
There is a limited number of travel and lodging stipends available for those who need assistance to attend the in-person NYC convening.
In addition, all participants must commit to writing a minimum of two op-ed (opinion) pieces and hopefully many more. We also encourage fellows to engage in other public forms of thought leadership (TED-style talks, podcasts, etc.) during their fellowship.
Fellows will receive ongoing coaching throughout the fellowship from dedicated and experienced media professionals who will provide regular, one-on-one assistance with developing ideas, editing, and media placement. There is access to weekly journalist office hours and regular expert talks with media leaders.
The combination of seminars and mentorship will provide fellows with a range of tools to communicate their ideas in the public sphere. They will learn how to generate new ideas; develop strategies for being timely at any time; write and pitch persuasive op-eds; and join a network of diverse and inspiring peers.
Areas of expertise and focus could include, but aren’t limited to, the intersection between women’s rights and the following issues:
- Access to justice for victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence
- Artificial intelligence
- Child and forced marriage
- Climate change
- Digital rights; digital access; digital safety; digital regulation
- Disability rights within the context of sexual and gender-based violence
- Constitutional equality
- Female genital mutilation
- Gender pay gap
- Indigenous rights
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Online sexual abuse and exploitation; image-based sexual abuse
- Racial justice
- Reproductive rights; economics of sexual reproductive health
- Rollback on women’s rights
- Sex-discriminatory family laws
Please note: The fellowship is open to individuals 18 years old and above, and who are based in the US. Only applicants who can confirm they will attend all four convenings in full and can commit to meeting the fellowship’s writing requirement will be considered.
The application deadline is 9am ET, Monday, May 20, 2024.
For any questions, please contact Tara Carey at tcarey@equalitynow.org, with the subject line “OpEd Project – Public Voices Fellowship.”
Please note: Only applicants who can commit to attending all four convenings will be considered.
