Women Political Leaders Teams with Western Union to Support More Girls in Politics

Women Political Leaders (WPL), the global network of tenured and current female politicians, is teaming up with Western Union, a leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement, to encourage more girls to get involved in politics, with the goal of increasing female representation in political and government roles and driving greater diversity of thinking in policymaking and governance.

Western Union is sponsoring 21 young women—20 from G(irls)20, an organization that places girls and women at the center of the G20 economic decision-making process, along with 23-year old author of “How Dare the Sun Rise,” Sandra Uwiringiyimana —to attend the Women Political Leadership Summit, the foremost gathering of female political leaders in the world. This year’s summit took place in Lithuania from June 6-8.

This alliance allows girls to meet inspiring women politicians from all over the world, providing a significant opportunity to make a difference in the girls’ motivation and aspiration towards becoming leaders themselves.

Under the #Girl2Leader campaign, these young women will have the opportunity to learn from a generation of pioneers, to gain mentorship and get one step closer to achieving their goals of meaningful and effective action while also influencing a new generation of girls to consider careers in politics and government.

Co-hosted by the Parliament of Lithuania, the WPL Summit 2018, is held under the patronage of Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of the Republic of Lithuania. The event will address today’s intertwined global challenges and offer the opportunity to exchange best practices and knowledge of political decision making. Discussions are held with the purpose to get to action.

The summit welcomed delegations from over 70 countries and close to 50 high level speakers. Confirmed speakers for the WPL Summit 2018 include Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, President of Croatia; Viorica Dăncilă, Prime Minister of Romania; Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile (2006-2010, 2014-2018), Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008); Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (2007-2010); and Aminata Toure, Prime Minister of Senegal (2013-2014).