Young Women in Leadership (YouWIL)

Project Led By:

Originally championed by Birmingham’s Deputy Lord Mayor Yvonne Mosquito and inspired by an equivalent programme in Birmingham’s sister city Chicago,.

Type of Project:

Annual summit to inspire 14-16 year old girls from Birmingham, its partner cities and beyond to become the leaders of tomorrow. It promotes career opportunities and aims to widen participation. Recruitment focuses on girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Launch Date:

July 2021

Completed or Ongoing:

Ongoing. The next Summit will take place during 20th and 27th July 2026

Project Summary:

During the summit, delegates are invited to join a two-hour online session with inspirational women leaders based on these themes:

Leading for Change: Women in Politics, Public Service and Humanitarian Work
Future Founders: Women Leading in Business & Entrepreneurship
The Power of Women in Sport and Wellbeing and how population health underpins this
Innovators of tomorrow: Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths
Women Shaping the Arts, Culture, Media & the Creative Industries

During the thematic sessions, girls hear from trailblazing women in the specific field/ sector. Girls are encouraged to ask questions to the speakers via the online chat function and their microphones.

Throughout the week the girls work in multicultural teams to develop presentations on a given theme. Mentors from the educational community including the University of Birmingham support the girls in their teams to develop their presentations. This includes 2 mentor sessions that are held after a thematic session.

The multicultural groups are comprised of girls from Birmingham, Birmingham’s International Sister Cities and other global cities providing the students space for cultural exchange.

The groups present their presentations live to senior political representatives and different academic partners from Birmingham on the event’s last day.

Speakers are generous with their time, providing detailed responses in the chat function after their presentations and in follow up emails.

Also championed by:

Olympic ice skater Jayne Torvill OBE
Dame Denise Lewis
Dr Helen Pankhurst CBE of the famous suffragette family
Aphra Brandreth, Commonwealth Poetry podcast
Professor Suzy Imber, planetary scientist, University of Leicester and winner of the 2017 BBC Two television programme Astronauts, ‘Do You Have What It Takes?’.
Local public service and business leaders such as Henrietta Brealey, CEO Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce
Rosie Ginday MBE, Founder and CEO of Miss Macaroon
Janie Frampton OBE, second woman to referee the Women’s FA Cup final.

Audience:

You WIL is an exciting programme for girls aged 14-16 in Birmingham, Birmingham’s European and international partner cities and globally. If interested in being part of the Summit, students should ask their school how to apply.

Project Collaboration:

You WIL is a sustainable programme supported by Birmingham’s civic, business, sports, academic and cultural community. Delivery partners include the University of Birmingham (academia).

Project Goals:

This unique partnership between the City Council and the University of Birmingham has harnessed a shared vision for greater inclusivity and diversity and also demonstrates the team commitment to developing female leaders of the future.

Benefits of the Project:

Attendees will:

Develop leadership skills, an increased sense of agency, resilience and independence, presentation and public speaking skills, team building skills and goal-setting activities.
Gain exposure to strong female role models from a variety of sectors and through a varied, engaging programme that fully supports the ethos of female student mobility by promoting an
Opportunities to connect Birmingham and international students from around the globe.
Have the opportunity for cultural exchange and to learn from each other’s cultural backgrounds.

Project Events/Research:

2025 Summit took place between the 21st and 28th July 2025. Learn all the details about it here.

2024 Summit took place between the 22nd and 29th July 2024. Learn all the details about it here.

– Read the summary here! You WIL Summit Empowers Future Female Leaders with Global Participation

2023 Summit took place between the 24th and 31st July 2023. Learn all the details about it here.

2022 Summit took place between the 25th July and 1st August 2022. Learn all the details about it here.

2021 Summit took place between the 26th July and 2nd August 2021.

Project Feedback (if completed):

“After this week, I feel more confident as a person and woman. Listening to all these incredible speakers telling us their stories and how they overcame all these difficulties and stereotypes really inspired me. I have learned that things that looked like barriers before, such as age, gender, ethnicity etc, cannot stop me from reaching my goals and dreams for the Future.”

Event participant

“I was particularly enlightened about women’s growing influence in sport. For so long, I’d associated it with men and male leadership, but I now know and can cite examples of women taking the lead in sport.”

Event participant

“Another thing that I have learned is that you are always allowed to ask for help and advice, and it’s not a bad thing when you can’t do something on your own. I think many young girls find it difficult to do that because they want to seem strong and independent. But the speakers on You WIL showed us that it is okay to ask for help and that it doesn’t make us less successful or less strong.”

Event participant

Young Women in Leadership (YouWIL)

Project Led By:

Type of Project:

Launch Date:

Completed or Ongoing:

Project Summary:

Audience:

Project Collaboration:

Project Goals:

Benefits of the Project:

Project Events/Research:

Project Feedback (if completed):

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