Exploring Female Adventurers at London’s Women of the World Festival

Sunday 13 March, 11.30 a.m.  SOUTHBANK CENTRE, London   

As part of the Women of the World Festival 2016,  I am inviting women to ignite their own adventurous spirits through the journeys of  women explorers — past and present — who defied convention, pushed limits and travelled into the unknown.

In this era of shrinking comfort zones and glitzy role models, I’ll be celebrating women adventurers — women who take a walk on the wild side and explore the world. I’ll be paying tribute to those before us who left inhibition at home and journeyed through a man’s world on awe-inspiring voyages;  as well as today’s ‘adventuresses’ who challenge themselves on foot, bikes, skis; in boats, vans, planes…in the true spirit of adventure.

Today’s female explorers (l to r) Felicity Aston, Rosie Stancer, Jacki Hill-Murphy, Lois Pryce, Ann Daniels and Arita Baaijens at the Women’s Adventure Expo 2015.

The stories of yesterday’s  women adventurers are often lost in time — let’s get them ‘back on the map’ as role models for women in the 21st century —  Women of the World like Lady Hester Stanhope, the first Western woman to cross the Syrian Desert; writer and explorer Mary Kingsley; and of course, crusading journalist Nellie Bly who beat Phileas Fogg’s fictional Around the World in 80 Days record 125 years ago.

Today’s women adventurers are not only rowing around Britain (Belinda Kirk), skiing alone across Antarctica  (Felicity Aston MBE), and reaching the North and South Poles (Ann Daniels), but also following  the footsteps of their predecessors like Isabella Bird, Mary Kingsley and Isabel Godin (Jacki Hill-Murphy), to name but a few.  Female explorers are true Women of the World.  Join me for a 15 minute WOW Bite on women explorers  Sunday 13 March at 11.30 a.m. at the Women of the World Festival.