Views on the News
9.30am – 10am, Garret Theatre
Delve into the Sunday newspapers with WOW as the panel discusses what the headlines mean for gender equality. Speakers include Simone Roche and Molly Naylor.
Included with your WOW Pass

Movement workshop: The Feminist Body
10am – 11am, Former Library
Facilitated by freelance dance artist Bettina Carpi and Jane McLean, Creative Director of Cheshire Dance, this is an experiential and creative movement workshop that explores our shifting perceptions around the (female) body. Through a series of playful activities we will investigate how we connect to ourselves and to others while bringing attention to our thinking, feeling and sensing body.
Included with your WOW Pass

Cold Places – From the North Pole, to the Antarctic and in between. Adventures of a wildlife photographer
10am – 11am, Cinema
Sue Flood, award-winning wildlife photographer, author and filmmaker, has been camped at -40°C with Inuit hunters in the Arctic, worked on Russian icebreakers on trips to the North Pole, and swam with humpback whales in Tonga. Sue is passionate about the use of still and moving images to engage people’s interest in the natural world, and will be signing copies of her book Cold Places in the Cinema Foyer from 11am.
Included with your WOW

CPO Women’s String Quartet
10.45an – 11.30am, The Kitchen
Chester Philharmonic Orchestra has approximately 75 amateur musicians who give 4 concerts yearly in Chester cathedral. The quartet comprises Rachel (viola), Angela (Cello), Eunice and Sally (Violins), who will be making the atmosphere in The Kitchen extra special.
Free

If You Can See It, You Can Be It: Women in science and technology
11.30am – 12.30pm, Garret Theatre
Discover how women are using tech to change the world and are encouraging more girls to join them. Since Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer, women have made a massive contribution to the digital realm – but they are still an unharnessed force in STEM industries (science, technology, engineering, maths), making up only 14.4% of the workforce in 2015. How and why are these potential brainiacs being discouraged? In this session, find out what the 14.4% are doing.
Included with your WOW Pass

Phyllida Lloyd
11.30am – 12.30pm, Cinema
Hear from Phyllida Lloyd, highly acclaimed director of stage and screen including Mamma Mia, The Iron Lady and the groundbreaking all-female Shakespeare Trilogy at the Donmar Warehouse, as she discusses her work with clips on the Storyhouse screen.
Included with your WOW Pass

Under 10s Feminist Corner
11.30am – 12.30pm, Storyden

How to Get a Pay Rise: Negotiating Workshop
11.30am – 1pm, Meeting Room
Do you want to ask for a pay rise but feel unsure how to go about it? This interactive and practical session with career coach Neil Urquhart teaches you how to know your worth, make your case and ask for more.
Included with your WOW Pass (limited capacity)

Violence Against Women & Girls: Whose Problem?
1pm – 2pm, Cinema
Women and girls across the globe are still facing gender-based violence, sexual abuse and exploitation. Come and discuss what works to prevent it and how we can change attitudes. Speakers include Debi Gould, Alison Breadon, Maddy Coy, Holly Dustin, and T.O.Walker. Chaired by David Owens.
Included with your WOW Pass

Flamenco Workshop
1pm – 2pm, Former Library
Deva Flamenco deliver a short talk about women’s role in flamenco plus a have a go flamenco dance workshop – you don’t need a partner and all ages and shapes can dance flamenco!
Included with your WOW Pass

Sons & Daughters
1pm – 2pm, Garret Theatre
Pink and blue, dolls and trains. Are we selling children a gendered worldview? Speakers include Catherine Johnston, a former teacher, parent and campaigner for Let Toys Be Toys. Chaired by Si Poole.
Included with your WOW Pass

WOW Bites
2.30pm – 3.30pm, The Old Library
Come along to WOW Bites for short talks, performances, readings and soapbox moments delivered by all sorts of women with amazing stories. Speakers cover a wide range of subjects from the serious to the very frivolous.
Included with your WOW Pass

The Genius Gap: women, creativity and leadership
2.30pm – 3.30pm, Garret Theatre
We’re taught that divine knowledge and creative genius is the preserve of men – but what about women’s creative force? We talk to a panel of creative leaders and experts about putting women’s stories centre stage and redressing the balance in the arts. Speakers include Laura Lewis-Paul, Mia Bayes, Elizabeth Newman. Chaired by Jo Henwood.
Included with your WOW Pass

Film – Sonita (PG) & Q&A
2.30pm – 4pm, Cinema
If 18-year old Sonita had a say in things, Michael Jackson would be her father and Rihanna her mother. She captures her dream of being a famous rapper in her scrapbook. For the time being, her only fans are the other teenage girls in a Tehran shelter. There, Sonita, a refugee from Afghanistan, gets counseling for the traumas she has suffered and guidance in shaping her future. Her family has a very different future planned for her: as a bride she’s worth $9,000. What’s more, women aren’t allowed to sing in Iran. How can Sonita still succeed in making her dreams come true?
Followed by a Q&A with Mia Bayes, Bird’s Eye View & Claire Griffiths. Hosted by Nicky Beaumont, Storyhouse’s Film & Digital Programme Manager
Included with your WOW Pass

Workshop: Finding Your Inner Resources
2.30pm – 3.30pm, Meeting Room
Not only do we experience the world directly through our bodies, both physically and emotionally but we also have a wealth of resources readily available to us in our bodies which can help build our sense of well-being and improve our mental health. In this workshop you will learn about the connection between your mind and body, why feeling safe underpins our well-being and explore simple techniques that will increase your self-awareness, build your resilience and help you feel more comfortable in your own skin. With Lucy Holbrook.
Included with your WOW Pass (limited Capacity)

Flamenco Demonstration
3.30pm – 4pm, The Kitchen
A demonstration from Deva Flamenco.
Free

Women, Power and Change
4pm – 5pm, Garret Theatre
2016 was an amazing and terrifying year, with so many negative and positive things happening for women and girls. Gender equality has been at the centre of many recent debates. We asked our speakers to look forward and by tell us what they would change in order to make a fairer world for women and girls. Come and hear them here. Speakers include: Kate Northcott Spall, Nicola Waterworth & Hannah Philp.
Included with your WOW Pass

Teens Talk Back
4pm – 5pm, Former Library
Join a panel of teenage girls discussing and presenting work on feminism – is it cool, do they like the word and what do boys think? Whatever your age, this is your chance to hear from teens about their lives, thoughts and expectations – from the tough realities to straightforward optimism. Curated by the WOW Chester WOWsers – young ambassadors for the festival who have been working with Storyhouse in the weeks running up to the festival.
Including Epic Women. “She writes poetry on her arms…”
Ledbury Poetry Festival Community Programme arranged for young women from Close House Projects in Hereford to work with Toni Cook and Joelle Taylor to write and perform their poetry for the first time. This is hard hitting and authentic poetry of the highest order, telling it like it is. Self-harm, teenage pregnancy, family dissolution and other experiences of being a young woman in the world today. Expect to be moved and uplifted in equal measure with these powerful voices.
Included with your WOW Pass

WOW Round Up
5.30pm – 6pm, Garret Theatre
It’s impossible to see all the WOW events so catch the highlights here with Alex Clifton and Simone Roche.
Included with your WOW Pass

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