Theme: Bridging the gap

The gender gap proves we do need feminism. Indicators in health, politics, economics, and education show the gap is widening. Women and men around the world are taking action, raising their voices in a wave of protest. Change is coming. It’s time for equal pay and equal say. It’s time for a world that reflects women, too. Inequality won’t disappear overnight, but we can make strides when we band together. By sharing big ideas that spark a fire in others, we’re creating a movement. Idea by Idea, woman by woman.

Royal Tropical Institute
Mauritskade 63
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, 1092 AD
Netherlands

Alice Wielinga

Artist

Alice Wielinga her work is an imaginative blend of documentaries, art, and commercial photography. In 2004, she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts St. Joost and she had her first solo exhibition Time Lapse in Beijing’ in 2011. With colorful and detailed images Alice explores the complex reality of North-Korea. Another project, published at the end of 2017, she took the risk to travel through Pakistan to give a glimpse into the dangerous lives of Pakistani children. She won various awards and was nominated for her art projects on these cultural and social topics.

Bibian Mentel - Spee

Athlete, Author

Bibian Mentel Spee is a Dutch athlete and author and the founder of the ‘Mentelity Foundation’. With this, she realizes projects that improve the lives of people who are physically challenged. Chasing her dream of becoming a professional snowboarder didn’t go without a struggle. On her way to the Olympic games in Salt Lake City 2001 she lost her leg due to bone cancer, a disease that came back nine times the last eighteen years. She never gave up and won the World Championship seven times, and three Paralympic gold medals. With her books, foundation and story, Bibian wants to inspire people to never give up on their passions and to live life to the fullest.

Dr. Sachiko Scheuing

Co-Chair of the Brussels FEDMA

The Japanese Dr. Sachiko Scheuing is the Co-Chair of the Brussels-based Federation of European Direct and Interactive Marketing (FEDMA). Alongside this, she is the European Privacy officer for Axicom, a foundation that provides data and technology for marketing purposes. With more than 20 years of experience in the field of marketing intelligence, and as a former chief analyst, Sachiko combines theoretical and practical experience to manage Acxiom’s European data ethics programs, government affairs, and compliance activities.

Dr. Yamini J. Singh

Urban and transport planner

Dr. Yamini J. Singh works on sustainable cities and gendered urban mobility. Traditionally, our transport had been centered around the commuting needs of men. According to the Indian-born and Netherlands-based Yamini, this gender-gap in our cities is affecting women's access to key life-opportunity activities like education, employment, medical and recreational facilities. The solution is for cities to create an urban environment that not only allows women to continue their travel patterns that are already sustainable, but that also encourages men to make their travel more sustainable as well.

Ingrid van Engelshoven

Minister of Education, Culture, and Science.

During her studies; Public Administration & Public Policy and Dutch Law, van Engelshoven was already into politics and has been a member of D66 ever since. Her childhood in Belgium made her aware of the consequences of being a “foreigner”, but it also gave her the opportunity to look at the country with a perspective of an outsider. She has worked on topics such as equal opportunities in the Dutch education system and the improvement of women’s economic independence. In 2015 she won the ‘Els Borst Network Inspiration Award’ in honor of her years of work for D66.

Jessica Gyasi

Model, writer, filmmaker

Jessica Gyasi is a Dutch model, writer, filmmaker, and coach with Ghanian roots. She started her professional modeling career at age 15, which changed her life completely. During her early years of modeling, she experienced the same kind of “otherness” that she had experienced as a child: being black in a white-dominated world. This made her feel insecure, but her self-confidence grew over the years, with her platform models for models her platform “Model for Models” – aimed at empowerment, inner beauty, and self-worth of girls and young women – Jessica puts the knowledge she obtained into practice.

Jomecia Oosterwolde

Dance artist

By the age of 10, Jomecia started studying at Lucia Marthas Institute for performing arts. In 2010, she graduated with a bachelor in performing arts and immediately landed her a job with street dance sensation BLAZE, performing with some of the biggest names in hip-hop and street dance. She has since traveled the world, dancing for X-factor, Nike and Heineken and touring with artists like Diana Ross, Armin van Buuren and Lionel Richie. She aims to bridge the gap between European and African art in her work, reflecting her mixed descent and connection to both cultures.

Marjan van Aubel

Inventor and solar designer

Inventor and solar designer Marjan van Aubel promotes, in collaboration with scientists, engineers, and institutions, extreme energy efficiency through intelligent design domestically integrating solar cells that mimic the process of photosynthesis in plants, she adds a double function to objects and puts them to work. In 2012, the award-winning designer graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Design Products. Her work has been exhibited at various world-class institutions, including London’s Design Museum, Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum,and New York’s MoMA

Minchenu Maduro

Pedagogue, trainer, and motivational speaker

Minchenu offers workshops that focus on improving team spirit and group dynamics, helping to create a learning environment that inspires. She is specialized in the topic of didactics, so she certainly knows how to encourage others in their learning process – whether she’s working with a healthcare professional or a rebellious teenager. In the future, she hopes to make a change in the Dutch education system. Her goal is to provide the crowd with new insights, excitement for the future, and positive energy.

Nadia Nadim

Striker for Manchester City

Born and raised in Afghanistan, Afghan Danish Nadia Nadim knows as none other what it means to build a new life in a new country. After the death of her father at the hands of the Taliban, her family decided to escape Afghanistan, as it was not a safe place for a family of six women. They found their way into Italy and Nadia eventually found herself between the hills and trees of Denmark, the country she now calls home. Excelling in football Nadia quickly rose to the highest ranks of women’s football in the country joining the Danish National Team and has since then proudly represented her country 73 times.

Reconstruct Collective

Fashion brand

The female creators of the fashion brand Reconstruct want to show young creatives of the new generation how much can be achieved through collaboration and hard work. Previous collections have been presented during Copenhagen and New York Fashion Week and have been published on several fashion platforms such as Vogue.com. The team behind the brand aims to stay true to themselves and want to promote a lifestyle which goes beyond the current fashion system of robotic followers.

Roos Wattel

Accessibility consultant

Roos Wattel aims to bridge the gap between hearing and deaf people as an accessibility consultant. To achieve her goal, she started her company ‘Wat Telt!’ in 2014. To improve inclusiveness on the work floor who are deaf or hearing impaired, Roos works closely with other organizations. In 2015, Roos created the ‘Musea in Gebaren’ (Museums in Sign). With this program, she trains deaf people to be museum guides n sign language. Today, 16 museums in the Netherlands offer tours in sign language provided by trainees of ‘Musea in Gebaren’. Roos was born deaf but studied at regular schools and thanks to this upbringing, Roos feels part of both the deaf and the hearing community. She is proud to be a deaf person and inspires others to create an inclusive society, together with her.

Rutger Groot Wassink

Deputy Mayor Amsterdam

As Deputy Mayor, Rutger Groot Wassink works closely with Amsterdam's first female mayor, Femke Halsema, bridging the gap when it comes to important social issues affecting citizens on a daily basis. He is a prominent member of the Dutch political party GroenLinks, serving as the party's group chair person in the Amsterdam city council.

Sjaan Maria Flikweert

Dance, poet, and theatre maker

Dancer, poet and theatre-maker Sjaan Flikweert discovered spoken word poetry as a creative outlet in 2009. She has since performed as a spoken word artist in several countries in- and outside of Europe, and was recognized nationally when she won the Dutch spoken word competition ‘SPOKEN’. Her ambition is to contribute to the development of oral traditions in the Netherlands via her raw, honest, and physical spoken word performances. Sjaan performs her art at diverse settings, from intimate venues, to crowded festivals, and large theatre productions.

Symone D. Sanders

Strategist and CNN Political Commentator

Symone D. Sanders has an impressive career. During the US elections of 2016, she served as national press secretary for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. This made her earn her place in history as the youngest presidential press secretary on record. Rolling Stone magazine listed her as one of 16 young Americans shaping the 2016 election. In the spring of this year (2018), she served as a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School. Through her experiences in politics, Symone possesses the skills to provide perceptive analyses on political and social issues, which have been featured on different news platforms such as CNN, Fox News, and NBC. Currently, Symone is the Principal of the 360 Group LLC where she provides strategic communications guidance to organizations and individuals and helps clients find solutions to tough social problems.