Girls Who Lead

🎬 One of the biggest mistakes we make is assuming people are only what we first see.

Hedy Lamarr was internationally known as a Hollywood actress. But she was also an inventor.🔬

Together with composer George Antheil, she co-invented a frequency-hopping communication system, later recognised as an important development in wireless communications. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Her story is a reminder that talent is often hidden behind stereotypes!

Girls are still too often placed into narrow categories: creative or technical, emotional or rational, caring or ambitious, visible or intelligent...

But leadership does not grow inside boxes.⛓️‍💥

A girl can be artistic and technical.
Sensitive and strategic.
Quiet and powerful.
Curious and determined.
A learner and a leader.

At Girls Who Lead, we believe girls need opportunities to explore the full range of who they are, not only the parts society expects from them.

Because when we stop reducing girls to one label, we start seeing everything they can build.⚒️

🗯️ What label should girls never be limited by?





Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European
Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

💜 Some of the strongest leadership lessons do not happen in boardrooms.

They happen at home.

In the way a mother organises, listens, negotiates, protects, decides, adapts, encourages, and keeps going - often without recognition, visibility, or rest.

But let’s be honest, recognising mothers as leaders should not mean romanticising the unequal burden of care. Around the world, women and girls still spend more than 2.5 times as many hours a day on unpaid care work as men. That reality is not only personal. It is structural. 🏛️

🔎 And yet, within that reality, many girls see leadership for the first time: not as a position, but as responsibility, emotional intelligence, resilience, and commitment.

At Girls Who Lead, we believe girls need visible role models in many spaces: schools, communities, technology, entrepreneurship, politics and also in everyday life.

📢 Because leadership is not only about being seen on a stage.

Sometimes, it starts with watching someone lead quietly, every day.

👇Who was the first woman who taught you what leadership looks like?


Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

🧬 Leadership is not always loud. Sometimes, it looks like persistence.

Katalin Karikó spent years working on mRNA research at a time when many people did not yet see its potential. Her scientific journey was not built on instant recognition, but on patience, focus, and the courage to keep asking difficult questions.

📍 In 2023, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Drew Weissman, for discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Her story matters for girls because it challenges a very common idea: that leadership is only about being naturally confident, visible, or successful from the beginning.

It is not.🙅‍♀️

Leadership can also be the ability to continue learning when your work is not understood yet.
To stay curious when the answer is not immediate.
To believe that a difficult idea may still be worth exploring.

🌟At Girls Who Lead, we want girls to know that leadership is not perfection.

It is courage, patience, resilience, and purpose.

✨ Sometimes, the world changes because someone refused to give up on a question.✨


Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

Scrolling has become part of everyday life.
But your screen can also become a place to learn, create and lead.

You can use digital tools to:

🎨 Design a campaign
📊 Understand a problem
🎥 Tell a story
🧩 Organise a project
🌍 Connect people around a cause

Digital confidence does not appear overnight. It grows when girls have access, guidance and space to practise.

At Girls Who Lead, we want girls to move from passive digital use to active digital leadership.

Because the internet should not only show you the future.
It should help you build it.

📤 Save this post and choose one digital skill to practise this week!



Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

👩‍💻 Only 1 in 5 ICT specialists in the EU is a woman. Why does that matter?

Technology is not neutral when only some voices are building it.

Apps, platforms, digital tools and AI systems shape how we learn, work, connect and make decisions. But in the EU, women still represent only 19.5% of ICT specialists.

That is not just a tech gap.
It is a leadership gap.

At Girls Who Lead, we believe girls should not only use digital tools. They should understand them, question them and help shape them.

Because the future of Europe needs more girls in the room where digital decisions are made. 🚀



Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

🌍✨ Gen-E 2026 was not only about learning. It was also about connecting.

When we look back at our time in Riga, we remember the inspiring conversations, the leadership discussions and the moments dedicated to sharing experiences across Europe.

But we also remember the moments in between. 💜

Exploring the city, meeting participants from different countries, sharing informal conversations, celebrating together during the evening activities and creating connections beyond the official programme. 🧭🤝

Because meaningful learning does not only happen in workshops or on stage. Sometimes it happens while discovering a new place, talking with someone you have just met, sharing a laugh or realising that other young people across Europe have similar dreams and challenges.

For the Girls Who Lead participants, Gen-E was an opportunity to experience European collaboration in a very real way: learning, exchanging ideas and building memories with a diverse community of young people, educators and leaders. 🇪🇺

Leadership is also about the relationships we build along the way.

Thank you, Riga, for the conversations, the connections and the experiences we will carry forward. ✨





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Disclaimer:
Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417.

⚠️ AI learns from human choices. That means representation matters.

👥 AI systems are created by people.
📊 They are trained with data.
⚖️ They are shaped by decisions.

So here is the question:
Who is included in those decisions?

If girls and women are missing from digital and AI spaces, the tools of the future may not reflect everyone’s needs, realities or experiences.

That is why digital leadership is not only about coding.
It is about ethics, inclusion and participation.

At Girls Who Lead, we want girls to understand technology critically, so they can help create a future that is fairer, safer and more inclusive.

💬 What should AI understand better about young people?









Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

AI can help write, organise, search, design and create.

But using AI well is not about clicking faster.
It is about thinking better.

A future leader needs to know how to:

🔍 Ask clear questions
🧠 Check information
⚖️ Think about ethics
👥 Understand who may be left out
💡 Use technology for real problems

At Girls Who Lead, AI is not presented as magic. It is a tool that girls can learn to use critically, creatively and responsibly.

Because tomorrow’s leaders will not be the ones who accept every answer.
They will be the ones who ask better questions.

💬 What is one question you would ask AI to help your community?



Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

💬 Before designing leadership tools for girls, we need to listen to how they experience leadership.

At Girls Who Lead, the panel at Gen-E 2026 was not only a moment to share the project. It was also a space to listen carefully.

📍To hear what confidence feels like when it is still being built.
📍To understand how stereotypes appear in everyday situations.
📍To recognise the importance of role models, mentoring and real support.
📍To see how young girls already think deeply about leadership, equality and impact.

These voices matter because they help us build better learning experiences: more practical, more inclusive and closer to the real challenges young girls face in today.🦾

The Girls Who Lead Curriculum is being developed with this purpose in mind: to support girls in strengthening leadership, digital, entrepreneurial and social impact skills while recognising that leadership is not one single model.

It can start with a question.
A role model.
A first step.
A moment of courage.
Or simply with someone finally feeling heard. 💜

Swipe through some of the voices that stayed with us from Riga. ✨

💬 Which quote resonates with you the most?





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Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417

During the Girls Who Lead panel on Day 2 of 2026, we heard women reflect on the real challenges girls face when stepping into leadership roles.

One of the young voices shared:

“When I was little, I had a problem with my confidence and I think that was the thing that kept me most from succeeding further in life. I realized from a really young age that any kind of attention to girls was kind of a bad attention, even if I answered correctly, even if I answered wrong, people still commented and gave me as a wrong example.”

Another reflection reminded us how fear can stop ideas before they even begin:

“I didn’t want to put my ideas into practice. I kept them, maybe lost them, but I always thought that if I stood out and I said what I was thinking that maybe I was going to be judged, maybe I was going to do a mistake.”

These words matter because they show exactly why Girls Who Lead exists.

💡 Girls do not lack ideas.
🏅 They do not lack talent.
🔥They do not lack ambition.

Too often, they lack spaces where they can try, make mistakes, be taken seriously and see leadership as something that also belongs to them. 🌍

And as one of the speakers said:

“As you actually start doing something, as you participate, as you get an idea, then you bring it to life, you get the self-confidence, and that boosts it. You just cannot stop leading. You just fall in love with leading.”

At Girls Who Lead, that is the kind of leadership we want to support across Europe: practical, inclusive, honest and built through action. 🚀

💬 What helped you gain confidence when you were younger?


Girls Who Lead: Navigating Leadership Skills in a Rapid Evolving Europe is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, European Commission or Agency for International Programs for Youth. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Project number: 2025-1-LV02-KA220-YOU-000361417.