Peace, Human Security and Dignity Week
Gender equity and justice: accelerating the pace of change
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The UK has a rich history of advancing women’s rights. In
1918, the Representation of the People Act granted voting
rights to women over 30, with equal suffrage achieved in
1928. From the Equal Pay Act of 1970 to the Equality Act of
2010, trailblazing women have been at the forefront of
building collective movements for progress and justice.
But there remain stubborn challenges and barriers to women’s
full economic, legal, and social empowerment.
Linking speakers in the historic Great Room of the RSA in
London and in the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, this event
will hear from today’s disruptors, influencers and
innovators leading the charge for the protection and
advancement of the rights of women and girls in the UK, and
internationally - and for a future where everyone has equal
opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Recorded video available
Discussion
- Promotion of women's participation and advancement
- Gender equality
- Social inequality
| Transmission of simultaneous interpretation | Not provided |
|---|---|
| Language of interpretation | English |
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Track Programme
-
Time and
Date of
the event -
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2025.08.05[Tue]
17:30 ～ 18:30
(Venue Open 17:00)
-
- Venue
- Pavilion
- UK Pavilion
Programme details
*Subtitles: Choose “Subtitles/CC” in the “Settings” (gear
icon) at the bottom right of the YouTube video.
*Subtitles may not show with multiple languages or overlapping
audio.
This is event is by invitation only, but to join the event
online click on Book an online ticket
(https://www.thersa.org/events/2025/08/gender-equity-and-justice-accelerating-the-pace-of-change/)
.
To note the live event will be conducted in English.
The event will be available on YouTube with Japanese subtitles
from 06/08/25.
RSA and UK at Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai
A bold new events partnership celebrating the UK as a place to
come to study, visit and invest, and as a country of
innovation and creativity where the world can come to build
the future.
With the deadline to the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals just five years away, the RSA and UK at Expo 2025
partnership will tackle global issues from inequality to
climate change, exploring the progress that has been made and
the work still to be done to secure health and wellbeing,
peace, justice, and prosperity for communities worldwide.
www.theRSA.org
Reports
【Reflection】
The second in a series of events in collaboration between the
DBT and the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce
the event focused on the advancement of women’s rights -
something thing UK has a rich history of. And yet barriers to
equity and justice prove stubbornly persistent - from
under-representation in business leadership and politics to
pay gaps, everyday bias, and systemic exclusion.
The hybrid panel event, jointly hosted by the UK Pavilion at
Expo 2025 Osaka and RSA in London brought together
perspectives from the UK and Japan, and saw panel speakers
explore how women are shaping leadership in both countries,
what progress has been made, where the real challenges still
lie, and how the next generation are setting new expectations
for inclusivity and equity in the workplace and beyond.
Simulcast between both venues, live-streamed on RSA YouTube,
and excellently chaired by Nina Nannar, Arts Editor, ITN,
London, and Carloyn Davidson, UK Commissioner General for
Expo, Osaka, attendees were inspired by rich, insightful, and
thoughtful panel discussions, with speakers Chika Sudo, Head
of Arts, British Council, (Osaka), Natalia Mastsenko,
Ukrainian curator, art critic, and lecturer (Osaka) and London
panel speakers Sakshi Bansal, Equality Advocate and Sr
Strategy Consultant, Arup and Penny East, CEO, Fawcett
Society, who’s words made a great impact and raised much food
for thought around the challenges, current and future, to
gender equality and justice in societies across the globe.
Although a challenge both logistically and technically, the
event broadcast effortlessly and was a huge success. Feedback
from attendees, speakers, chairs and all those involved both
the UK and Osaka has been very positive, with excellent
delivery and content, and many saying they wished the event
could have been longer.
Feedback shared on socials:
‘…loved the openness and humility to listen to different
viewpoints, to take on difficult questions, with an eye to
building a better future for all.’
‘… one statement that struck me during the discussion with
Natalia Matsenko was that when women are involved in peace
negotiations, the resulting agreements are 35% more likely to
last at least 15 years.’
‘…I believe it’s a time full of potential, building on the
stories of the ordinary, brave and extraordinary women, on
whose shoulders we stand today. Sharing their stories and
enriching them with empowering contemporary ones to build a
better, fairer society for all.’
‘…my thanks to you and fellow panellists on both sides of the
world. The RSA and the British Council did an excellent job
and I think the chairs were excellent.
‘It was so wonderful to attend the panel discussion on Gender
equity and justice in London and be introduced to this amazing
community. I meet some wonderful people and the conversations
were intriguing…’
‘One message stood out: we cannot afford lazy solutions or
symbolic gestures. Real change requires reconstruction,
reimagination and scaling micro solutions that are working.’
【Post EXPO Initiatives】
The event discussions raised many facets of gender equality
and justice experienced by societies across the globe,
touching on the ongoing and new challenges being encountered.
The RSA would look to build on the many questions and
approaches shared and provide additional public talks looking
in more detail at each facet and its impact on developing a
fair and just world.
For example, one of the key issues raised by Penny East, CEO,
Fawcett Society, was that of the impact AI is and could have
on the equality and live chances of women. Raising awareness
and concerns around the loss of jobs in public services, bias
within recruitment tools, and productivity tools essentially
taking us backwards re: flexible and inclusive working.
Another was around online safety - of course the Online Safety
Act just passed, and a big driver was the safety and dignity
of women and girls, but there is huge backlash around freedom
of speech and actual feminist campaigners who believe it will
prevent LGBT+ or sex-positive content being blocked.
Natalia Mastsenko spoke passionately about how the arts and
creativity are helping to bring equality and boosting morale
even on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Sakshi Bansal made many valid points about, how in the past,
so much of the world we live in, its’ infrastructure, systems,
and environment has been designed with men in mind but only
serves circ.50% of the populace.
Chika Sudo spoke of the changes afoot amongst younger Japanese
creatives, keen to have a more equal society where everyone
can thrive – men and women working together.
A common theme was the importance of campaigning to challenge
attitudes and the importance of allyship. Only by all being
involved and given a voice can real change happen. Diversity
isn’t a ‘nice to have’, said Sakshi Bansal. ‘Whether it’s at
the negotiating table or the boardroom table, bringing
different perspectives drives more sustainable, resilient
outcomes.
Cast
Moderator
Nina Nannar
Journalist and Arts Editor for ITV News (London)
Nina Nannar is Arts Editor for ITV News and host of
the ITV News podcast Unscripted.
She is a member of Bafta and the Brit Awards Voting
Academy, serves as an Ambassador for the King’s Trust
and the British Asian Trust and is a mentor to fellow
journalists from ethnic minority groups.
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Carolyn Davidson
UK Commissioner General for Expo 2025 (Osaka)
Carolyn has led the UK's presence at Expo 2025 as
Commissioner-General since March 2024, a role she took
on full-time from January this year. Prior to that she
was British Consul-General in Osaka from August 2021.
A career diplomat her previous roles include
Ambassador to Guatemala and Honduras (2015-19), High
Commissioner to Zambia (2008 – 2012) and Deputy Head
of Mission of the British Embassy in Slovakia
(2004-08), all roles she job-shared with her husband,
Tom Carter.
She has a degree in Modern Languages from Bristol
University (1986), a MBA from the Open University
(2011) and speaks French, German, Spanish and
Japanese.
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Speakers
Penny East
Chief Executive at the Fawcett Society
Penny is the Chief Executive at the Fawcett Society –
the member-led organisation fighting misogyny and
advocating for women’s rights since 1866.
Penny has worked in the charity sector for the last
fifteen years, including overseeing communications and
campaigns for national domestic abuse charity,
SafeLives - shaping the Domestic Abuse Bill 2021 and
establishing an internal survivor network at the
charity.
Penny launched the first national domestic abuse
perpetrator programme in the UK (in partnership with
the Home Office and the Lottery) and was on the Board
of Directors for the programme until January 2025.
Until April 2025, Penny was a director of policy and
communications at a mental health charity that
advocates for a social approach to mental health
provision throughout NHS.
She has previously worked on communications and
digital projects at UN Refugee Council, Comic Relief
and for legacy of London 2012 Summer Olympics.
Penny is a Clore Social Fellow (specialism in gender
equality) and has an MA in Investigative Journalism.
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Sakshi Bansal
Founder of Project Leap, Sr. Advisor at Private Equity Investments (Arup, UK), and President (SDGs) of the Women's Chamber of Commerce (New Delhi, India)
Sakshi is a Chartered Management Consultant,
specialising in sustainable strategies, organisational
resilience, and capacity building, with expertise in
shaping policies that drive equitable growth in
emerging markets. She is the Head Delegate for the
youth G20 Summit, representing the United Kingdom this
year in South Africa for the global summit.
She has advised governments, private sector leaders,
and multilateral organisations on economic strategy,
ESG governance, and resilience-building. She has led
India-UK market expansion in aviation and energy and
conducted capacity-building programs in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
Passionate about youth leadership, Sakshi founded
Project LEAP, mobilising 300+ volunteers for education
and career development. A UNITAR-trained expert in
diplomacy, she co-authored research on global economy,
SDGs, and resilience, championing youth-driven
economic policies.
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Chika Sudo
Head of Arts at the British Council in Japan
Chika Sudo is Head of Arts at the British Council
Japan, where she leads the organisation’s arts and
creative industries programmes. After graduating from
International Christian University, she began her
career at Sony Corporation before moving to the UK in
2001 to pursue an MA in Museum Studies at University
College London (UCL).
Since joining the British Council in 2005, she has
played a key role in fostering UK–Japan cultural
relations, developing and delivering a wide range of
collaborative programmes across visual arts,
performing arts, and other creative sectors. Her work
has addressed pressing social issues including
disability, ageing, and social isolation, working in
partnership with leading UK arts organisations and
diverse Japanese institutions such as museums,
theatres, orchestras, local governments, and
non-profits organisations.
Appointed to her current role in 2022, she is now
responsible for the strategic direction and delivery
of the British Council’s arts programme in Japan. In
2025, she and her team are contributing to the UK’s
arts and creative industries programme at the UK
Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka.
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©Angelica Yefanova
Natalia Matsenko
Independent Ukrainian curator, art critic and lecturer
Natalia Matsenko is an independent Ukrainian curator,
art critic, and lecturer. She
focuses on the landscape and environmental
transformations, human and
non-human communities and networks, new media, and
cultural heritage
preservation from a decolonial perspective. She has
curated exhibitions and
residencies in Ukraine, Germany, Denmark, Belgium,
Netherlands, Austria,
Switzerland, Poland, Mexico, etc. Several cultural
diplomacy projects have been
implemented in cooperation with the European External
Action Service, Brussels. She
cooperated with Mohrytsia. Borderland Space symposium
since 2018, and BIRUCHIY
art residency, Ukraine, since 2013. Was a fellow
curator at Kunstmuseum Bochum,
Germany (2022-2024) and was in a curatorial residence
at Citéinternationale des
arts, Paris (2024). Recently completed a course
“Climate adaptation for creatives”
launched by the British Council and Black Mountains
College.
Natalia graduated from the Kharkiv State Academy of
Design and Arts with an MA
in Art Theory and History. Her recent practice is
connected to the relationship
between ecological and political action and art, and
its short and long-term impact
on socio-environmental systems. Recent curatorial
projects include: Ambiences:
Solidarity Sounds for Ukraine, 2025, k i t e v,
Oberhausen, Germany; SEE:UA
connecting landscapes festival, 2024, Seestadt, Vienna
(co-curator); Discursive
Programme for the Landscapes of an Ongoing Past, 2024,
Zeche Zollverein, Essen,
Germany; Home Beyond the Dawn, 2023-2024, Museum of
Arts of the University of
Guadalajara, Mexico; OUR YEARS, OUR WORDS, OUR LOSSES,
OUR SEARCHES, OUR
US, 2023, Jam Factory Art Center, Lviv, Ukraine
(co-curator); (Un)stable Institutions
(2023) and Let's Talk About Something Else
(2022), Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany;
Thinking About Ukraine, 2023, Van Abbemuseum / Griet
Menschaert's studio,
Eindhoven, Netherlands; Records of Resistance (2023,
Oberhausen / Düsseldorf,
Germany; UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, 2022, Royal Museum of
Art and History, Brussels
/ Art Center Silkeborg Bad, Denmark / Kunst(Zeug)Haus,
Switzerland
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Co-organiser
Royal Society of Arts (RSA)
Peace, Human Security and Dignity Week
Gender equity and justice: accelerating the pace of change
The UK has a rich history of advancing women’s rights. In
1918, the Representation of the People Act granted voting
rights to women over 30, with equal suffrage achieved in 1928.
From the Equal Pay Act of 1970 to the Equality Act of 2010,
trailblazing women have been at the forefront of building
collective movements for progress and justice.
But there remain stubborn challenges and barriers to women’s
full economic, legal, and social empowerment.
Linking speakers in the historic Great Room of the RSA in
London and in the UK Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka, this event
will hear from today’s disruptors, influencers and innovators
leading the charge for the protection and advancement of the
rights of women and girls in the UK, and internationally - and
for a future where everyone has equal opportunity to achieve
their full potential.
-
2025.08.05[Tue]
17:30～18:30
(Venue Open 17:00)
- Pavilion
OTHER PROGRAM
Peace, Human Security and Dignity Week
