About us
Our Mission
To create an intergenerational, energising solidarity space where advocacy is engaged with in good fun and good faith, to shift the conditions for young women and gender diverse folks in Australia.
We are doing this because we have benefitted from the generosity of feminists before us, and we identified a gap in the mechanisms available to young women behind us to channel their energy, their care, their fire and their rage into meaningful collective action.
We seek to model intergenerational and intersectional thought and leadership, towards accountability.
In short, we want to create a platform for, and with, every generation.
Our Story
After identifying similar gaps, Girls Run the World and the Equality Rights Alliance’s Young Womens Advisory Group joined forces to create a youth-led feminist building women’s leadership through collective action, community, and practical pathways to impact.
We create spaces where emerging leaders can connect, learn, and organise, grounded in lived experience and honest conversation.
Born from the need to bridge gaps in the feminist movement, we collaborate with partners and communities to convene, resource, and advocate for a bold, inclusive, and effective movement for gender equality.
The Persephone Network exists because we believe gender equality accelerates when women have the confidence, community, and tools to organise, and when their leadership is facilitated through collective joy and connected spaces where good faith leaders work together for a better future.
Our Theory of Change
Our theory of change is simple:
We facilitate practical spaces for women to connect, learn, and lead. Through leadership development, community building, and collective action, we help emerging leaders build the skills, relationships, and shared analysis needed to move from individual ambition to coordinated impact.
When women are supported to develop leadership capabilities, connected into strong networks, and given opportunities to act together through convenings, projects, discussion, and advocacy. We aim to make sure they have the space to shape decisions in their workplaces, communities, and public life. Over time, those individual and collective shifts build stronger feminist ecosystems, increase women’s representation and influence, and contribute to a more just and equal society.
In practice, that means we focus on:
• Leadership development that is grounded in lived experience and real-world skills
• Community that reduces isolation and strengthens solidarity across difference
• Collective action that turns shared priorities into visible, strategic change
• Complete transparency, we work to make sure our work is sustainable, inclusive, and values-led.