Change Called Us Here: Women Deliver 2026

Reflections on Pacific feminist leadership, online misogyny, & voice

Cashelle Dunn is a Gender Equality, Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Technical Advisor at Save the Children Australia. Drawing on both professional and lived experience, her work spans human rights advocacy, child protection and international development. She has a particular interest in how online spaces, power, marginalisation and gender shape the lives of young people. 

Last month, I attended Women Deliver, one of the world’s largest convenings on gender equality. Over 6000+ feminists, researchers, young leaders and activists from around the world came together in Naarm/Melbourne over five intense, energising days driving change for women and girls. 

Cashelle Dunn, GEDSI Technical Advisor, speaks with another delegate at Women Deliver in Naarm/Melbourne. 
Photo: Katharina Glynne/Save the Children Australia

Hosted in the Oceanic region for the first time ever, there was something especially powerful about seeing Pacific voices and leadership centred in a space of this scale. I had never been to a conference where intersectionality was so central to the experience. As a woman with disability this made me feel accepted and hopeful. 

I felt incredibly proud to attend as part of Save the Children Australia’s delegation, with an amazing group of Pacific staff and young delegates from across the region whose clarity, warmth and political insight consistently cut through some of the biggest conversations happening that week. 

Our Pacific delegates led conversations across several events at Women Deliver. 
Photo: Save the Children Australia

Raising boys in the age of the algorithm 

One thing I was pleased to see at Women Deliver was how often people talked about boys. 

Not in a defensive “what about men?” way, but in a genuinely concerned way. Across panels, side events and conversations in hallways, we kept circling back to the same question: what happens when boys grow up online in a world where misogyny is no longer fringe, but algorithmically rewarded? Worse still, increasingly monetised and packaged into highly sophisticated ecosystems preying on young men? 

At one point, Francis Woods - our Executive Director of International Programs - and I found ourselves talking about raising boys in an age when social media influences so much of how they view gender and respectful relationships. As a father of two sons, Francis spoke about the responsibility he feels to raise his sons with empathy, a healthy sense of identity, and knowing the positive role they can play in society. We didn’t have all the answers, but it felt important to be having the conversation honestly and workshopping strategies together. 

Cashelle and Francis Woods discuss raising boys at Women Deliver in Naarm/Melbourne. 
Photo: Katharina Glynne/Save the Children

There were also important conversations throughout the week about AI, including in a session from Matriarchs.ai about turning technology into power for gender equality movements. In the interactive discussion, we spoke about our fears and the risks and harms we already see occurring, such as surveillance, deepfakes and Nudify apps. We also acknowledged that many harms are likely yet unknown, emerging daily in this rapidly evolving space.

However, the speakers also positioned fear as a signal of our values, and innovation as something that requires engagement with discomfort. I was reminded that the future of AI is not fixed, and we have a role right now in shaping AI to reflect the values and power structures we want. It’s not too late.

These issues were not just acknowledged in side discussions. Governments from across the Asia-Pacific region spoke about the importance of online safety for young women, girls, and gender-diverse children, particularly those with disability. From high-level parliamentary discussions to the plenary sessions, conversations about sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender justice, inevitably turned to the role of technology, the influence of power structures, and the urgent need for protections across all areas of health and safety.  

From participation to power

While there was a lot of concern at Women Deliver about what is growing online, there was also a huge amount of clarity and optimism from young women and gender-diverse youth themselves. 

The clearest examples for me were Vepaiamele, Elizabeth and Kaysha, the three young Pacific delegates attending Women Deliver with Save the Children Australia. Over five days, I watched them speak about the intersection of digital safety, climate change and gender equality and the importance of girls’ leadership in all these spaces.

Pacific youth delegates Elizabeth, Vepaiamele and Kaysha, alongside staff members Petra and Anika. 
Photo: Katharina Glynne/Save the Children Australia. 

Each of our Pacific delegates led conversations across Women Deliver. In a panel discussion Save the Children Australia hosted about girls’ rights, Elizabeth, our Digital Safety Ambassador from PNG, said something that’s stuck with me: “adults or decision makers should, you know, instead of preventing or protecting, they should empower.”

This message was echoed by a panel of powerful young voices at a side event called ’Girls at the Centre: Power, Voice and Investment’ that Save the Children Australia’s CEO, Mat Tinkler, and I attended. Together we sat and listened to the girls’ journeys, heartbreaking truths, and their successes. It was made clear that, just like our delegation’s powerful young voices had also expressed, their safety, rights and leadership should not just be valued, but invested in. 

An adolescent girl on the stage guided us through a visualisation exercise, asking us to imagine ourselves at her age and reflect on what we might change for ourselves and future generations of girls. It made me cry. It wasn’t just that her words hit home about my own experiences as a girl, but also the fact that at her age I didn’t feel that brave, that informed, or possess that same fire for action and change.

Her words made me wish I knew her - and other young women like Vepaia, Elizabeth and Kaysha - at that time. I think that kind of solidarity would have helped me find safety, connection and a strong voice earlier. But I do have that now. So, what I can do is listen to them and add my voice to the call for collective action and investment – because safety matters, inclusion is vital, and the voices of girls and young women belong at centre stage!

Vepaiamele, 17, from Vanuatu believes both boys and girls should talk about gender equality. 
Photo: Katharina Glynne/Save the Children Australia

But like I said at the start, this isn’t just about girls. Boys are also catalysts for change. As Vepaiamele so articulately said on the final day of Women Deliver: “my message for young girls and young boys too, would be to have conversations about gender equality, talk to each other about these things, because gender equality is something that doesn’t only benefit women and girls, it benefits all of us.” 

Our Pacific delegates were supported by Proctor and Gamble and the Australian government through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership.