Canberra based Girls Takeover Parliament co-founders have been named on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2018 list, which recognises young innovators and leaders in the region.
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In October last year, Ashleigh Streeter-Jones and Caitlin Figueiredo joined forces with 15 other local girls who shared their ambitions for high office in a "takeover" of Parliament House. The young women, aged between 17 and 30, each hijacked the seat of a federal MP.
The pair were named "youthful visionaries" by Forbes for challenging conventional wisdom and rewriting the rules for the next generation of female leaders.
The "takeover" program, run in conjunction with Plan International Australia, made history by being the world's largest political takeover, Ms Streeter-Jones said.
She said the program set to close the "dream gap" for Australian young women and girls and demand a gender balance in parliament.
"More than half of young women thought it was harder for women to become politicians and that female politicians were treated unfairly by male politicians and the media," she said.
The program secured the involvement of every major political party in the ACT Legislative Assembly and Federal Parliament.
Nationally, the program saw the direct participation of 23 MPs including the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Labor leaders Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek, Greens leader Richard di Natale and former Senator Nick Xenophon.
"This award opens up a world of possibilities for our work," Ms Streeter-Jones said.
"While we need more women in politics, the voices of young women are almost totally absent - but we're going to change all of that."
Ms Figueiredo, who is currently at the United Nations said she felt truly grateful to have "received an award of this calibre with Ashleigh".
"When establishing Girls Takeover Parliament, we were on a mission to ensure the rights and voices of young women were heard by our politicians - and this recognition proves our program is a game changer," she said.
Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia editor Rana Wehbe said the list celebrated "inspiring game-changers like Ashleigh and Caitlin who are disrupting their sectors and not taking 'no' for an answer."
She said the criteria for honorees to make the list included leadership and disruption in their field; entrepreneurial mind-set and results; and the likelihood of changing their field over the next half-century.
There were more than 2000 submissions, but only 300 made the cut with 36 Australians honoured. Girls Takeover ranked 10th on the Forbes Social Entrepreneurs list.
