Chanel Contos included in BBC 100 Women list for 2022

The BBC has revealed its list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2022.

The list of women coming from impressive backgrounds and roles have made their mark for this year’s selection.

Amongst these noticeable women is Greek Australian Chanel Contos. Known for her activism on sexual consent, Contos has also won the Young People’s Human Rights Medal in the 2021 Australian Human Rights Awards.

Contos became popular when she launched her website “Teach Us Consent”, after posting an Instagram story asking her followers who had been sexually assaulted. The response was enormous, within 24 hours more than 200 women had answered “Yes”.

Born and raised in Sydney, and just over a year ago, living the life of a grad student in London, Contos aged 24, has held regular meetings with members of parliament to discuss sexual assault and harassment in the workplace.

Her website has launched an ongoing petition where people can share testimonies of sexual assault. Up to today over 45,000 Australians have signed the petition, with more than 6,700 people sharing their stories of sexual assault on the website. As a collective, the website’s platform calls out for sexual consent to be at the forefront of educational issues in the schools, from a young age.

Contos’ efforts and successful campaigning have officially payed off making consent education destined to be mandatory in all schools from kindergarten until year 10 from 2023.

Contos declares “I have lived in three different countries and I have never spoken to anyone who has experienced rape culture the way me and my friends had growing up in Sydney amongst private schools.”