What do you have in common with one third of all the women in the UK?

You read a magazine that’s produced by Heart Magazines UK – the publisher of ELLE and ELLEuk.com – whose titles reach one in every three women in the country.

That incredible achievement, and the ways in which those more than nine million women inspire every editorial team in the company every single day, is at the heart of a unique new initiative launched by the company this morning at the AdWeek Europe conference in London: Hearst Empowering Women.

ELLE rebrands feminism

Five of Heart’s top editors – Sarah Bailey of Red, Louise Court of Cosmopolitan, Justine Picardie of Harper’s Bazaar, Lindsay Nicholson of Good Housekeeping and our own Lorraine Candy – took to the conference stage to talk about the lives of modern women – from the pay gap to politics – and to discuss and celebrate the relationship between you and the magazines you read.

• On the denigration of women’s magazines: ‘It’s patronising and sexist to say that if you read fashion magazines you can’t be a feminist. The fashion industry is the second biggest employer in the country, and it’s dismissed as a bit of fluff.’ Lorraine Candy

• On priorities: ‘The biggest luxury women today can get is time.' Justine Picardie

• On campaigning: ‘Feminism is a fabulous word.’ Louise Court

• On women today: ‘It’s a myth that women on social media are just taking selfies. They want to have a voice.’ Lorraine Candy

Alongside the magazines themselves, Hearst has launched a new digital hub – empowering.hearst.co.uk – that will host talks from powerful and influential women, provide tips for success and offer inspirational advice on a range of issues affecting women. Together, we hope to be able to tackle issues that affect all of you.

Hearst Empowering Women is also partnering with Theirworld, Sarah Brown’s charity for women and children around the world, and, through them, we’ll be providing role model and mentoring help across the UK.

But what do you think? What would you like us to tackle? And what does being empowered mean to you? Tweet us at @elleuk using #hearstinspires and tell us.

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