We have grown used to terms such as greenwashing and pinkwashing, also known as rainbow-washing. The first describes the strategy of presenting environmentally destructive practices as sustainable; the second, the exploitation of feminist or LGBTQ+ causes to polish reputations without implementing real change. Both refer to a logic of image over substance, of appearance over accountability. Yet, in recent years, a new term has emerged in the same semantic family: youthwashing. At first glance, it might sound like just another buzzword. In reality, it describes a phenomenon that deeply concerns the way our societies frame young people and their role in decision-making processes.
What is Youthwashing?
Youthwashing is when organizations, institutions or companies, organisations or institutions include young people in events, panels or consultations, often in visible roles, not primarily to empower them, but to appear progressive, inclusive or future-oriented. In short, young people being exploited as a marketing image, decorative elements, rather than genuine participants in decision-making, in order to to make organizations look good while keeping the actual centres of power untouched.
In this sense, youth participation risks being reduced to a well-curated stage set. Panels featuring young speakers, photo-friendly consultations, and youth advisory boards are increasingly used to show openness, while the decisions that truly matter continue to be taken elsewhere. Young people are invited to “contribute”, but rarely to decide. They are asked to inspire, not to govern.
This symbolic inclusion reflects a deeper contradiction in the contemporary discourse on participation. On one hand, everyone agrees that young people must be involved in the decisions shaping their future. On the other, they remain systematically excluded from the structures where those decisions are actually made. The result is a comfortable illusion of inclusion, and no real intergenerational dialogue: a democratic paradox.
Examples of youthwashing are unfortunately frequent. We see them at international summits, where young delegates are showcased during opening ceremonies but excluded from closed-door negotiations. They are also present in corporate campaigns that use youth language and imagery to project progressiveness while maintaining old power dynamics. More over, it is possibile to see them even in the non-profit sector, when youth councils are created without granting them real influence or continuity. Finally, their presence is found m in the political sphere, through persistent age discrimination in elections.
EDUXO: real youth partecipation
At EDUXO, we believe that acknowledging this dynamic is the first step towards reversing it. As an organisation devoted to civic, educational and social engagement, we recognise that meaningful participation cannot exist without shared responsibility and structural trust. Youth participation is not a decorative element of democracy, but one of its conditions of vitality.
The task, then, is to move from representation to redistribution,of power, of voice, of access. It is to ensure that participation does not end when the spotlight turns off, but continues in the everyday mechanisms of decision-making. Because if young people are to be partners in shaping our societies, they must be more than the symbol of change: they must be its architects.
One of our current initiatives, #YouthPowerEU, embodies this commitment. The campaign calls for lowering the candidacy age for the European elections in Italy from 25 to 18 years old, a necessary step to ensure that young people are not only represented, but can represent themselves. Because democracy cannot be complete when an entire generation is excluded from the right to stand for election. This demand is not just procedural; it is political. It questions who gets to speak, to decide, and to shape the common future of Europe.
