Alyse Nelson - Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World

Copyright 2012 by Vital Voices. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nelson, Alyse, 1974

Vital voices : the power of women leading change around the world / Alyse Nelson. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-18477-6 (cloth), 978-1-118-22750-3 (ebk), 978-1-118-24053-3 (ebk), 978-1-118-26511-6 (ebk)

1.WomenPolitical activity. 2.Women social reformers. 3.Leadership in women. 4.Social change. I. Title.

HQ1236.N45 2012

305.42dc23

2012010376

For the women whose voices have inspired, humbled, and propelled us forward and to those still struggling to have their voices heard

Photo Credits

Cover (from left to right)

Photo of Afnan Al-Zayani by Aaron Kisner, photo of Rebecca Lolosoli by Kate Cummings, photo of Mu Sochua by Micky Wiswedel, photo of Panmela Castro by Aaron Kisner

Chapter 1

Photo of Marina Pisklakova by Maria Soshenko; photo of Hafsat Abiola by Sharon Farmer; photo of Anel Townsend Diez-Canseco by the Photographic Archive of the Ministry of Women Affairs of Peru; photo of Sunitha Krishnan by Micky Wiswedel; photo of Hawa Abdi by Josh Cogan

Chapter 2

Photo of Lubna Al-Kazi by Josh Cogan, photo of Maria Pacheco by Josh Cogan, photo of Mu Sochua by Micky Wiswedel, photo of Roshaneh Zafar by Josh Cogan, photo of Kah Walla by Micky Wiswedel, photo of Rosana Schaack by Amy Drucker, photo of Adimaimalaga Tafuna'i by Aaron Kisner

Chapter 3

Photo of Inez McCormack by PressEye Photography Northern Ireland, photo of Asha Hagi Elmi by the Clinton Global Initiative, photo of Noha Khatieb by Josh Cogan, photo of Latifa Jbabdi by Sharon Farmer, photo of Oda Gasinzigwa by Sharon Farmer, photo of Rita Chaikin by Alexander Ivshin, photo of Afnan Al Zayani by Josh Cogan

Chapter 4

Photo of Rebecca Lolosoli by Josh Cogan, photo of Panmela Castro by Aaron Kisner, photo of Carmelita Gopez Nuqui by Peace Boat, photo of Laura Alonso by Josh Cogan, photo of Guo Jianmei by Liu Yulin, photo of Chouchou Namegabe Dubuisson by Chris Wright, photo of Sohini Chakraborty by Kolkata Sanved Archive

Chapter 5

Photo of Danielle Saint-Lot by Josh Cogan, photo of Liron Peleg-Hadomi and Noha Khatieb by Josh Cogan, photo of Andeisha Farid by Josh Cogan, photo of Kakenya Ntaiya by Kate Cummings, photo of Jaya Arunachalam by P. Rajeswari, photo of Samar Minallah Khan by Shiza Shahid

Foreword

The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton

Founder, Vital Voices

In 1995, delegates from 189 nations met in Beijing for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. I stood before those gathered and said the time had come to break our silence.

No longer would we accept any separation between women's rights and human rights. No longer would discussions about women's issues take place unnoticed, in back rooms.

Vital Voices began as a government initiative during the Clinton Administration at a time of great change in the world. Many countries were emerging from conflict and repression, beginning the transition to democracy. Former Secretary and my friend, Madeleine Albright, and I, along with others at the State Department and the White House, believed it was critical that women have a role in shaping the futures that they would inhabit. We believed that if women were brave enough and strong enough to challenge the status quo and participate in politics, civil society, the economy, we should help them.

An idea that began in a small office at the State Department as the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative has grown into Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO with more than one thousand staff and partners worldwide, supporting the work of twelve thousand women leaders in 144 countries.

This organization and its mission are very close to my heart. I carry the lessons of Vital Voices with me every day. At the State Department, we are working hard to embed support for women's rights and advancement as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Melanne Verveer, the co-founder of Vital Voices, is leading that effort as our Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. And everywhere I go in the world, somebody from Vital Voices comes to see me. They tell me about a training program or a visit, an opportunity they had to advance their work even further.

Since 1995, it has become very clear that development stalls where women are oppressed, and accelerates where they are empowered.

We know that women make unique and critical contributions. They often see problems that others overlook. They are able to reach populations that others either cannot reach or do not care to do. And even when it seems that no opportunity exists, they still find a way.

The status of the world's women is not only a matter of morality and justice. It is also a political, economic, and social imperative. Put simply, the world cannot make lasting progress if women and girls in the twenty-first century are denied their rights and left behind.

The women leaders you will meet in the pages of this book hail from different cultures and parts of the world, but they share important values and attributes. They each look for ways to make systemic changeto lift the lives of thousands, even millions of people.