Earlier this week, I attended a reception at the House of Sweden, the stunning Swedish Embassy on the harbor in Georgetown, Washington, DC. My Swedish grandmother would have been happy to see me there, but that is not why I went. I went to celebrate Vital Voices Global Partnerships, a nonprofit which began as part of the U.S. government’s Vital Voices Democracy Initiative. That initiative was established in 1997 by then First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, following the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy goal.
You may remember hearing about the uproar around the world when First Lady Hillary Clinton declared in Beijing that “Women’s rights are human rights”. It is hard for many of you to imagine that such a statement, so axiomatic to you now, could have caused such a stir in 1995. However, as you know, the fight for women’s rights was not over then, is not over now and, in fact, is being eroded on some fronts even in our own United States of America.
Fortunately, the need for “Vital Voices” to represent those women around the world without voices and to invest in women to improve the world was clear to the prescient among us in 1995, like Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright, and the rest is history. This week’s event at House for Sweden and the Vital Voices awards ceremony the following night at the Kennedy Center were additional chapters in that history.
The event at House of Sweden was to celebrate the recently released book, “Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World” (Jossey-Bass 2012) by Alyse Nelson, President and CEO of Vital Voices. The book, which opens with the dedication, “For the women whose voices have inspired, humbled, and propelled us forward and to those still struggling to have their voices heard,” includes profiles of women from around the globe, who have changed the world, and the Foreword is by Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The women highlighted in Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World include: Marina Pisklakova, an advocate for victims of domestic violence in Russia; Hafsat Abiola, Hawa Abdi, and Kah Walla, who fight for women’s rights in their African nations; Carmelita Gopez Nuqui of the Phillipines, who leads the fight against human trafficking; Jaya Arunachalam of India and Samar Minallah Khan of Pakistan, who have been instrumental in shedding the light on human rights and women’s rights in those countries; Guo Jianmei of China and Mu Sochua of Cambodia, who battle for equality and justice for women in their corner of the world; Laura Alonso of Argentina and Panmela Castro of Brazil, who took on the fight against political corruption and in support of women’s rights and safety in unique ways; and Inez McCormack, whose fiery voice and spirit continues to shake up the world as one of the most influential civil rights leaders in Northern Ireland.
In hearing the remarks of Inez McCormack and others at the House of Sweden event, I could not help but feel that there was an echo in the room. I was hearing about women helping women, paying it forward, leading in the way of women not men and countless other themes of my own books and writings. It was good to be in the company of these women and to know that we are all moving in the same direction and for the same end game. Our individual missions may differ in focus and in scope, but the overriding message is that women must step forward to protect what is rightfully theirs and to safeguard the future of women to follow.
I was particularly moved by the message that Alyse Nelson wrote when she signed my book, “Susan, Thank you for all you do for women and our world.” Although the Best Friends at the Bar project pales in comparison to that of Vital Voices, I accept the author’s recognition that we are all fighting for the same causes and the implicit message that we must all work together to accomplish our goals.
Thank you to Vital Voices and to the evening’s sponsors for a wonderful and inspiring evening.
Learn more about Vital voices and opportunities to support the mission at www.vitalvoices.org.
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