It’s incredibly inspiring being here in Liberia on the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day with three shining examples of women in leadership: UN Foundation CEO Kathy Bushkin Calvin, the first-ever UN Women Executive Director (and formerly Chile’s first female President) Michelle Bachelet, and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first elected female head-of-state in Africa.
Watching these history-making women, side by side, speaking to adolescent girls, teens, mothers, and women — and seeing first hand the importance of women’s empowerment in Liberia — is an honor.
More than once on this trip, though, I have been reminded that Liberia is only recently even considered a “post-conflict” nation — and the toll of past conflict on women has been especially high.
On my very first day here in Liberia, I had the chance to sit down and talk with a woman who had been a child solider. The price she paid as part of the conflict in Liberia was as high as it gets. Her friends died, and she was forced to do things no person should have to do. Her dreams were violated along with her body and freedoms. For years, the options available to her would have been on the bottom of anyone’s list. She had a powerful story to share about the transformation that took place once she was taken in by friends and given skills and options about how she could take back her life and re-enter the society she called “the life I forgot existed.”
Executive Director Bachelet addressed a forum for community justice at a Peace Hut in the Liberian village of Totota on Monday (photo below). While we are seeing progress here on the ground, it is of course incremental — and while Liberia is emerging from decades of conflict, unrest still remains widespread amongst its regional neighbors.
These are the kinds of experiences that stay with you throughout your everyday life. On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, and although I am missing the wonderful women in my life waiting for me back stateside, I couldn’t be more thankful to be a part of this moment here in Liberia.
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There will be more pictures of this? It would be niec to see some of the three woman together.