The Struggle Starts by Speaking Out
Giving voice and driving change takes sustained, collective effort.
Also see
The Afghan Women Journalists Defying the Taleban
Against all odds and despite constant danger, a brave few continue to report.
Afghanistan: “I Don’t Want to Live. I Want to Die”
Two decades of efforts to protect women and girls has been systematically dismantled.
Afghanistan: “I Have Learned to Never Give Up”
What helps me keep going is my belief in our mission to empower women journalists to report on what is happening under the Taleban.
Ugandan Women Risk Their Lives to Access Abortion
“Many girls are dying because we have chosen to ignore them.”
Women in Central Asia Lead on Climate Change
Campaigners tackle widespread scepticism and lack of understanding of crisis.
The standardised game of football was invented in England, but from 1921-70, women were banned from Football Association (FA) grounds.
It took 103 years for the women’s game to recover. Currently, the Arsenal Women’s team sells out matches at the “men’s” stadium and is setting new attendance records– at long last, routinely exceeding the levels last seen a century ago.
This progress could only be achieved through collective effort – commitment from the players, fans, FA, media, business, schools, clubs and (in my own modest contribution) parents. Changing structures, changing minds, creating broad and sustainable social engagement. And lots of driving.
If the road can be so long for something so non-controversial, how about in other environments, on other issues? The right to choose, the right to work, the right to speak out, the right not to be abused online, the right to equal power.
As we mark International Women’s Day, it is vital to keep in mind success stories, because in many areas the road ahead remains far too long.
It is especially disheartening to see crushing reversals, none more so than in Afghanistan, where the Taleban takeover has wiped out two decades of hard-won progress by Afghan women. Remarkably, some women journalists continue to speak out against this extreme repressive ideology. We are proud to be supporting them, and we are humbled in this special package to highlight some of their searing reports.
In a virtual world, our thoroughfares – where we traffic day to day – are online, and it is courageous of our stalwart Middle East and North Africa country director Nadia Samet-Warren to speak out about her personal struggle against online abuse as a woman of colour working in the region. We are so proud of her.
In Ukraine, the war continues, as Russia seeks to reverse that country’s democratic will. Amid the ravages of bombing and assault, and significant gender-based violence, women and men must also struggle to assert their values and human dignity, as the inspirational story of Kyiv District Court Judge Yuliia Matveeva shows.
The struggle is long and takes sustained, collective effort. Giving voice, driving change – as this collection of reports attest, it starts by speaking out.
