March 8th is International Women's Day. As a gender and development advocate, this year's global theme of women and men uniting to end violence against women and girls is especially meaningful to me.
There are so many things to be said about the life and works of many women in the world. About their strength, exceptional intelligence and beauty. Special circumstances that did not involve bikinis, a centerfold spread, or billowing breasts have allowed women to alleviate how other people live or see the world and directly contribute to nation building.
Allow me put the spotlight on the women I've never met yet, but have influenced my life, beliefs, and advocacies tremendously.
I love how she has pushed for women's rights in the Middle East and the fact that she set up her own YouTube channel to promote social change and allow the rest of the world a different view of the Arab region.
This frail looking woman has been put through so much already, but she is still fighting for a free Burma. In her 'Freedom from Fear' speech, she said, "It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it..."
GMA, familiar much?
The rockstar journalist. I'd stay glued to CNN watching her cover stories on Arafat, the Gulf War and Bosnia and Sarajevo when I was just under 10. Years later, I would quote her 'to be neutral is to be an accomplice' remark during a Journalism Ethics class.
Happy Women's Month!
I'd drop everything to be Christiane Amanpour's PA.
Posted by: owen | 03/30/2009 at 08:19 PM