U.N. undersecretary Michelle Bachelet wasn’t on the recently released Time 100 Most Influential People of 2012, but she’s certainly on my list of the most influential people in the world. For those of you who don’t know her, Bachelet is the first Executive Director of U.N. Women, and in that position she leads the U.N.’s work to advocate for gender equality and the empowerment of women, and also to advocate that the U.N.’s resources are used to meet these critical goals.

Bachelet has perfect pitch for the job — she is the former president of Chile (2006-2010) as well as the country’s minister of health and first woman minister of defense. She is also the first woman in the Americas to serve as Minister of Defense. (Bachelet credits her time in that role, and the credibility it gave her, as one of reasons that she was seriously considered as a presidential candidate in Chile.)

She also brings her life experience to the position. Bachelet is a mother, a pediatrician and epidemiologist by training, and someone who has experienced first-hand the impact of war and upheaval. Bachelet lived in Chile during the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power. Bachelet’s father, a general and supporter of President Salvador Allende, refused exile, was tortured extensively and died in prison. Bachelet and her mother then worked to organize resistance to Pinchot. They were captured and tortured, and later exiled. In 1979, she was given permission to return to Chile and she became politically active in the fight to re-establish democracy. These are experiences that give Bachelet the background to understand to challenges faced by many women and men around the world in countries devastated by war and conflict.

While in Washington, D.C. for World Bank meetings, Bachelet took time to speak to the Women’s Foreign Policy Group. She focused on two key areas where there is still a lot of work to do to make progress for women: economic and political empowerment. She talked about why we need more women in office and the difference women make in policy and democratic governance, with a specific eye towards how women legislators and world leaders look at issues differently than their male colleagues. As Bachelet reminded us, research shows that as more women serve in office, there is an increased focus on issues traditionally seen as women’s issues (education, health care) but also on issues that affect women’s daily lives, such as water and infrastructure.

She was pointed is her analysis of the Arab Spring and its impact on women. As she said, the revolutions across North Africa and Yemen have created greater opportunities for equality, but that the growing backlash means that women must continue to struggle for an equal place at the table. She pointed out the lack of economic opportunities in the Arab Spring countries for women and the need to provide those opportunities as well as a place at the decision making table. Following on her New York Times op-ed regarding women in Afghanistan, she was clear that the international community must not bargain away women’s rights.

Bachelet was clear that “there is no vaccine” for gender inequality, and that both role models and language are important as we work to shape a new reality for women and girls worldwide. She was also pointed in her comments about the need for us to work for progress in all countries — not just those we assume treat women unequally — and create urgency around women’s inclusion across the globe. When asked about the most urgent issues facing women, she wove together political empowerment, economic empowerment, health, education and a sustainable environment, and answered that we need to look at solutions to all of our challenges in more integrated manner.

Yes, Bachelet is a trailblazer, and yes, she holds a position with tremendous influence. But those aren’t the reasons she tops my list of influential people in the world. She tops my list because she brings her life experience, political savvy and no-nonsense approach to overcoming challenges for women and their families. It’s the kind of straight talk that we all need to hear so that we are looking for solutions that can work for everyone, and work in a sustained way over time.

This week I was asked to comment in a CNN article entitled ‘Meet Fortune 500’s female powerbrokers’ This was following the release of Fortune’s latest ranking of America’s 500 largest corporations which includes more women CEOs than ever before.

Women lead 18 of the 500 companies, including Hewlett-Packard (10th) run by Meg Whitman and IBM (19th) run by Ginni Rometty.

In my role as a founding member of the 30% Club, which encourages company chairs to commit to achieving at least 30% women on UK corporate boards, I believe that while there are a record number of women CEOs in the United States, there are hardly any women on boards.  In the 30% Club, we aim to inspire company leaders to appoint more women to executive and non-executive directorships; improve the pipeline below the board level to widen the talent pool available to business; and support and encourage successful women in business.

The United States doesn’t have the same regulatory situation as boards in the UK and parts of Europe. In the UK you can only do two terms on a board, so we are seeing a turnaround for women, whereas in the States, people seem to get on a board and stay for a lifetime, almost and so the pipeline seems blocked forever.

I feel female CEOs can influence the make-up of boards, they can try to influence the chairman of their company by saying, ‘Look at the shortlist: How many women are you bringing on?’

They may also indirectly benefit others aspiring to senior positions. A number of women CEOs have children. They are looking to make change and to encourage the pipeline. There will be a few who won’t be helpful but the vast majority of women CEOs are doing all they can to encourage other women to go after these jobs.

Food security is a critical – and growing – issue.  We share the globe with 7 billion others and that number is growing.  The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that there are one 1 billion hungry people are hungry in the world and 60% of them are women, with 100 to 150 million living in extreme poverty.  To drive the point home, 2.5 billion people live on $2/day, and here in the US, we spend about 7% of our household expenses on food – while the world’s poorest consumers spend 50—70% of their income on food.

On April 16, I moderated a blog breakfast in Washington, DC with Baroness Mary Goudie, a long term year member of the House of Lords.  Here’s a summary of what she said about this issue.

Foster: Can you give us a sense of what food security means and how it (and the related issue of hunger) affects women and girls?

First, food security for a household means access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

This is important because more women are hungry and undernourished than men.  For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 20% of women are undernourished and in India and Bangladesh, it reaches 40%.

Being hungry makes women more susceptible to health problems such as miscarriage, premature labor and increases likelihood that HIV infected women will transmit the disease to their children.  Hunger also has a large impact on children and their development.

When food prices rise, women are hard hit due to their lack of resources relative to men, poorer access to credit, income and land.  Not surprisingly, women tend to reduce their own food consumption to leave more food for other family members – in Bangladesh almost 60% of households report that women skip meals more often than men.

Foster: I was taken by Tom Friedman’s column in the New York Times last week where he link rebellion and revolt in the Arab Spring countries to increased food prices and scarcity of water.  Can you comment on that?

Food security is a foreign policy issue, and his comments highlight the global nature of the problem.  Food security affects stability across the globe, and we need to pay attention to that as we analyze what is happening around the world.

Foster: Here in the US and UK, we think of farmers as men – but actually women are the majority of small scale farmers in developing countries.  How do women farm differently than men?

Women farmers work hard.   As producers, women are sometimes relegated to the production of subsistence crops on marginal land. In comparison, men tend to produce cash crops on land nearer to the home or marketplace for ease of access.   Women farmers work long hours – and mostly by hand.  They work various plots of land, with no irrigation, no farm equipment or farm equipment that is really designed for men.  And, they also spend hours getting water and fuel.

For example, African women carry out 90% of the work processing food crops and providing water and fuel, and 80% of the work of food storage and transport from farm to village but only receive 10% of the credit.  In Tanzania the average woman spends more than 4 hours a day (1500 hours a year) on transporting water and fuel.

Foster: What policies do you think are important for national governments to implement?

Governments and international organizations must support policies that support women farmers.  I was surprised to learn that if women had same access to productive resources (farming equipment, fertilizer, etc.,) there would be an increase in food produced, such that we could decrease the number of hungry people in the world by 100-150 million.  In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce 70% of food that is either sold or eaten, and if they had better farming equipment, training, there would be an increase of 22% in crop yields.  This means that supporting women supports everyone.

We need to make sure that women get the help they need – training, inputs – but also need to make sure that there are women in the relevant ministries who can implement the policies – both women rural extension agents and Ministers of Agriculture.

Foster: Countries need to invest in women farmers to combat poverty and hunger – but what exactly does that mean from policy perspective?

It’s simple. Women farmers need better access to markets, better training, and countries also need to make it easier for women to own land and have title to land.

Thank you.

Peter Popham, the author of The Lady and the Peacock, a spellbinding biography of Aung San Suu Kyi, has great timing. Burma and Suu Kyi are in headlines, in large part because of Suu Kyi’s compelling personal story and her party’s electoral sweep in Burma’s recent parliamentary by-elections. After the exciting events of the Arab Spring and their unsettling aftermath, this is a welcome narrative of good triumphing over evil, and of steely determination confronting military rulers determined to keep power.

The arc of Suu Kyi’s story is well known around the world. She is the daughter of Aung San, assassinated hero of the Burmese independence struggle; an Oxford student who met and married her late husband Michael Aris and with whom she had two sons; the steadfast and courageous leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), serving multiple years of house arrest; the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”; the woman who was unable to leave Burma to comfort her dying husband, and now a newly elected member of Parliament.

Popham’s biography provides a complex and nuanced portrait of her on so many levels. He provides insight into her upbringing, her college years, her development and maturation as a leader and student of non-violence. Given current events, and the seemingly rapid openings in Burma, the book is as an invaluable guide to not just Suu Kyi, but to the country’s politics and power structure, the role of religion and ethnicity in Burmese society and the decades long struggle of the Burmese people for a say in how their lives are governed.

The book reads like a novel and makes it easy for non-Burma experts (like me) to understand how and why the military rulers have been able to sustain their power, but also how Suu Kyi and her colleagues were able to effectively provide a counterweight to the generals. It also provides those of us who are not Burma watchers with a list of key players and their relationships with each other, a glossary of terms and a context within which to place this unfolding story.

The questions that arise are intriguing. Why did Burma and India take such different paths after British rule? What would have happened in Burmese history if Suu Kyi’s father had not been assassinated? If she had not come back to care for her mother in 1988? Would history be different if these earlier, tumultuous events had taken place in an era when the Burmese had more access to social media and information? How will Suu Kyi and the NLD function now as a more traditional opposition party?

I also read the book as a professor (and student) of the women who serve as political leaders. In my class we focus on the small number of women globally who have overcome numerous barriers — cultural, electoral, political — to become political leaders in their countries. Suu Kyi defies many of the categories in which we place other women leaders, and perhaps that is because her life story, as told by Popham, puts her either in multiple categories or because she defies categorization.

In my class, we study the women who serve as prime ministers and presidents. Although Suu Kyi is neither, she is spoken of, and considered to be, one of these women. And even then she defies categorization. Women heads of state have taken one of two basic paths to power: serving as a representative of a deceased (often assassinated) male family member or climbing the ladder of the country’s political and party systems. Suu Kyi has done both.

Popham vividly describes both Suu Kyi’s loyalty to her father’s legacy and the driving nature of that legacy. As Popham points out, her appeal to the Burmese at the outset had more to do with her name than principles of democracy. And her father’s stature was something that the regime degraded in order to continue its hold onto power. Suu Kyi kept that legacy alive through her work, but also founded and chaired a political party, the NLD, which became the country’s opposition to the military regime.

But despite her extraordinary background, stature and leadership qualities, Popham’s book also notes that Suu Kyi’s opponents underestimated her, to some degree because she is a woman, and also tried to use her marriage to an Englishman to undercut her legitimacy. But the book also reminds us that Suu Kyi is human, and the book also gives us a sense of Suu Kyi’s human frailties, her disappointments, and sometimes contradictory actions.

Given the changes in Burma today, and the almost certain movement of Burma to a larger place on the world stage, Popham’s book makes it easier for all of us to understand these momentous events, and this historic figure.

Follow Stephenie Foster on Twitter: www.twitter.com/StephenieFoster

]]> http://www.baronessgoudie.com/2012/04/19/the-lady-and-the-peacock-aung-san-suu-kyi-and-the-politics-of-burma/feed/ 0 http://www.baronessgoudie.com/2012/04/16/%e2%80%98food-security-how-we-feed-the-world%e2%80%99s-seven-billion-people%e2%80%99-the-baroness-goudie-blog-breakfast-%e2%80%93-16t/ http://www.baronessgoudie.com/2012/04/16/%e2%80%98food-security-how-we-feed-the-world%e2%80%99s-seven-billion-people%e2%80%99-the-baroness-goudie-blog-breakfast-%e2%80%93-16t/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:18:21 +0000 admin http://www.baronessgoudie.com/?p=2006 A BLOG POST BY BARONESS GOUDIE

Baroness Goudie and Stephenie Foster

Today Stephenie Foster and I hosted a breakfast in Washington D.C. to discuss global issues effecting women, with particular focus on ‘Food Security: How We Feed The World’s Seven Billion People’. The event was a great success with a lively discussion on the key issues surrounding food security.

There was a fantastic turnout made up of a variety of people including Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. As well as individuals from NGOs relating to women, including the Global Fund for Women, as well as researchers and academics in the field of food security.

The discussion began by talking about what food security actually means and how it is affecting women and girls. More women than men in the world are hungry. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 20% of women are undernourished. In India and Bangladesh it is 40%. When food prices rise, women are hard hit due to their lack of resources relative to men, with poor access to credit, income and land.

We then discussed women farmers and how they farm differently to men, and are often relegated to the production of subsistence crops on marginal land. Women work long hours, and mostly by hand. African women carry out 90% of the work processing food crops and providing water and fuel, and 80% of the work of food storage and transport from farm to village, however they only receive 10% of the credit. During the discussion it was highlighted that if women had the same access to productive resources there would be an increase in food produced, so much so that we could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100-150 million.

These comments led the discussion to what policies are important for national governments to implement, highlighting the need for women farmers to have better access to markets, training and to owning land.

Finally the debate focused on the policies that are important for international organisations, including USAID and DIFID to implement. The key is to help smallholder farmers through better production and marketing, so that there is more food available. Investing in women farmers will increase food available, reduce poverty and reduce hunger.

A representative of the Global Fund for Women spoke about the results of their research and how it showed that the restrictions on the USAID funds in terms of how they are used, are not enabling women to have access to them, and therefore the policies are failing to respond to women’s real needs on the ground.

Importantly, it was also mentioned that there is a real need to focus on the nutritional value of the food produced as opposed to just the quantity produced.

As ever this breakfast is an opportunity to have a real discussion about global issues effecting women and girls. Food security is a growing problem and as highlighted in this post we are up against some incredible challenges. I would like to thank all those who attended the event and I look forward to speaking with you in the future.

The International Day for Street Children is celebrated every year on 12 April. The day provides a platform for the      millions of street children around the world – and their champions – to speak out so that their rights cannot be ignored.

The International Day for Street Children was launched in 2011 by the Consortium for Street Children (CSC), the leading  international network dedicated to realising the rights of street children worldwide. The day is celebrated by street children, NGOs, policy makers, celebrities, corporates and individuals across the globe, and is supported by Aviva, through its Street to School programme.

Since the first international day in 2011, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) commissioned a report into street children in order to be better able to protect and promote their rights. The report was the result of a groundbreaking new partnership between the OHCHR, UNICEF, CSC and Aviva, and followed the 2011 UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) discussion day on street children and the accompanying unanimously adopted UN Resolution (16/12) – the first street child specific resolution in almost two decades, and which attracted more co-sponsors than almost any other since the creation of the UNHRC in 2006. This report was presented to the March 2012 session of the UNHRC. You can read the report here: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/Study/Pages/childrenonthestreet.aspx.

The report highlighted and challenged many common misperceptions around street children, who face a daily struggle for survival. In order to survive these children adopt many tactics necessary to survive on the streets, such as begging, loitering and rough sleeping. However, these tactics are often met with heavy handed treatment by authorities – such as violence and round-ups. CSC believes that rather than treating street children as criminals, authorities should understand the reasons for street children’s behaviour and provide the necessary support needed for their reintegration back into society. Being a street child is not a crime.

Following this, the International Day for Street Children focus on ‘challenging perceptions’ of street children. We are encouraging people to question what they think they know about street children.  To mark the day CSC wants to ensure street children are not ignored and are asking governments, NGOs and the public to sign a pledge to stand up for the rights of street children at http://www.streetchildrenday.org/take-action/#addyourvoice.

On our dedicated website you can find further information about how to get involved: http://www.streetchildrenday.org/. Support the day by helping to spread the word through your networks, websites, twitter and Facebook accounts. For further information contact internationalday@streetchildren.org.uk.

Thank you for your support!

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they would increase the yields on their farms by 20 to 30 percent, which could in turn reduce the number of hungry people around the globe by up to 150 million.  It should be an exciting discussion.  If you are in DC and interested in attending, please send me an email.

March is Women’s History Month, so there will be lots of events and celebrations celebrating women. There are so many inspiring stories of great work, often against overwhelming odds, to break down barriers to women’s full participation in society, whether those barriers were created by social and cultural norms, laws or just plain criminal behavior. The people behind these heroic acts are showcased at events like the U.S. State Department’s Women of Courage event, the Newsweek/Daily Beast Women of the World Summit, and lunches held by the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute.

But besides being inspired, we should all commit to taking action to support and promote all of this work. Here are my thoughts about five things each of us can do to support women this month:

1) Ask questions and understand the issues: It’s important to understand as much as you can about the issues raised by these stories. We are more effective advocates and champions when we know as much as we can about the facts in a certain situation, the laws (or lack thereof) that lead to, for example, unequal access to capital and credit for women, to forced and/or child marriage or to low rates of political participation. Find groups that can help you both learn about the issues and sort through the various groups that work on issues you care about. Sign up for email alerts/notifications on the issues most important to you. This keeps you in the loop and ready to act when your cause needs you most. Again, choose alerts wisely and only those that are closest to your key areas of concern.

2) Think globally but focus on what is important to you: There are lots of problems and lots of solutions — they range from supporting legal reform to providing social services. It’s easy to want to respond to every issue and every project, but it is critical to have your own strategy. Figure out what is important you in terms of issues and also how those issues are addressed. I have two or three issues that I prioritize: advancing the role women in politics and decision making here and abroad, combating human trafficking and corporate social responsibility. When I look at an organization or cause, I think about whether it fits into my categories. Sometimes I support a project that falls outside those issues and that’s fine, but I do have a focus and it helps keep my support, financial or otherwise, focused.

3) Give money: This is very basic, but again, giving should reflect your priorities. Give to groups you know, so that you have a sense of how your money is being used and make sure it reflects your priorities. If you care about fighting human trafficking, decide whether victim services or legal reform is higher on your priority list and give accordingly. Also, think about how you leverage your giving so that you can be part of working on that issue with the advocates and champions that you think make a difference.

4) Take action at home: Figure out if your government does anything to either support the work you care about or stays out of the fray. Let your members of Congress know if you support what the government is doing, or if you don’t. Your voice maters and can make a difference.

5) Repeat Often! Take these actions repeatedly.

There are 10 days left in March — what will you commit to do to support the types of change makers you care about? Let me know what you decide to do; I’d love to know.

“It is extraordinary that children, whose developmental state and small size is acknowledged to make them particularly vulnerable to physical and psychological injury, should be singled out for less protection from assaults on their fragile bodies, minds and dignity.”

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe

In England and Wales, parents (and other adults acting in loco parentis) can access a defence of “reasonable punishment” for charges of common assault against a child. There is no such defence for violence against any other group in society.

In recent weeks the media has been questioning the effectiveness of smacking children. The 270 parliamentarians and 600+ organisations and projects which support the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance all agree that smacking children is a lesson in bad behaviour.

Research shows that physical punishment erodes parent-child relationships and is linked to weak internalisation of moral standards, increased child aggression, violence in later life and poor mental health.

Despite intense pressure from international human rights bodies, the UK Government continues to resist outlawing the physical punishment of children. We are now one of only four countries in the European Union that has failed to prohibit physical punishment or to make the commitment to doing so.

Things look hopeful in Wales, however, where the Assembly recently voted in favour of prohibiting physical punishment. Assembly Members are now urging the Welsh Government to bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity.

If you think that children should enjoy the same protection as adults under the law on assault, please sign up to support the aims of the Children Are Unbeatable! Alliance

March 5, 2012

Honorable Maryam Durani, Kandahar Provincial Council Member

Afghanistan

Kandahar Province is among Afghanistan’s most conservative and most dangerous – but that has not stopped Maryam Durani from speaking out for the rights of Afghan women and girls. As a member of Kandahar’s Provincial Council, director of the non-profit Khadija Kubra Women’s Association for Culture, and owner and manager of the only local, female-focused radio station, she is both a leader and a role model for women throughout Afghanistan. A true woman of courage, Ms. Durani has survived multiple attacks on her life, including a suicide attack in 2009 that resulted in serious injury. Although she continues to face regular threats, she is undeterred in her mission to promote basic civil rights for all Afghans.

Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo

Brazil

Major Azevedo joined the Rio de Janeiro Military police in 1998 and, following her graduation in 2000, started working in police battalions and street repression operations. In 2007, Major Azevedo demonstrated extreme courage and commitment to her duties by successfully arresting a gang of criminals who had kidnapped and tortured her. As a result of her courage and success, she was invited to head the first “Police Pacification Unit” (UPP) in Rio de Janeiro, in the “favela” (slum) of Santa Marta. During her two years there, she has shut down drug dealing operations in the favela, established conflict mediation models, worked with state and local government institutions to improve garbage collection and health care, broadened education and technical training opportunities, and developed a successful community arts and crafts fair.

Zin Mar Aung

Burma

Zin Mar Aung is a former political prisoner, imprisoned for eleven years because of her political activism and has dedicated her life to promoting democracy, women’s empowerment, and conflict resolution in Burma. Following her involvement in the 1996 and 1998 pro-democracy student uprisings and subsequent imprisonment, she established a cultural impact studies group to promote the idea that democracy is compatible with Asian culture. She also created and leads a self-help association for female ex-political prisoners and a political science school in Rangoon, which teaches and empowers civil society activists in Burma’s changing but still challenging environment. She is also the co-founder of a women’s empowerment group, and is currently spearheading an organization to raise awareness of issues affecting ethnic minorities in conflict areas.

Jineth Bedoya Lima

Colombia

Throughout her career as an investigative journalist, Jineth Bedoya has consistently sought out tough assignments, despite knowing the risks involved. In 2000, as she arrived at a prison to interview a key paramilitary member about an arms smuggling network, Jineth was kidnapped, driven several hours away and repeatedly gang raped. During this horrifying experience they told her, “Pay attention. We are sending a message to the press in Colombia.” Since then, Jineth has continued her work as an investigative journalist while pushing for justice in her own case and other unsolved cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Jineth has become an inspiration not only for female journalists, but for all women who are demanding justice for SGBV. She currently serves as spokeswoman of Oxfam’s campaign, “Rape and Other Violence: Take my Body out of the War.”

Hana Elhebshi

Libya

Ms. Hana El Hebshi is a 26-year old Libyan architect who, during the long months of the Libyan revolution, became a symbol of solidarity and a model of courage to many across the country. Working under the pseudonym “Numidia,” a reference to the ancient Berber kingdom and to her own Berber heritage, Hana contributed greatly to proper documentation of the violence and tumult of the revolution and reached out to international media to share the realities of living under the previous regime, despite grave risk. She also became a symbol of hope to the Libyan people that the world was aware of the suffering they were enduring and that hope was on the way.

Aneesa Ahmed

Maldives

Aneesa Ahmed stands out as a staunch advocate for ending gender-based violence (GBV) in the Maldives. While serving as Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, she raised the issue of domestic violence at a time when the subject was taboo. After leaving the government, she founded the NGO “Hope for Women” and began conducting sessions on GBV with students, Maldives Police Services, and other frontline workers. When religious scholars began identifying female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) as a practice supported by Islam on national radio, Ms. Ahmed asked the government to intervene, and spoke out publicly about the harmful effects of FGM/C. By openly discussing issues like these and promoting awareness through her NGO, Ms. Ahmed plays a key role in bringing these issues into public discourse and pressing the government to take action.

Shad Begum

Pakistan

Shad Begum is a courageous human rights activist and leader who has changed the political context for women in the extremely conservative district of Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. As founder and executive director of Association for Behavior and Knowledge Transformation (ABKT), Ms. Shad provides political training, microcredit, primary education, and health services to women in the most conservative areas of Pakistan. Ms. Shad not only empowered the women of Dir to vote and run for office, she herself ran and won local seats in the 2001 and 2005 elections against local conservatives who tried to ban female participation. Despite threats, Ms. Shad continues to work out of Peshawar to improve the lives of women in the communities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Samar Badawi

Saudi Arabia

In one of the world’s most restrictive environments for women, Samar Badawi is a powerful voice for two of the most significant issues facing Saudi women: women’s suffrage and the guardianship system, under which women cannot marry, work, or travel without a guardian’s (male relative) permission. In a landmark case, Badawi was the first woman to sue her father for abusing the guardian system and preventing her from marrying the suitor of her choice. She is also the first woman to file a lawsuit against the government demanding the right for women to vote, and launched an online campaign to encourage other women to file similar suits. The efforts of activists like Badawi helped encourage a royal decree allowing women to vote and run for office in future municipal elections.

Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih

Sudan

Hailing from North Darfur, Hawa and her family were forced to flee their home village in 2003 due to fighting between Darfuri rebels and government forces. As a result, she spent much of her young adult life in Abu Shouk internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in El Fasher, North Darfur, where she emerged as a prominent voice for the IDPs. For her advocacy, Hawa has been persecuted and detained on multiple occasions by the Government of Sudan, and was forced to flee Sudan in 2011. In spite of the personal harassment and political challenges that she has faced, Hawa hopes to return to her homeland to continue defending the rights of Darfuris, and in particular the rights of women and children.

Safak Pavey

Turkey

Safak Pavey, the first disabled woman elected to the Turkish Parliament, has demonstrated great personal dignity in overcoming physical obstacles every day, while locally and globally championing the rights of vulnerable populations, including refugees and disabled persons. Whether working in extreme conditions for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, or acting as a lightning rod to spark the UN Interagency Support Group for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Pavey has sought to turn her disability into strength on a global level. After winning a seat in the Turkish parliament in June 2011, Pavey is continuing to give voice to disabled persons, women, and minority populations in Turkey as well.