Transcripts For CSPAN3 Women Global Leadership 20180120

And careers. Including the challenges they have had to overcome and what advice they have to offer to the next generation of Women Leaders in global politics. Thank you for being here for our smart women smart power event tonight. Were excited and delighted that serven ambassadors can join us for a look at the view of the u. S. From abroad. As you may have noticed, they all happen to be female ambassadors. Before we begin, i will get to introducing the ambassadors in a few moments. I want to give you a few social media reminders. We hope you are following us on twitter. There should have been handouts. Hopefully you got them with all the twitter handles. If you are live tweeting, we ask that you use the csislive. We have a smart women podcast and course with our smart women events. We hope you are following those as well. Our series wouldnt be possible without the support of citi. Thank you for helping us amplify the women. So i am pleased to welcome the director of federal Government Affairs at citi. This is our fourth year sponsoring the series. Im excited to kick it off with this group of fabulous women. They have the most amazing resumes. They represent a slice of the women that are here in the United States representing countries from around the globe. This is going to be a fascinating panel. The countries that they are coming from you will hear more about. Finland, sweden, fascinating different places from around the world. Im sure they have different perspectives, but theyre all women. Im sure theres going to be a grain of similarity between what their thoughts about whats happening in the United States and around the world. Theres no one better than nina easton to conduct the panel. I know shes back from what was looked like a phenomenal trip in africa. Excited to hear about that and a lot more. Thank you for being here. Im happy to turn it back to kathleen hicks. Thank you for the support. I have the unenviable task of introducing these seven women. I say that its not without its challenges. I hope you will forgive me. I think i have this right. If i mess it up, please believe that i tried. If you can just indicate who im saying as i walk down the line. On stage here we have her excellency flora, waka, her excellency thelma brown, we have her excellency matild, her excellency karen, dr. Arakana a little off that and her excellency cristy and arakana and nina. Thank you all again for joining us. Over to you, nina. Thank you. A round of applause for all of these women. Its truly an awesome and intimidating experience to be around all these amazing women. Were first going to go down and talk to each of them a little bit about themselves and their countries. Then we will talk about some ov overarching themes. I want to include you. Once we do two rounds, we are going to take questions from the audience. Go ahead and have them ready. Theres cards. We will pick them up. We will read off the questions to our participants. Thank you. Im first going to turn to my left. From sweden, ambassador. Its really interesting that sweden has what it overtly calls a feminist Foreign Policy. We do. How is that going . What is it . Its going very well. We actually have the first f feministic policy. You say feministic. In a way its a shame we need to have it. Its remarkable we sit here as women is also in a way sad. But its true. Im very proud and happy to represent a feministic government and maybe the result of a feministic government. Im first woman appointed as ambassador to the United States from sweden. Going into policy, its really something. Its not just a Foreign Policy. This is something that does it sound weird . All of government is working on a feministic agenda. It doesnt matter which government agency. They have to dig into equality issues, make sure that their work is for equal rights and women and men have the same opportunities. We still have challenges in my country. Its okay . Maybe im just hearing myself. For instance, in sweden, women only earn 87 of what men earn. Theres a pay gap. We have challenges in my country that we are dealing with nationally. Then the government also thought it was very important to take this issue further and really in all our Foreign Policy matters, we always have to look at womens issues, because its very important that we really strive for the women have the same rights and responsibilities and representation as men. Give me an example of that. For instance, right now sweden is a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council. In all the president ial statements that have been done on the Security Council since we have been there, 100 of them have included womens issues. So thats one very important result, i think. We bring it up in our development corporation, much more than we did before. Focusing on women and their economic power. Also sexual and Reproductive Health is extremely important to us. We dont see eye to eye with u. S. Administration right now. We think this is very serious, because, of course, a lot of women die and are abused. So those are issues that are very important. When we look to trade, we always try to look, where are the women and how can we through our work strength women as economic actors in the field. We do that with all countries. So even countries within the European Union we address it all the time. It really is something that we consciously look at in all the issues we are working on. Your focus is bringing womens issues in. Do you ever look at things like conflict in a different way if its a feminist Foreign Policy . I think so. Because what we have concluded is that we if women are, for instance, represented in peace negotiations, you will probably have a more stable peace. Because women bring our issues to the table than men. So its extremely important. Why shouldnt 50 of the population be included in all this issues . Why have we been excluded before . Its just the right thing to do, actually. Turning to the African Union. This is interesting. She was for 25 years a medical doctor in tennessee in a town near where bev grew up. Both her daughters are grad one graduated from Yale Medical School and the other is in Yale Medical School. Pretty impressive. What drove you to take on this position that you have now . Well, i was minding my own business. Actually, in bed it was exactly 3 02 in the morning when my phone rang. And it was then chairman of the African Union chairman zuma, informing me that my predecessor had turned in her resignation and that she was going to be running for president of tanzania. That she couldnt think of anyone better than myself to take on that role. I couldnt see myself as an ambassador. What do you think i know . Im a medical doctor. And she reminded me that she herself is a pediatrician. That i should take some time and think about it. I thought she was kidding. About a week later she called me again. Slowly i began to realize that she was really serious. So we joke about it. We say she courted me like a man would court a woman. It took her six months to finally get me to say yes. But it was not an easy decision, because it never occurred to me that my experience as a family physician would more than prepare me for diplomacy. And before i finally made the call to the chairman to say that i would take the position, i had a conversation with my husband, who reminded me of how as a physician you can very nicely tell a woman that shes overweight but that it is our problem together and that together we are going to deal with it and that you and this woman who otherwise would be exceptionally uncomfortable having this conversation, can actually laugh about it, joke about it and get on this journey together. So he reminded me that every day sometimes ten, 20 times a day, its one episode in diplomacy after the other. Because of the different scenarios that we run into as doctors. You can picture a situation where in exam room number one its a lady who just lost her husband, that calls for a specific emotion at that time. And then you leave exam room number one to exam room number two, its a young lady who came back from her honeymoon because she just got married. You are going to two extremes of emotions in a short period of time. And the emotions and the changes that are required, they go on from one exam room after the other. Each exam room being a different adventure and a different change of gears at a much faster pace, i must say, in a doctors life than whats happening in diplomacy. So i can comfortably say, being a doctor, contrary to what i would have thought, more than prepared me for what im doing now. As a doctor, can you diagnose the African Union and tell us what the conditions are . Yes. I think the African Union requires its a multispecialty approach. I think in some cases, general surgery is definitely needed. In some cases, we need orthopedic surgeons to break some bones. In some cases, we need neurosurgeons to drill into the brain. Occasionally, maybe we need psychiatrists. So, yes, we do. I want to hear more about that in questioning. Lets move on to finland. We have always been finland has been known as a country with pretty good on the gender equality level. But whats fascinating is this new number that came out that actually in your country men spend more time with their kids than women by eight minutes. But still. Do you think thats cultural . How much is cultural and how much is policy driven . I think it is both. Culture obviously has some impact on policies and policies have an impact on culture. So it is both. I think early on in the history of my nation, by the way the nation is 100 years old as an independent country last year we celebrated our centennial. The nation is older than that. But early on in the history of my nation, the notion took root that we need everybody to make it and to make our country a success. When we started as an independent country, finland was actually quite poor. One of the poorest countries in europe. We had a civil war, straightaway after the independence. And today we are one of the most successful countries in the world. And if you want to find one sort of explanation, single most important explanation to that, we do think that it is equality. Gender equality but equality at large. And the social policies and policies that we have put in place, all of them have really the goal to promote gender equality. Do you feel like youve made it and you are there . Are there initiatives to go farther on that front . Absolutely. There are a lot of challenges. Its funny, even if you reach a high level, you can never sort of rest because there are always new challenges. Theres even the possibility of sliding back. So one of the big areas which obviously we have a very Strong Social policy in all of nordic countries. A lot of policies in place to make it possible for women to be fully part of the work force and also to share the socalled burden of children equally between men and women. But there are a lot of challenges. One of the areas which is a very challenging area is work. The work jobs and work is changing very rapidly because of technology and because of the economic changes. And how do you maintain the high level of for instance, Public Services in that kind of a situation. That is one of the big challenges. I might also say i should say that we have to remember that gender equality also means equality for men. In some areas in finland, we are more worried about what is happening to boys and men. So it is very important to remember that as well. Same for us. Thats very interesting. Now we turn to rwanda. Also spent a lot of time in this country teaching history in sacramento, ten years. More than that. Before you took on this job. Thats right. What drove you . Thank you so much. For a long time, i lived in california as a refugee. The experience that most rwanda rwandans went through. It was prior to genocide. Pretty much lived separated from my parents. I landed in california for a number of reasons. What i could tell you is that rwanda never ceases to be part of it. Even if foreign countries, what we did was try to organize and to become activists so we can go back. I always say that for me, its like two mothers. United states became one and i was given the opportunity to go back. There was a time when you said ree on rwanda is not a country proud to go back to because of division and many different things. When the call came, especially a few years back, it was one of the best things that i could embrace that i didnt think was i could go back and abandon whatever security i had in california. For me, it was always like a mission and a responsibility to give back to that particular country. So when we talk about women, most of them were in my own circle, because the majority of people in rwanda or at least the ones now were refugees or they were they had liability of other kinds. The ma skrjority survived the horrible genocide. I dont know what to go back to that to tell you the genocide, theres no institution functioning in the country. It was the church, family even. So the women did a lot, even in that particular perspective to survive, to mend the fabric of broken society, broken families. People played their part. But also the new group coming in was intending to open the door to women. Number one, because of the reality, more women survive. There was a big gender racial different. 60 of women. For us, the empowerment of women was also part of recovery. Not only that but because even before all the energy was came, before all the problems came, the women tried to take to mend to try to survive. Our women are not subjects where you come and give something. After genocide and recovery when it was set in the agenda, and the president s prowomen empowerment. It was Legal Framework and then started to come. We are not perfect. What im saying is that, once the framework came, you put it in the constitution that women had to be represented, the practice followed. You know, i read about in rwanda they call it rosie the riveter phenomenon. Men were killed. Women took up and started businesses. Isnt there quite a womens entrepreneur culture . When we look at genocide, yeah. Women were more violated than anybody. So for instance, more than 600,000 rapes. 600,000 . Yeah. People were infected with hiv. We had generations of rwandans born out of rape. Even when we talk about reconciliation and to put in place to bring a society to function together, we have to think in terms of intimate reconciliation. When you look in the eyes of your child and you are able to forgive them and forgive yourself. Someone who has killed your husband and you have a living proof of that that person was there. We have that generation of young rwan rwandans. When we talk about reconciliation, its a very uphill battle. But you are there. Age to function together, to have an identity. Its one of the Biggest Challenges among our youth, because we have the children who were born out of rape. You have the children whose parents died during genocide. You have children whose parents killed. How do you bring society together . Thats pretty much why i admire my country. There was no model where you were able to bring all the people together. Bring a society thats functioning into this perspective. You cant really remove the role of women. Because the women who navigate, they were married to the victims, to the generals, sometimes mothers to the children. They were violated sometimes. You are looking at women who became very strong and who build on resilience and a certain strength. Challenging time. Turning to st. Kitts. Tell us about your country, the smallest sovereign state in the western hemisphere. You did okay but not great during this past Hurricane Season with Hurricane Irma and maria. What are the key issues for you . Okay. First of all, thank you for having me. Its great to be among a Diverse Group of wonderful women here. Our country is the smallest in western hemisphere. Nevis is just all of 36 square miles. It was a little bit larger, but a tsunami took jamestowns in the 1700s. St. Kitts is 68 square miles. Pure beauty, both of them. They are interesting in that when the trade winds come off of africa, they are two of the first islands that the trade winds meet. So normally, antiqua and we are the first to experience hurricanes. In fact, if you follow the track, they were headed directly towards us. But irma deviate ad a little north. Maria deviated a little south. We were spared the brunt of the hurricane. 150 million worth of damage is nothing to sneeze at. But when you compare with others over 2 billion and some of the islands, we have not even as yet computed the amount of damage and human suffering. We got off pretty good. That said, in small islands and in the lesser antilles, the islands are very close. We move around a lot. Everyone has relatives in puerto rico and st. Martin and so forth. You are on facebook and asking where your relatives were. I didnt hear from my nephew for a week. The first sign i had of anything to do with him, he had a picture with his pickup in the sea. That was frightening. I go back and the devastation and the anxiety, looking at the hurricane coming towards them. The expenditure to prepare for the hurricane. Though they were happy, it still left a scar because you had to be preparing all these boxes at one time. They ran out of food, because they had to be sending boxes to all these other countries. Its very traumatic for the islands. Were hoping that this next year will be better. Were hoping against hope that this is not the new norm. But we are also mindful of the issues of climate change. It might not be mrpolitically correct to say, and for me who was born a stones throw from the sea and realize that 20 years ago we had to build a sea wall to keep the sea out, it is real. That is one of the Biggest Challenges we have, because its a threat to our very existence. Its health, economics, security, mental health. You are going to be facing that, its getting worse as the years go. So thank you for sharing that. Moving on to libya. You are you are home here. You went to catholic university, got your Chemical Engineering degree. Libya, talk about a country thats been through difficult times. You have been involved in rebuilding Civil Society and participation of women. Where do things stand on that front now . Talking about women or the country . Start with Civil Society. Well, first of all, i would like to thank csis for organizing this great event. We follow it every time you host great women here. Thanks to all the participants in the audience nehere. My country is going through a very challenging time. Its been challenging since the uprising in 2011. Things didnt quite go according to our aspirations and hopes. Nevertheless, despite all the challenges, we are face iing ho still drives us to continue working to regain back our stability and rebuild our institutions. Its very much, i would say after the armed conflicts, it leaves the country broken with no institutions. And its not an easy job to rebuild. You need all the institutions to hold the state, so you can implement all the human rights and legislations and rule of law. Now, women fought hard after the uprising to enter the Political Landscape and the aspirations were very high. Nevertheless, after a while security threats, instability, social and cultural barriers hindered those efforts a great deal. Civil society was very strong right after the uprising. As my colleague ambassador of rwanda said here, women step up always in crisis. This is what happened in libya while men were fighting at the front lines. It was women who held society together and took care of daily life and helping life to continue. Nevertheless, when the dust settled down, we were back to square one. Social, economic barriers surfaced again up. Then security threats and crimes and violence. The efforts of women, of course, faded. But nevertheless, were still hoping that we will come back and start where we ended. I sense some pessimism in your voice while you try to be helpful. It hasnt been easy. Its been very challenging and very difficult. I mean, its been a tough seven years on the country. Seven years is a long period, really, to endure. You know . Each year we were hopeful for the year after. We had great elections. We were on the road for democracy, and we were fighting hard to promote women rights and we were issuing legislation and Civil Society was very active. We were pushing hard for women participation. We didnt realize that things will have this turn. And then it became security that was that became a priority now. Its not women rights anymore. When people are searching for security, we have extremism, we have crime, we have a lot of insecured borders. Its been very challenging. We are hopeful. We hope it will work. I am cautiously optimistic. We might still have to struggle for some time, because things dont stay status quo. Its been difficult on the people on daily lives. People are struggling hard for their daily life in a very rich country, health care, education, everything has become challenging and difficult. And to see that happening is sometimes way beyond baring. Its hard seeing that happen to a country you love. Kosovo, ambassador, your country went through difficult times a while ago. You have been involved in the campaign for women who were raped during the kosovo war. Talk about that and talk about why dont you talk about the healing process that brought the country to where it is now. Well, first of all, thank you very much for having us here. It feels great to be in an all women panel. Its not very common. I am from kosovo, the youngest democracy and younge eses esese demography. We are two years younger than twitter. We are also a very young demography. 70 are under 30. Wow. 70 . Yes. Under 30. Im not young for kosovo standards. Thirdly, kosovo is by far the most proamerican nation on earth. We have a bill clinton statue next to a george w. Bush boulevard. Were very unique. Were going to celebrate our tenth birthday next month. I was so envious of my finnish colleague. 100 years. You know, when we grow up, i hope we will become like finland. Because its truly an inspiring model of gender equality. It is true, kosovo has gone through a lot. Just 18 years ago, it was a state on ruins, on ashes. Over half of the population was deported. Thousands of women were raped. Families were destroyed. Families were torn apart. But kosovo is no longer known only for its tragic past. Because of women. Kosovo has become also a story of success and inspiration. Although we are the youngest democracy in europe, we were the first country in southeast earn europe to have a commander in chief, a woman president. We also are the country with the largest number of golden medals per capita. So i dont confuse, its just one. It was won by a woman. A young girl waited for her chance. Kosovo just joined the Olympic Committee a couple of years ago. It was in rio we had the chance to compete for the first time. There was this young woman. By the way, judo. You never say in kosovo you fight like a girl. You dont end up very well. Theres this young woman who trained in terrible conditions, often without electricity. Refused offers from many governments who gave her and offered her millions so she could compete for other flags. But she waited for her chance to compete and win for kosovo. Giving all of us a lesson, especially us in the public service, that not everything is for sale and there are things money cannot buy. She has become our nations inspiration, role model. Shes done for kosovo far more than all of the other ambassadors combined. Another example, very, very important example i want to share with you is the survivors of the Sexual Violence in kosovo. I have never seen women that are that brave. For me, they are true heroes. Because they had to endure so much. The physical part of the pain is probably the easiest to heal. But the trauma, the stigma that they have suffered after the war was just terrible and heartbreaking. But they never gave up. They stood together. They organized associations. They helped one another. They relied on one another. And they never, ever called for revenge. Never called for . For revenge. Never, ever. And when interviewed, one of them said, hate is very too much of a heavy burden to carry. I dont have time to hate. I have to take care of my kids. I have a family to worry about. Kosovo needs to move on. This is what women have brought to kosovo. State building is far easier than society bidding. You adopt a law, a constitution, it is challenging. But its much easier than society building, than building a social cohesion in a society that just came out from the war. So i am proud of everything what women did in kosovo. Im even prouder to represent them in washington, d. C. What do you all think of this . Raise your hand if you want to chime in. This question of whether women approach conflict and moving past conflict without getly p l without getting polly anna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . Without getting polly anna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . Without getting polly anna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . Without getting polly anna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . Without getting polly anna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . Women approach is differently because they are mothers, they are spouses, they are everything. No matter how much we look at if we are in abstract and talk about Women Movement maybe, its a little bit we have to look at the specifics in everyday life. If i look in my society and my community, it was pretty established that women were the heart of the home. In rwanda . In rwanda and pretty many different societies i know of. It means that when the older the war is going on, the ru rules they lose their husband, their children. When i look at for instance when we are talking about our reconciliation and what was taking place, it meant that sometimes you had to bring two parts together. Usually, the women, because they are married, all sides, thats why our communities were very complicated. When i was talking about the family, thats what i was talking about. Even when we are talking about intimacy. The determination who is going to be killed and that was because of the society. It doesnt mean the wife was not intimately and emotionally bound to the person of the other group. It means that really there was an existential part of your soul that is there. Women im not saying in general. I have to come up with women who have been the ones who were actively waging wars. I have never seen many societies where women are raging war. Bringing warfare and stuff out, the discussion is incomplete. The other elements and the other concepts where you can bring peace from another perspective is sometimes but if i may add very often when we talk about women in conflict, we very often make the mistake of treating women as victims only. Women are heroes. I have met women who took up the gun and fought the miregime. So women are brave. When it is needed, when its necessary, i have seen them being great champions of all values the society inspires. But what probably sets the difference is its okay. What sets the difference is the way how we react once the conflict or the war is over. We are more ready, more willing to move on. Because conflicts and wars do attack women in much more profound ways than they do attack men. A message from kosovo. Im interjecting countries because this is also audio. Thoughts down here . Thank you. When you hear about what your countries have been through, i realize i come from a totally different corner from this. We havent had a war in sweden for over 200 years. But you do have a militaristic past. Before that we had been in so many wars. We were so poor that everyone left for america. Its true. What you are telling the stories is, of course, what we have seen. Coming from a very rich country where we have 1 of gdp in development corporation, this is how we want to use it to strengthen women in societies that have been through the horrors that you have. Thats what we have seen. We know through our very long Time Corporation and International Outlook that women are needed. At least as much as men. We must make room for women. If we, coming from this rich part of the world, can facilitate, its our responsibility to do that. Thats where we come from as well. I wanted to turn to our did you want to i just wanted to say, we are a peaceful region, yes. We have not faced conflict in the same way. But i go back, there was a book written about the society in jamaica. My mother we have had a different situation to deal with women in the caribbean. Men were traditionally emasculated to slavery and that type. Women had to step forth. The difference is, the women do not have the political power. We like to say, we are the neck that turns the head. My husband says, you see around the corner. Men see in straight lines. Women see we look at all eventualities. We are more relational. They dont have time to get stuck in the idea of the conflict. They must move on, because there are the children, because everybody depends on it. Even though we dont have the political power, it centers we have to move on. We must find a way to deal with this situation. Thats why when you look at all the statistics, when women are involved, peace is more lasting, more forthcoming. When women are involved, governance is more transparent. When women are involved, the economy thrives. Women need to get involved. Sometimes we dont go out front in terms of the leadership. But you are behind. If you look at the heads of the departments, lots of women doing the hard work. Because thats what women carry the brunt of the society. So we dont get stuck in what has been. We have to move on. Yeah. Just add one thing to my colleagues. They have said it all. I do believe women are agents for peace. This is libya. We have witnessed yeah, libya. Can you hear me . We have witnessed in all of the reconciliation initiatives and efforts that we did that women dont have this competition and struggle for power that really harmed us. Women do think about the good for the society and the country, the good for the future of their children and the generations. On the other hand, men can be drawn into the vicious cycle of power struggle. That just is an obstacle to all peace initiatives and reconciliation. Thats one thing thats come between women and probably men lack that. Do you want to add anything . I can move into audience questions. I wanted to just make a comment on just the plight of women in general. Share with you all my experience as a medical doctor practicing in africa and also practicing in the United States. I can honestly tell you that the plight of women are the same. I have found myself using the psychology that i saw being used to manage depression from various reasons in my village and ive used it in tennessee. I will share a quick story with you. A young lady would come to me a young woman, in her 40s. The husband was cheating on her. She was just sick and tired of it all. She didnt know what else to do. I jokingly said to her, well, you know, where i come from, in my village, it seems to me you are just ready to take off your clothes and run up and down the village naked. She goes, i did it. I did it. You did what . She said, well, it was cold. She took off her clothes and she got on her riding mower and she started riding around the house hoping that some neighbors can come out and that will embarrass her husband. What was your husband doing all this time . She said, he was by the door calling me, you are crazy, come back in, come back in. She said, she started getti int cold, nobody came out. It was so reminiscent of what happens in my culture. When a woman marries, she doesnt just marry the husband. She marries the husband and the whole village. Then you submit yourself to the husbands village. When you first get there, first your family tells you, you must represent us well, you must behave. The woman goes and she works like a chicken without a head. Shes running around. Everybody that needs help, they are calling on her. Then her children start coming in. Shes trying to say, i cant handle it. I need help. Nobody is paying attention. Two, three kids down the road, the woman has had it. What the african woman would do is take off her clothes and run up and down the village and thats the embarrassment to the husband. Then suddenly, the elders are now calling for an emergency village meeting. Thats the only way the husband can get into trouble. Thats the only way the woman can be heard. Now whats being done by women in an african village, an American Woman in tennessee was doing it. Im saying this to say, regardless of how we got to this state of disease means disease at the end of the day, the pain is the same. How we deal with it as women, our survival mechanisms are the same. I just wanted to share that with you. Thank you so much. [ applause ] its a lot of culture. All tribes. One of the things this is an audience question. One of the things thats consumed maconsume consumed is the me too movement. Has there been any trickle out to any of your countries . What are you seeing . Certainly, we have also a me too movement. Even if fill lanland has high g equality, the me too movement has brought more attention and light to Sexual Harassment. I think it has been very useful, especially in the sense that theres more discussion about what is proper behavior and improper behavior and what is not. Sort of learning to understand better. And i think thats very, very important. Because sometimes we think that everybody understands each other in this respect. But thats not really the case. So that has been very important. And in some fields, there have been quite a lot of cases which have come to light. It seems that there are some sort of spheres of society where Sexual Harassment is sort of accepted. Its not accepted in the society at large. For instance, in entertainment industries, like here as well, its also in finland, somehow it has been part of the culture. With the me too movement and the discussions that have really sort of theres been a lot of attention to it, i think the culture theres a possibility the culture gets healthier also in those sectors. I think its a very important discussion. Im happy that its also reached finland. Anyone else me too . I think we still have a long way to go as africans. I dont think we are even where we are having this conversation to the significant extent. I had an interesting conversation with someone that i thought i knew just this christmas. And she just said, yeah, i was raped by my father since i was 6 years old until i was 13. I just about fell off my chair. This is someone that i thought i knew. When she finally fought him back, this is in africa, he went on to the next younger sister and to the next younger sister. So we have a long way to go as africans. The conversation has not even begun. We got work to do in africa. We are nowhere near having the conversation where the conversation needs to be. Do you agree . Yes, absolutely i agree. The country specific the movement is not lost on young women, because Sexual Violence is criminalized. People have used that to report on rape. The program now is to go from reporting and actually going on record to say i was raped. Sometimes they become anonymous. Because of the issue of stigma still attached to Sexual Violence and so on and so forth. At the same time, because we have the process to punish people who have committed Sexual Violence, more and more especially young women are coming forward to talk. The question has been whether you can start really pursuing somebody when its an anonymous face who is accusing. Are we at the point where you can come and say i was raped in and open forum . As she said, its a long way to go. We have a true confession go ahead. Its very, very important its not only in kosovo. I believe its yes, in kosovo, but also here. It is very important to protect women that come out and speak up. Not only protect, but also embrace, support and make sure that their stories dont end up being just the headline of today. Because i fear if we are not consistent on the objective, which is Sexual Harassment hara will lose this conversation on proper names, you know . Oh, did you see this persblack person sexually assaulted a white person. There are millions of women out there that have no platform. Women that work in hospitals, in schools, in farms, that are not celebrities. How do we stay focused on the subject, not on the names that are attached to the harassment . And i think we have to be much more cautious, media needs to be much more caucus, b cautious, w make sure we stay focused on what is important and what is important is the subject, not Sexual Harassment, individual stories, which are very painful, yes, but there are many stories out there that have never been told. So there is a question from the audience that want to know if any of you have faced sexual harass mant in your career . Would any of you like to take that on . While i do not disagree with you, totally appreciate where youre coming from. But the truth is, if the started a me too movement so there is a place for celebrities, i think. But i hear you. In terms of my country, we have not reached where we ought to be. We have really not had the conversation, but i believe the men are paying attention and if women do not come out and say it, i believe that theyre paying attention, and i believe their actions would belie that. Because it is very common, im not going to give a specific incident, but it is very common in our culture, men will slap you on the behind and say, you know, remarks and that is common place and some people almost take it for granted and some people like it. But i think now women are beginning to understand that this is not right and men more importantly are beginning to understand that this is something that is not acceptable. And even if they do not come out like theyre doing here, i think they are paying attention. I think its very important also to have in place sort of structure, some method through which you focus on issues like that. And for instance in finland, in almost every workplace, for instance in the government, everywhere, including my embassy, theres only how should i put it, a study, made about different aspects of the workplace, everybody answers anonymously and the questions included whether you have observed bad behavior in the workplace, whether you have observed Sexual Harassment or other crimes of harassment and if you have yourself experienced. And you get the results from those studies and if theres any indication that Something Like that has happened or has been observed, its really the duty of the boss to address this issue. And theres a very detailed sort of method, instructions for the boss and the staff about how do you address these issues. Not generally, but really when you when Something Like that comes up and you know that in your workplace Something Like that has happened, how do you address it . So there has to be a, i think its very good, b that theres t kind of a mechanism in place where its easy to sort of report, and theres a clear path how you address it. Were out of time, but i want to end on a personal question to each of you and answer it from the heart. Theres a lot of women in this audience, theres a lot of women in our broadcast audience who look at you all, youve reached the pinnacle of careers, youre strong women, you are the ultimate, you know, symbol of success, what is your advise to young women who want to pursue your path . Kosovo . Thank you very much for the qualification. I dont think i have reached the peak yet. I think what my life story tells is that you can succeed against all the odds. If you work hard, if youre committed, and if you put your heart in it. 18 years ago, i was a refugee. I was separated from earniveryt i knew and loved. And here i am today representing my country in washington, d. C. So just stay focused, work hard and whatever you choose to do, do it with honor and integrity. Very powerful. Words from libya. From libya. Yes, never think that you cannot make it. Whatever your heart goes in your career, go for it. And you will come out winner if you focus, if youre committed. Dont ever think or hesitate or think you cannot make it. You can never know how brave you are or how courageous until you really face up to challenges and only then you will realize how strong you are. And its just how you judge yourself, so be strong, be assertive. Nobody will give you anything, you have to go for it and ask for it and take it. And take what you deserve, whatever you see you deserve, go for it and do it for yourself. Thank you. What shall i say . When i after i went to the white house, i went to them and i took a picture of a similar house to where i was born, a chattel house, half the size of this platform. My father, my mother, there were eight surviving siblings, its obvious where i would have done in an outhouse. Were all here to be honest and its elcanoquent in the room an dont mind that. So as i look back, im black, im a woman, im from an extremely poor neighborhood, and so probably lowest on the totem pole and just a few days ago, you know, all the hoopla and i went to address in sons of solomon 1 5 and the speaker said, im dark but lovely. And king james says i am black but cuddly. And she went on to say, why are you staring at me because im black . And she said my brothers angry with me and they sent me out into the vineyards, i neglected my own vineyard and that said three things to me, one, she was saying she was looked down upon, discriminated because of her color. And because of her gender, she was punished because of her gender. And yet she was talking about her selfworth, she said i am dark as solomons curtains, so shes created herself a kings curtain. So right away, it was in spite of who i am, in spite of where im from, the creator did not make any mistakes and so i must have some selfworth. And i thought in gods tapestry of this universe, he has created each one of us for a purpose. Some of us might be a black skin of wool, some pink thread, some purple. But every one of us has a unique slot in that tapestry and as long as we find that slot, with the best little color that we are, its going to enhance the whole tapestry, we enhance the tapestry and those around us make us shine, and so my message to anyone is to find what your creator ordained you to be. Find that slot. Be the best you can be, whatever it is. And enhance the tapestry of the universe. Thank you. [ applause ] rwanda . Its pretty hard to say anything after that. But i have to say that really i encourage people to be of service, whatever they are, whatever station of life they are in. One of the things whatever dreams we have, but we never like them, its really when you start where you are in your community in extending yourself, i didnt try to be who i am. I was very happy being who i was. But i think whatever i did before then, in the refugee camp, i was always doing those, i was putting a stone on top of one of the other. When you leave your country and youre young and youre not with your parents, youre not with any role model, you need to find an internal grounding. And that and eventually i abandoned it, but for me it was catholicism, and i turned against catholicism because of genocide. But christianity was able to keep me out of trouble, but also they were able to promote me in a certain direction, you become involved where you are. Everyone has challenges, everyone, whether they are big, small, and sometimes we tend to go into narcissistic suffering, this one the biggest kidding of anything. So being around refugees and seeing how theyre willing to help, grounded you. I still have my two legs, i was healthy, and in refugee camps, the other people were not really as lucky as i was. So that also gave me permission and responsibility to extend myself and to extend whatever i had. So i think you can try and be in an ambassadors place, you can land on top of Foreign Policy, but when you start where you are, even when youre in school, you start in school, you start volunteering and you start looking at the other as a human being where you can really make a difference. So i think you can reach higher that way. Thank you. Its very hard to come after these fantastic stories so ill be a bit more concrete. I think it very important not to think about that youre a woman so much. Think about that youre very capable in what youre doing. Think more like a man, if theres an application for a job, and theres these eight qualities, a woman would have 7 and say i dont have eight. And a man would say, theres two, thats me. You dont think that you have to be perfect. Its about getting things done. Maybe going around the corners a bit and not and actually carry your planning, look ahead, what do you want to do . Whats the job you want to have after your next job, so its really being quite concrete about it. And be a bit more bold. I was raised in a ville raj in zimbabwe by a woman who would always tell us that just do it. I had a brother who was very la lazy, and my brother would give us plots of land to work, and my brother would be more busy figuring out how he could get us to do his work. And i still remember, even as a little girl, he would be done with our work and he would still be trying to figure out how to get us to do his work. I know now in raising my own children and i say to them, if this world was a beehive, i could never be a queen, because i enjoy work, ill have to be a worker bee. I thrive off of work. I was raised by a woman who doesnt understand why a woman should just sit around the house and do nothing. Surely theres got to be something for you to do. Theres a dress you could mend, you could rearrange this or rearrange that. Didnt realize how much that has become so much part of me. I truly thrive off of work. I enjoy just working, regardless of what it is. I remember visiting one of my fellow doctors and we were talking about work ethic. As a doctor, if you have outside dirt in your living room that you never knew existed. If i make up my mind to vacuum and clean your house, im going to clean it the best way i know how. So young people i say to you, whether youre getting compensated or not, if you make a decision to do something, give it the best you know how. And the rest will follow. Thank you. Finland, you have to top them all. I agree with everything that has been said, but i have to say, you said we are strong women and i have never identified myself as a strong woman. So i started to think what is it, strength . And if you pose the question, how come i am here and then what is my piece of advice, it would be be true to yourself. Do what you are passionate about. And thirdly, i am a big believer in sisterhood and brotherhood. So support the brothers, have friends, networks, and offer your support to others. So i think thats what i would say. I want to thank this panel for sharing your perspectives but also your lives and your hearts with us tonight. Thanks to all of you. Thank you for coming, please come to our next event. Do we have a date, bev . See whats coming up . Not yet. Be sure to be here, but thank you for coming. On tuesday january 30th, President Trump will give his first state of the Union Address to a joint session of congress. Our coverage begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, with a preview of the address, followed by the state of the union at 9 00. After the speech, well take your calls and also hear reaction from members of congress. Coverage of the state of the Union Address live on cspan, also cspan. Org and also on our cspan radio app. This weekend, the cspan cities tour takes you to new port, rhode island. With the help of our Cox Communications partners, well explore new ports history. Well visit redwood library, the nations oldest working library, and author peter keirnan, americans mojo, strengthening the american middle class. Mojo it literally has become our Central Nervous system. When it prospers, our whole economy prospers and when it doesnt, it cretes a sort of barbell effect. A few people get really, really rich, and the poor get really, really poor. And the balance between these two, the key, sort of fulcrum position is the middle class. On sunday at 2 00 p. M. On American History tv, hear about new ports history as the largest slave trading port in north america. Settled in 1639, over the course of the next few years, newport and the county of rhode island, would become not only the most active port in north america, but it also became the most active slave port. Merchants in rhode island were responsible for nearly 1,000 slaving voyages from rhode island to the west african coast, to the west indies and back to the new port. Beginning saturday on book tv on cspan2 and American History tv on cspan3. Working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. This weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history, Depaul University professor on president abraham lincolns portrayal in art and photographs. Mr. Lincoln, give me back my 500,000 sons, meaning the soldiers that had been lost in the war. So this was during the civil war, 1864, and then lincoln, who the artist shows with his legs slung over his chair, like hes a country bumpkin, his reputation for being inelegant and crude. He said, well, the fact is, by the way, that reminds me of a story. That was about part of his reputation he was always telling stories and tall tales and jokes, sometimes to a really irritating extent. There the american historical Associations Annual means, a discussion of free speech on college campuses. Intellectual diversity is healthier than many people expect. That doesnt mean that there isnt an issue, where certain students views and certain groups have felt that they have received less active attention from the faculty and the administration. And i include conservative students in that group. They have received less public attention. And i think we need to meet those students where they are and to help them to develop a place in our public conversation where they feel more included. And sunday at 4 00 p. M. Eastern on real america, the 1987 film drug abuse, meeting the challenge. Anyone that says cocaine is not addictive, they lie. When you do cocaine, you lie to yourself about being in control. Cocaine is not hip, its hype. Anyone who tells you its okay is a liar. Watch American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Sunday night on afterwards, womens march on washington cochair linda sarsor reflects on the 2017 march and whats ahead for the moment, shes interviewed by heather mcgee. What do you say to them . And what do you say to them to say to their sister, to share their culture and beliefs . I say it may not feel like this, but were fighting for them too. We believe in their potential to do the right thing. And i know they continue oftentimes to disappoint and including to disappoint their white sisters, the 49 that dont vote for republicans. But what i ask people to do, and i do this myself, im not actually loyal to any political party. I say to people vote your values and your principles. The reason why i say that, last year we got into a big catastrop controversy about pro life, can pro life women come and be part of this movement. We never said that we were pro abortion movement. We are pro choice, we are a movement that believes that a woman should have the agency to choose whatever she feels is right for her and her family and her body. Thats at 9 00 p. M. On cspan2. The white house empowering in this panel the associate attorney general rachel brand, air force secretary Heather Wilson and Principal Deputy director of National Intelligence sue gordon talked about National Security issues. Thank you so much, i know its a long afternoon and we wanted to get everything covered so appreciate you guys hanging in there. Our last panel is going to be a National Security and public safety. As you may have been aware, secretary neilson has been on the hill this morning testifying and as of a few hours ago, she was still there, so shes going to be unable to join us today. But we do have sue gordon in