I miss in europe for etiquette advocacy here at vital voices, but my journey with vital voices started more than 25 years ago. I have been a member of this network for 25 years. It all started back in beijing in 1995 when there was an amazing synchronicity when elizabeth, melinda, secretary clinton and others independently we did not know each other at that time, we were at a conference. I was one of those who were in the room. Here are the words that changed my lives. Womens rights are human rights. That moment i realized that the work that i started basically begins with me, and it is not just social work. I started the program for women in russia, and at that time i am thinking that i am just helping women, but in 1995 i learned that i am doing more. The next stage of my awareness was in 1997. The first vital voices conference in vienna. And another slogan, another wisdom, which was democracy without women is not a democracy read that also changed my life, because i realized that fighting for human rights is political. And that we all need to be aware of that. Since that moment, i became a member of the vital voices network, and then it was another important event for me. In 1999, it was another vital voices conference in reykjavik where secretary clinton interviewed five women on the stage from different confident continents, and at that time i was already repaired to speak about womens rights, to be able to express and to be articulate, because i was trained already. That is what vital voices does. Very important things for any activist. One, we get skills to be able to go out there and change what we are passionate about, and also a very important moment when women who already are well known and influential have strengthened this role are not afraid to stand with us. Activists on the ground, invest space, give us support and empower us. Now, 25 years later i made it full circle. I came back to vital voices as the senior director for advocacy. I came back to just give back what i have gained, what i have learned, and this Amazing Network of over 20,000 women around the globe each make a difference every day, each struggling, but that is the power that is making a difference in this world. And please, enjoy the panel, because this panel is going to again show what actions we women take to change this world to be a better place. Thank you. [applause] hi there, everyone. [applause] that is great to know. I have got to say, we have a Powerhouse Panel right now of powerful women as the name implies, and today we are talking about 25 years of disrupting the status quo. Beside me we have women doing just that, i want to introduce them starting with former u. S. Secretary state hillary clinton. Please join me in welcoming her. [applause] also joined by an antitrafficking activist and author as well as cofounder of the girls agenda. Feel free to wave. Peace builder in Northern Ireland and the founder of wa kami global. Secretary clinton, i do want to begin with you, and i want to start broadly, because you are no stranger to disrupting the status quo. I can think of a few times you have done that, first woman to be senator in new york, first woman to get a president ial nomination, just to name a few things. I wonder for those in the audience who may be havent done as much as you have. [laughter] that was not meant to be shady. What do you say for those advocating for womens rights today and which womens rights do you feel are most at threat . Secretary clinton i cannot tell you how happy i am to be back in a panel and work with people ive worked within the past and be part of this extraordinary network where it it is a broad question, but let me answer it in this way. I think the games we have seen in womens rights and womens opportunities have been significant. I remember very well in 1995 when i was at beijing at the u. N. Conference on women. We passed a platform for action, which i am afraid in todays world would probably not pass, because it had to be unanimous because it was the united nations, so every country had to sign on. And at the time we passed that, there were hundreds of millions of girls not in school. There was Inadequate Health care. There were economic barriers to the participation of women in the economies of their countries. There were laws that prevented women from inheriting property, from opening a business, all kinds of prohibitions. Women in some places were not allowed to vote, drive a car. Women were in many parts of the world really kept down and kept back, so fast forward all these years later, certainly progress has been made. A lot of laws have been changed. A lot of doors have been opened or knocked down. A lot of women have assumed positions of leadership and responsibility in the public, private, notforprofit sectors, so a lot of movement has happened since the world really came together and had an honest assessment of where women stood. However, in the last few years, some of it driven by covid, which disrupted so much of our lives, there have been a lot of setbacks to womens ongoing progress, and to just name a few after combating Child Marriage in africa, it went back up during covid. After criminalizing Domestic Violence and creating laws against it and special programs to shelter women or punish offenders, it also went back up during covid. We saw the Maternal Mortality rate in the United States of america go up after making a lot of progress on it womens health. We saw the reversal of roe v. Wade and the imposition of very draconian laws about Reproductive Health in the United States. In place after place, to say nothing also about the wars that have gone on, and you know we thought again we were making progress on the conflict front too, and in places now like ukraine, like sudan, rape is a tactic of work. At going after women, particularly women who are outspoken, stand up to oppression, and so as with any time in human history, there is good news and bad news, and part of our challenge in vital voices is to keep pushing forward, because in some places it is the very survival of women. The right to survive. Another places, it is the right to have an education all the way through as far as they went to go. In other places, it is having the opportunity to pursue a dream, a job, a business that is still difficult. So it is hard to pick out sort of one thing that needs emphasis. I wrote an article about a year or so ago in the atlantic where i said mens rights womens rights are no understood to be legitimate and an important achievement to continue to pursue, but without power women s rights are very fragile, and so we need to keep not only talking about rights, but talking about empowering women to make the decisions that are best for them and their families, their communities, and their societies, and that is what we keep doing. [applause] secretary, i want to spend a moment focused in the u. S. Obviously it is an area where you have worked extensively in and you mentioned the Dobbs Decision that rolled back roe v. Wade. Are these rollbacks inevitable . I know the Supreme Court has been a focus because of clarence thomas. Do you believe the Supreme Court should have a code of act six ethics . I do believe that. Why should they be the only institution in the United States without a code of ethics that is enforceable. The circuit court, the congress, people who run for Public Office have a lifetime appointment so im old enough to remember there was a Supreme Court in the 1960s appointed by president johnson, who it was discovered had engaged in some financial dealings with a friend, a colleague of his outside of the court and was forced to resign, so, of course i think there should to be ethical standards, and they should carry some weight, because of the daily revelations about what has gone on particularly with Justice Thomas but a few others as well, and it should be nonpartisan, not just bipartisan. There should be a set of standards and people should be held to them. I want to close by saying i mention power, and it still remains the most important power , which is to cast your vote for people who you would think will protect your rights. [applause] too many people in our country have failed to believe that or except that thinking there is no difference. Well, now we have got really one big difference, and it is the Dobbs Decision and the kind of draconian measures passed in a number of states right out, you right out of Margaret Atwoods handmaids tale. You cannot imagine the United States in 2023 and the kind of almost punitive measures that are being put on womens lives and choices. Thank you. I want to bring you in, because you have done some important work overseas. I am thinking of Northern Ireland. You actually played an integral role in that intractable conflict. She essentially helped draft the good friday agreement, and last month marked 30 years since that civil war past with all of that said, i want to know and get your perspective. Can you speak to Coalition Building right now . How important is that in the work of womens equity . It is absolutely essential. Just to talk about where secretary clinton started talking about the beijing coalition for action. That was the very First International delegation of women. I remember booking tickets with no money and the bank, because we had to get them at the lowest prices and we had to raise the money the first delegation of women to go to a massive conference for womens rights and human rights. But we started way back in the 1970s. Women leaders of the civil rights movement, women starting a parallel womens rights movements, not just waiting for civil rights but actually working on womens rights, heading up the first womens center. Out of that spinning womens education products projects, women on the other the divide who could work together. Our friend and others, women in the labor movement. Rape crisis centers, many work and not just in urban areas but also in rural areas. We are very rich in Northern Ireland in Civil Society and womens activism, and i suppose it come to the time of the womens coalition, and i want to quote a colleague of mine annie campbell. She said to god does city have been thinking they can sit around the table and decide if table decide the future of Northern Ireland without women present. The european womens platform at event lobbying and arguing for this and challenging parties for a very long time, but there was another reason. Because we wanted the war to end. Because we had seen that previous negotiations with primarily only men around the table had not yielded results, and indeed, when we put out that call to women because we had years of working as women working together and forming collaborations over feminism, this issue, that issue, falling back in, knowing how to trust each other over the many years and setting our hearts and our minds on a very important goal. Actually, the second part i have to be careful when i am doing this internationally, because i am very aware if i am working with our friends in syria or areas which have not had a long history of Civil Society. They think can we not do this . And of course we can start at any time. And lots of things can be the mobilizing force, but i find in the conflict the most mobilizing force is that women have been dealing with the effects on the ground and the children in the communities is to work for peace either than to actually create the opportunities, find the opportunities or seize the opportunities, and it was all of there was Something Different women brought to the table. When secretary clinton talked about in terms of power, when we are in the negotiation, the men in Political Parties are focused on the power. The men with guns are focused on the security issues, and we as women brought additional issues. We bring additional issues that speak to the future of society. Why was that . Because we didnt go in with a zerosum position, we said, how are we going to lead our position . Based on the values and principles, which were around equity, human rights and inclusion of all stakeholders, and being at the table and going through the dialogue. I leave you with one thought. Had women not been at the table, it is inconceivable, victims and survivors would not have been mentioned in the agreement. I was asked over lunch, what would i do now if we had not it is what i say when i am working with others, when you think you are asking something that the other party is not asking for, multiply it by 10, because we are not asking for enough. [applause] that is so powerful. Women dont just bring themselves to the table, they bring so many others. Coalition doesnt mean we are just getting along, we are willing to work through. Secretary clinton said that the men thought they could make decisions without us at the table. We are looking at 2024, a rematch between President Biden and former president trump. It is an 80yearold white man disrupting the status quo as a potential democratic nominee. Secretary clinton as president he has disrupted the status quo, there is a record he is running on. I was in the senate for eight years, i have an understanding of how difficult it was to get a accomplished the legislation he did. Whether it is building roads, ports, airports, rock band, or whether it is broadband or whether it is the chips bill or clean energy, will employ millions of americans. The economic investments that are being made because of President Bidens singular focus on helping us to have the economy of the future is disruptive. The prior president , he who shall remain nameless [laughter] he must have said the word infrastructure a million times. Never did a thing about it, because it was hard. Talk is cheap, action is valuable. That, to me is disruptive, because we are in a period in our countrys history where we think we cannot get stuff done, because no one will listen, talk or compromise, or stay. I think joe biden proven it. I dont think he gets the credit he deserves from the press or large segments of the people. Literally, he got a lot done in two years in difficult circumstances, including an insurrection at the capital. That is disruptive in the best sense of the word, i know that it is not easy, i know that a lot of folks did not vote for me, that some people were preventing me from being president , im going to get up every day, no matter my age, and we are going to get stuff done, i love that. [applause] i am so glad you are representing the african diaspora. That deserves a round of applause. [applause] in your work you take a specific approach when it comes to shifting social norms in your work for women and girls. And you break that down for us and talk about, how you go about shifting mindsets. You can fall into the trap of you do the opposite. Thank you very much. I came from a tribe where the firstborn is expected to be male. If it is a girl, i grew up in a situation where i saw my mom being battered and i had no idea why. I started talking about freedom, justice, equality, when i didnt know the meaning of feminism. When i didnt know the meaning of feminism. I had conversations and would ask about family settings, if this is something normal. It is something emotional and i still battle with it. Here i am today, a woman who was battered, having a daughter, who is now a globally recognized activist for women and girls in gambia and beyond. [applause] i used my moms experience as a woman of faith, woman with limited words, and i worked very hard, i got a University Degree by myself when the chances were slim. In my tribe, a girl is lucky to be in school. I escaped that. It came to haunt me when i was 25 and i was graduating with my first degree in gambia in political science, and headed to thailand for a Study Exchange program. I was seen as to disruptive by my fathers extended family. I was told to be prepared for a marriage. I was like, i have cofounded my own organization with my best friend, speaking to women, to send their daughters to school. This is another slap on my face, but it is not happening. I headed to thailand, and i told my father, tell your family that i am not going to marry this unknown man. [applause] those extended family members who were pushing the agenda ever contributed to my life or wellbeing when i was a single mother. I headed to thailand, came back and got a scholarship, went to asia, and it become an issue. I was too much traveling girl, a loose girl, the tribe wasnt happy, but they couldnt do much about it. Because i kept reminding them that you didnt contribute a dime to my wellbeing, to my education. Who should get the credit about me . I moved on. I focused on investing my energy on the agenda. Especially tuan especially from 2015 to date. In 2015, when i came from thailand, i wanted to talk to them about investing in girls education. Using my story. In gambia i am a household name, because of the approach that i take, talking to people, mentoring children, convincing guardians to send their guardians to send their daughters to school. I use my story as an example that we could disrupt the social norms that are affecting the future of every girl and woman in this country. I will go to communities and speak to leaders and the people, i will speak to my people, bring myself down to their level, that we will understand each other. But making the point that no woman or girl deserves to be disrespected. We all have our equal rights and we are to be protected, respected, and we should always promote the wellbeing of every girl and woman, if we do, our society will progress. [applause] i also continue working with organizations that give me the space, the global donor community. Young women are not accessing resources or platforms. We are not talking to bbc or cnn. Having a link with vital voices, gave me a platform to access women, and amplify, we are producing videos talking about violence, Domestic Violence, these are taboo topics. We are using art. We can talk about anything using art. We have become the actors and actresses ourselves. Create the movies that our people will understand, talking about female genital mutilation, second work sex work abuse, over the past three years my organization has produced 600 girl leaders in gambia. [applause] that support was through participation with vital voices. I came with my two daughters. They will not be mutilated, your investment for the past 25 years, is the product like me, who has decided my daughters will not be cut like me. I am using my story to convince my community and tribe that girls deserve better, leadership, information about their Reproductive Health and rights, and to honor education. Thank you. [applause] for those online, there are some standing happening in the crowd. You said your daughters are here, i think i have seen them, be they can give a wave. You mentioned storytelling. That makes me want to turn to you. In my reading of your work, you have been described as a feminist storyteller who wants to paint hope. You had a debut fiction novel last month. [applause] a lot of your work is centered around Human Trafficking and preventing it. Why use storytelling to do that, how can those in the room disrupt through the stories they tell . I am thrilled to the be to be in this room with those i admire. I want to give an example of my own life, how storytelling hasnt helped me make a difference in the world we inhabit today. I went to listen to hilary in beijing. I was standing, someone gave me an on barela. Someone gave me an umbrella. I was trekking in nepal, i came across rows of villages with missing girls. I couldnt understand where all the girls were. I decided to ask the men sitting there. He said all the girls are in bombay. I followed the trail and found a little girls locked up in the little rooms for years, being exploited by multiple men. As a journalist, as someone who had been in beijing, and seen the unity in action, i couldnt believe how this could exist. I wanted to do something. I ended up making a documentary. That documentary one and emmy. I came to new york and was looking at the bright lights, all i could see were the eyes of the mothers who had told their story because they wanted to save their daughters. I had contact with misses clinton, they put me in touch with others, there was a womens circle who said they would help. They took me to speak in front of the u. N. And show the documentary there and to u. S. Congress, we created a bipartisan bill. Today i can say i played apart with the help of a few friends, one of them is on stage, who galvanized the action. Apart in the passage of the Trafficking Victim protection act, the first lot in the United States. [applause] it was the circle of voices i wanted to acknowledge. Very often, when we do the work, we forget the work that our fellow women have helped us do. I went back and set up an ngo to help the girls who the mothers wanted to protect. There was a lot of danger, patriarchy, restitution is as old as the hills, nothing can be done. I was trying to get to the girls into school and facing challenges. I remember misses clinton came to calcutta. She came to visit us. I gave her a photograph of her with a girl practicing karate. That literally is the sense of my book, in which a girl at 14 years old, escaped the sex trade by becoming a kung fu champ. [applause] the reason i havent gone back to storytelling is i think we have to break the silence around issues which affect our children, but we dont talk to them about. It is a young adult book published by scholastic. It will trigger a conversation because sex trafficking is happening to children. In schools across america, a report says Mental Health is a big issue. The root causes are bullying, sexual abuse, food insecurity. This book might be a message in the bottle, but it is also passing the baton to another generation. I am back again to do so. I am thrilled. I want to end, by thinking Hilary Clinton for her leadership, walking the talk every step of the way and being there again and again. [applause] zanhle i want to bring you in here, didnt i tell you, this is a Powerhouse Panel . Your approach in disruption has its roots in restoration and recovery, specifically in guatemala, after a civil war, you saw an urgent need for repair and income generation in remote areas. Talk to us about how you Center Infrastructure in your work. I also want to acknowledge secretary clinton, we are so proud of you, women all over the world. You are an inspiration. [applause] i came here in 2005, and i came with a big dream for my country, that had been torn by war. I was looking at women losing their children because they didnt have five dollars to feed to them or take them to a hospital. I came here with a big dream but burdened and feeling lonely in my work. The first time we sat at a table with other vital voices women, and you heard our stories and supported us and believed in us, i never felt like i was alone in this journey. That is a power of vital voices. I am a biologist, i was in guatemala, the women were saying , when they were bearing their children, i would ask them what we can do that will change their lives. What they said gave me my to do. They said, if you can find sources of income for us, the rest, we can do. I began wondering how we do that. Selling everything. It has been 18 years, we are able to set up a system where we can get women with big dreams and a few opportunities to become a formal business. It sells products in the world market. The women with income, they wanted educated, healthy kids. We built a platform where we have girls clubs and scholarships, nutrition programs so women can get their dreams done. After 18 years, and a country where the average School Attendance is four point five years, for girls its less, it is double the School Attendance. [applause] in a place where 50 of children suffer chronic malnutrition, we see that women, after one year in the program, 60 of the children start recovering. The biggest problems of our country are being solved by women with income. We were trying to find a name for that, we were thinking it was the mom effect. You give mom an opportunity, she will transform the children in her family. [applause] the dream is, you give many women a source of income and to change a country. Being part of vital voices gives me the ability to belief that we can scale and go further. Businesses that provide opportunity for Vulnerable People are businesses that change the world. And through moms. [applause] zanhle as you are talking about infrastructure, secretary clinton, earlier we were talking about how in the world today there is so much conflict. Youre talking about sudan, ukraine, even when infrastructure is built, when we saw the botched u. S. Exit of afghanistan, the infrastructure can crumble. If you are in the white house today, how would you be handling the crises . [laughter] secretary clinton theres so much going on, it is hard to really figure out everything that should be done. In a brief overview, i fully support what our government is doing in ukraine. The want the ukrainians to win, to push the russians out of their country, to be able to rebuild the infrastructure that has been deliberately targeted by putin. That will require patients. We are not living in a patient time. We have a short attention span, people are wanting to figure out what is happening, move on and keep going. But we have, along with our allies, and the courage of the ukrainian people and their leaders, we have been able to see a small country invaded by all very large neighbor defend itself. I think we should do everything we can to help them continue the fight and go on the offensive and push the Russian Troops out of what has been seized last year. Then try to figure out how we can help them rebuild. In sudan, the u. S. Government, along with others, have been trying hard to negotiate ceasefires. The bloodlust is too high. The men that are fighting for power are not ready for a lasting ceasefire. One of the things that happened in Northern Ireland after 3500 people were killed, there was enough willingness to stop the killing and have a ceasefire. But it took years to get there. In sudan, i dont know. The two men, the head of the military and of the militia, are putting everything they have into trying to gain power. There will be a lot of terrible, barbaric consequences of that. As we heard at lunch, bashir escaped, he is at large. We have other countries in the region that are trying to pick sides. We have the wagner Army Fighting in ukraine, they are also in africa. They are also picking sides. This is going to be, im afraid, a very difficult conflict to get to a ceasefire that lasts. We should keep trying. Want to continue to support the womens revolution in iran. The young women who are on the streets of iran. [applause] i think they will eventually prevail, but they have paid a huge price, the number of young people killed, thrown into prisons, tortured, sexually assaulted by a regime that has no legitimacy. A bunch of old men hanging onto power, its disgusting. The people, the young people of iran, deserve so much better. We need to support them. Afghanistan. Zanhle could anything have been done differently . Secretary clinton after trump made the agreement to pull out, there was nothing else to do. It could have been handled better. Its tragic. The taliban showed up during the negotiations that mike pompeo was leading and said, we are different, we have changed. Of course girls can go to school, no problem. If you read the ridiculous document that the u. S. Government under trump signed with the taliban, they bought it hook, line and sinker. So it was a very unfortunate outcome. We need to do everything we can to help the people of afghanistan, especially the women and children. That will be very difficult because aid is being cut off. There is lots that we have to figure out how to do to help. You could go around the world, there is so many challenges. On balance, the coalition that was put together to help ukraine was quite an accomplishment. The work that is being done to bring asian nations together to stand up a potential invasion of taiwan by china is very important. We need to do a lot more work in africa and in america. And in latin america. There is so much that wasnt done in the prior administration. We have to do makeup work. We are living in a complicated time. We need people to not just be in government, but in business, in the media, citizens, and academia. I know that if we dont stand up for freedom and human rights, you will lose ground. Dont think we want that to happen. [applause] we are going to do rapid fire. Asking each of you a different question, but for everyone, looking ahead. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for progress when it comes to how we build coalitions . One of the things we have is the International Framework with the beijing platform for action. The solidarity piece is really important. The depth of our difficulty, having International Solidarity was essential. When vital voices came to Northern Ireland, we had partnerships which managed to turn women and our infrastructure to 40 , we are at 37 now. That is turning around to management of power. I have a lot of faith in you. In the young people in every single country. Those of us need who work in an intergenerational way, supporting young women, because you are really sassy, you dont censor yourself the way we used to do, you have our love and our hope. We need to create the sense of security around them. Those of us who can make it easier within the International Framework, we need to do that so they can get ahead and do work in every country. [applause] lets reframe the question. What does progress look like to you, and also what do you think the west is doing wrong when it comes to work on the african continent . Progress is about creating young women as leaders. My commitment is the creation of 2000 young Women Leaders across gambia, something similar to this idea called hub for young women in gambia. Creating Women Leaders and sharing the power, showing that girls and women are represented on the decisionmaking tables will be transformative to reduce food insecurity, sexual violence, Domestic Violence, and genital mutilation and Child Marriage. How the west can invest more is getting our leaders to work for the people and not for their political positions. Help us rebrand democracy in a way that it is also it doesnt also look like a force on us. Walk together with us through our institutions, show that the gain of democracy is sustained in the best interest of the most vulnerable. Space are created for us to voice our needs and we have the ability to strive [applause]. [applause] you are an Emmy Awardwinning storyteller, how do we tell stories that best serve women and girls . Tell stories of hope, talk about what we have achieved, what our friends have achieved. Often we are gas lighted, you are told you are done nothing, but actually we have made huge strides. What we are facing now is a backlash. If we dont give up, we can achieve a world in which there is a full participation of women and girls in everything. Gender it is at home we first realized that it is all right for one class of human beings to order and one to obey, want to get paid and one to notch. We go out and replicate those forces of power. We have to not give up. We are almost there. [applause] what gives you hope in this moment as you look ahead . Collective dreams. The big gift that the women here in the u. S. Was to learn how much power comes from supporting each other. That we brought to guatemala. Once i came here, we started with other women in water myla guatemala. So many of us working with girls , generating income, getting women on board, its a movement now. It all got started here. The more we are, the faster we will achieve the world in which equality is a key ingredient. That gives me hope. [applause] i want to end with you. 2024 no, kidding. Where do you think we need to be focusing our efforts when it comes to pursuing a gender equal world . Secretary clinton you have heard from four amazing women who are showing us, by their daily actions and commitment, what can and should be done. Honestly, from my perspective, we have to keep the energy up to continue to stand and speak out, and support women, and our men who are allies, who are on the front lines, trying to push forward the kind of opportunities and rights that women and girls deserve. And the continuing pursuit of justice and equality. We have had a backlash, you are right about that, that should just stiffen our spine and get us more committed. And its important to try to get more allies. More people who understand what is at risk. I was talking to some women who were in the fight for abortion rights in our country. All of sudden, somebody knows somebody who has a miscarriage, and they cant get treated because under the absurd laws of the state in which they live, they are told, we cant treat you. Go sit in your car until you are really sick, then come in. Maybe then we can treat you. Storytelling, and acting on those stories, then motivating people, and i will end with this, turning out to vote in democracies. Not leaving it to somebody else to decide who our leaders are. That is what we need to be doing if we are going to stop the pushback and restart the progress that still lies ahead. [applause] thank you also very much for your work and time. [applause]