we are honored to be with you. on the international women s day, i always feel like i have to say thank you. i want to thank all of the women who paved the way. i am grateful for having the right and the opportunity to go to university. i am grateful for my right to vote. thank you that i can have a job and that can have my own property. thank you for the freedom to choose. the international women s day is celebrated all around the world. we celebrate and commemorate the achievements of our mothers and grandmothers and of their mothers and grandmothers. we celebrate their success in bridging the gap between men and women. we also realize there is still a long way to go. i am very happy to be with you. we ve had the opportunity to have participated in a program that is offered by the u.s. department of state. it seems to build and six to build mutual understanding between the u.s. and other nations. it is organized by the state department and a nonprofit organization. there
international education. for three weeks, we have traveled to new york, at san diego, and san francisco. i am happy to of traveled with a group of nine other inspiring women. we are all young professionals in this field. we come from different countries to companies around europe. some of us work and the government formulating policies. others work and organizations. i think we ll have different reasons for why we work. some of us want to be a voice for women that are silenced. others are enthusiastic about creating a social policies to help people. some of us are dissatisfied with the patriarchy. and we want to change. we live in a world in iceland, we have fought hard to put a stop to this completely. it has not been easy. we have managed we have managed to have strip club strip clubs closed as well. by doing this, we are saying women should not be for sale. you cannot buy another human being. [applause] however, we still face a prostitution and trafficking. there is
i want to thank you at all. rose. the organization of the year award goes to an incredible organization sage. standing against global exploitation project. the project is a nonprofit with the primary aim of bringing an end to human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adults. sage continues to this goal by providing treatment services for survivors. it was founded in 1992. norma devoted her life to end the sex trade in the u.s.. i saw her in action and she was an amazing women. in 2004, it led to a california law that allows prosecutors to charge pimps with child abuse if the prostitute a minor. please join me in giving a big congratulations to standing against global exploitation project. [applause] thank you. bravo! [applause] thank you. norma s vision lives on. she passed away in 2008. it is 2012. for the past several years, the staff and the board and all of you have been doing an incredible job of making sure that the intentions to
being debated. everyone was allowed to talk about the pros and cons, except for those who were gay or lesbian in the military. they were forced to be silent. there was a lot of they were all fascinated with the men and showers. there were terrified of gay men in the showers. [laughter] i thought to myself, the lesbians must be dry cleaned. [laughter] you do not hear a peep about them. i decided that i would come out and tried to enter that voice for gays and lesbians. another thing i am hearing this afternoon, having strong women role models. my mother joined in 1942. was in the second class of women to go through officer candidate school in iowa. i have with me here this afternoon two more strong women, of my two sisters. [applause] later in her life, she decided to pursue a new career and went back to the veterinary school. she just graduated last may. [applause] i think we are all inspired by women. everyone has the story to tell. everyone of us would be inspired by thei
build mutual understanding between the u.s. and other nations. it is organized by the state department and a nonprofit organization. there is a local sponsor here in san francisco, the institute for international education. for three weeks, we have traveled to new york, at san diego, and san francisco. i am happy to of traveled with a group of nine other inspiring women. we are all young professionals in this field. we come from different countries to companies around europe. some of us work and the government formulating policies. others work and organizations. i think we ll have different reasons for why we work. some of us want to be a voice for women that are silenced. others are enthusiastic about creating a social policies to help people. some of us are dissatisfied with the patriarchy. and we want to change. we live in a world in iceland, we have fought hard to put a stop to this completely. it has not been easy. we have managed we have managed to have strip club