Women Deliver: The Power of Us

The three host nations open the Women Deliver Conference - thank you to the matriarchs of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh nations.

The Power of Us: Opening Plenary

Katja Iversen - Women Deliver

After a moving and energetic welcome by the host nations - Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh, the President and CEO of Women Deliver, Katja Iversen, welcomed everyone to Vancouver at the opening of Women Deliver 2019. She told us that there were 8000 delegates (4000+ in the room) from 165 countries. The conference delegation included 1400 young leaders from around the world and an estimated 100k people participating in satellite events around the world! 

She implored us to take advantage of all of the programming options - from plenary sessions, workshops, social events, 150 exhibitor booths, power talks, digital poster sessions, virtual reality films, short films and culture night!

The program was bold and intense, with the goal of creating, fostering, and sustaining a more gender equal world. Communities thrive when there is equity - they are healthier, wealthier, more productive and more peaceful because everyone wins. As women and gender non-conforming folks, we have the power of many and the power justice and we will not go backwards.

And then Prime Minister Trudeau came out, yammered on for a bit, mansplained intersectionality and then left the stage only to re-emerge for the ensuing panel discussion.

Panel Discussion:

• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - Canada
• Lyse Doucet (Moderator)
• Her Excellency President Sahle-Work Zewde - Ethiopia
• His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta - Kenya
• Farwiza Farhan - Forest, Nature, and Environment Aceh
• Natasha Mwansa - Media Network on Child Rights and Development - Uganda
• President of Ghana His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
• Dr. Alaa Murabit - UN High-Level Commissioner: Health, Employment & Economic Growth

This panel discussion was dynamite. 

The moderator started with Justin Trudeau and asked him about his gender balanced cabinet, his "because it's 2015" comment and his feminism. Trudeau is slick - he did appoint women to cabinet and he appointed them into important roles. The Ministries of Justice, Health, Labour, Free Trade - not just the Status of Women. He said that gender equity in cabinet leads to better decision making. I have to agree with that. He said one thing that was interesting - "diversity is a fact and inclusion is a choice."  Food for thought. 

Then we heard from The President of Ethiopia - Sahle-Work Zewde. Funnily, I bumped into her earlier that day when I was bending down to tie my shoe - I lost my balance and bumped into her and her entourage. #awkward. Anyway....she was asked what difference it will make for women to be seen in power in her country. She emphatically stated that it makes a huge difference in the perception in what women can and cannot do - that women can't be the trees just hiding in the forest. We have to be the forest!  She went on to say that as a pioneer the door opens and that you need to make sure that door remains open, to push the limit of what you think is achievable. 

In Ethiopia, a girl child is married off every 2 seconds - 40% of women are married before the age of 18. Yikes. She did say that the number of of child brides is declining and that's due to more girls going to school due to grassroots organizing to make it happen. She reminded us to ensure that there cannot be a disconnect between rhetoric and the grassroots. If you want to change social norms it has to start with the grassroots not in the conference rooms. A passionate advocate for education at all levels, she said that countries thrive when more women go to university. Totally - that means more women teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, architects - decision makers. 

Next up was one of my favourite speakers for the whole conference - Dr. Alaa Murabit. A doctor who grew up in Saskatoon and then went to medical school in Libya. She talked about creating policy that is positive for women and girls and how decisions get made. That large global organizations are finally starting to recognize that the people who are most affect by policy decisions are rarely at the table. Youth are underrepresented everywhere including at Women Deliver - they should be in all rooms on all panels. Here here! When it comes to women participating in society - "If a young girl does not feel she has power over her own body, to go up to her & say, well you should run for parliament, is ridiculous. It is dis-empowering at the most personal level we have to advocate & demand for women's reproductive rights." I liked that she used the word "amplify" a lot. To amplify women's voices, amplify women's organizations to counteract the negativity in the world.r

Natasha Mwansa is a 18 year old powerhouse leader/journalist from Uganda.She challenged all of us to include youth. "Nothing about us, without us or else it's against us." Youth need to be in positions of power and they can't just be the beneficiaries. I stopped writing notes to record her speech - she was so engaging. She stood up, walked around the stage and owned her space. She is articulate, passionate, poised, clever, funny and someone I admire. What a treat to hear from her!

Then it was onto the Ghanian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. It got a little weird because there have been great strides to encourage and include more women in their electoral politics. Then it got weird because he became critical of how women act in politics and told the room of 4000 women that we need to be more dynamic and active. That did not go over well at all and I have to credit Dr. Murabit who interrupted him and started with " you and I need to go for dinner." It was clear she was not in agreement with what he was saying but she took the time to find the words that he would hear. He went on to talk about what his government has done for gender equity - right now they have appointed their first woman Chief Justice and the first woman Chief of Staff.

For the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta he credited the increased prosperity and security of his country simply because women are equal partners in government. It hasn't been easy - they made deliberate decisions to appoint women in positions of power that had never been held by women before. In departments of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Health. They have also made elementary and secondary school compulsory for all children and it is punishable by law if parents don't send their kids to school.They have made a commitment to end child marriages. They have made a commitment to ensure that sanitary towels are provided to girls in school. They also passed a gender bill that states that no one gender shall have 2/3 in parliament - this ensures that women are part of parliament because if you leave a huge group out of the body politic, you cannot grow as a society. 

Farwiza Farhan spoke to us about the climate crisis and the need for collective power. The way to hold power to account is to tell the TRUTH and keep telling the truth. The way forward is to unite to for the difference we want to make.

Last but certainly not least was Erica Armah-Bra Bulu Tandoh AKA DJ Switch, from Ghana. She is 11 years old and full of energy. We learned in an earlier session that she wants to be a gynecologist when she grows up. She talked about why it's important to invite children to the discussion and decision making tables. She shared her advice - TLC. Tell - allow children to tell their stories. Listen - listen when they talk. Clarify - clarify what they say because her generation is what matters! So smart and passionate to make this world a better place. And she is an awesome DJ!

What a great way to start off the conference. More to come...