Transcripts For CSPAN3 Women Global Leadership 20180118

Whether youre joining us in the room here, and i lot of you are, or your joining us online, thank you for being here our smart women, smart power event tonight. Were excited and delighted that seven ambassadors currently representing their countries here in washington can join us for a look at the view of the u. S. From abroad. And as you may have noticed, they happen to all be female ambassadors and they are just a subset of those representing their countries here in washington. Before we begin, ill get to introducing the ambassadors in a few moments, but first i want to give you a few social media reminders. We hope youre following us on twitter smart women and there should have been hand outs. Hopefully you got them with all the ambassadors twitter handles and if youre live tweeting we ask that you use the cse live. We do have a itunes course with our smart women events. We hope that youre following those as well. Our smart women smart power Speaker Series wouldnt be possible without the support of citi. Thank you very much for helping us get our voices heard in international development. Im pleased to welcome Kristin Solheim director of charge daffairs at city. Hi, happy new year. This sour fourth year sponsoring this series and im really 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. So this is going to be a fascinating panel. The countries that theyre coming from youll hear more about, but saint kitts and nevis, kosovo, rwanda, finland, sweden, fascinating different places from around the world. Im sure they all have different perspectives but theyre all women so im sure theres going to be a little grain of similarity between their thoughts of whats happening in the United States and around the world. Theres no one better than nina easton to conduct the panel and i know shes back from what was looked like a phenomenal trip in africa. So excited to hear about that and a lot more. So thank you for being here and im happy to turn it back to kathleen hicks. [ applause ] all right. Thank you, chris continue and thank you to citi for the continuing support. I have the unenvee able task of introducing these seven women and i say that because its not without its challenges in annunciation. I hope you will forgive me i think i have this right but if i mess it up please believe that i tried. If you could just indicate who im saying as i walk down the line. On stage here we have her excellency vlora citaku whos the ambassador of kosovo. We have her excellency Wafa Bugaighis whos the ambassador of libya. We have her excellency thelma phillipbrowne, ambassador of st. Kitts and nevis. We have excellency Mathilde Mukantabana whos the ambassador of rwanda. Her excellency arikana chihomboriquao, and her excellency karin olofsdotter, and Kirsti Kauppi ambassador of finland. And ambassador chi hee is the ambassador of the African Union. Our moderator is nina easton. Nina is also the chair of fortunes most powerful Women International summit and the cochair of the global forum. Thank you all again for joining us and over to you, nina. Thank you. And lets around of applause for all of these been these women, first of all. Its truly an awesome and i tim dating 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 and then well talk about some overarching geopolitical themes. But i really want to include you. So once we do two rounds, we are going to dak questions from the audience. Go ahead and have them ready. Theres cards. We will pick them up and we will read off the questions to our participants. So thank you. Im first going to turn to my left, from sweden ambassador ole loss of d karin olofsdotter, and they have an Foreign Policy. We have a Foreign Government that has a feministic policy. You say feministic. Thats maybe language thing, i dont know. I like that word, i may borrow it. If a way its a shame that we need to have it, and tps its remarkable that we sit here as women is also in a way sad, but its true. So im very proud and happy to represent a feministic government and being maybe the result of a feministic government because im the first woman appointed as ambassador to the United States from sweden. Thats interesting. But going into policy, its really something, its not just the Foreign Policy, this is something that does it sound weird . Actually all of government is working on a feministic agenda, so it doesnt matter which government agency, they have to equal rights and women and men have the same opportunities. We still have challenges in my country. Does this it its okay . Yeah. Maybe im just hearing myself. No, but for instance, sweden women other 87 of what men are so theres a pay gap so we have challenges in my country that were dealing with nationally. But then the government also thought it was very important to take these issues further and really in all our Foreign Policy matters we always have to look at womens issues. Because its very important that we really strife for the women have the same rights and responsibilities and representation as men. So give me an example of that. For instance, right now sweden is a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council. So in all the president ial statements that have been done on the Security Council since weve 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 and there we dont see eye to eye with the u. S. Administration right now. We think this is very serious because, of course, a lot of women die and are abused, et cetera. So those are issues that are very important. When we look to trade, we always try to look so where are the women and how can we throw our work strength in women as economic actors in the field. And we do that with all countries, so even countries within European Union we address it all the time. So it really is something that we consciously look at in all the issues we are working on. So 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 women are, for instance, represented in peace negotiations. You will probably have much more stable peace afterwards because women bring other issues to the table than men. Right. So its extremely important. And why shouldnt 50 of the population be included in all these issues. Right. Why have we been excluded before . Right. So its just the right thing to do actually. So turning to the African Union with dr. Arikana chihomboriquao, now, this is interesting, she was for 25 years a medical doctor in tennessee in a town near where bev grew up. How do you say that . Fem mi memphis burrow. One of her daughters graduated medical school and ones in medical school, pretty impressive. What drove you to take on this position that you have now . Well, im 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. And that she couldnt think of anyone better than myself to take on that role. Because i laughed at her, i couldnt see myself as an ambassador. I said what do you think i know . Im a medical doctor. And she reminded me that she herself is a pediatrician and that i had should i should take some time and think about it. I thought she was kidding. About a week later she called me again and and then slowly i began to realize that she was really serious. So we joke about it, we say she courted me like a man would be courting 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, he 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 plos aftdip after another. We 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 just came back from a honeymoon because she just got married. So youre going to two extremes of emotions in a short period of time and the emotions and the changes that are required that go on from one exam room to 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. So ambassador, as a doctor, i can diagnosis the African Union and tell us what the problems are . Yeah, i think the African Union requires its multi specialty approach. I think in some cases general surgerys definitely needed. In some cases we need orthopedic surgeons to break some bones. In some cases we need neurosurgeons to drill into the brain. And so, and occasionally, maybe often enough we need psychiatrists. So, yes, we do. And i want to hear more about that in the next round of questioning. But lets move on to finland, ambassador Kirsti Kauppi. Youve always been known, finlands always been known as a country pretty good on the gender equality level but whats fascinating is this new level that just 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. And 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 the 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 that we need everybody to make it, and to make our country a success. And when we started as an independent country, finland was 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 mostly 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. So thats do you feel like youve made it and youre there or theres are there initiatives to go farther on that front . Absolutely. Like karin said, there are a lot of challenges. And its funny, you even if you reach a high level, you can never sort of rest because there is always new challenges and theres always the possibility of sliding back. So one of the big areas which obviously we have a very Strong Social policy in all the nordic countries, and a lot of policies in place to make it possible for women to be fully part of the workforce and also to share the socalled burden of children equally between men and women. But there are a lot of challenges, and one of the areas which is a very challenging area is work. The work, jobs and work is changing very rapidly because of technologies and because of, you know, 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 or i should say that we have to remember that gender equality also means equality for men. And 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 also. Thats interesting. Thats very interesting. Now we turn to rwanda with ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana also spent a lot of time in this country teaching history in sacramento. How many years . Ten years . Ten years. More than that. Before you took on this job. Thats right. Yeah. What drove you . Thank you so much. For a long time i lived in california as a refugee. Theres always a sense and the experience of that most rwandans went through, i left my country when i was 13. When was that. That was prior to the genocide. Prior to the genocide, okay. And pretty much separated from my parents through many african countries, i landed in california for a number of reasons. But what i can tell you is that we never row wand an never ceased to be part of us. It became you will most like an idea you needed to reach. So even in Foreign Countries what we did was try to organize and to become activists so can go back. And i always say that for me to become two mothers, the United States became one i was given the opportunities to be able to go back. And there was a time when you said rwanda it was not a country you were proud to go back too to because of the vision and many different things. But when the call came, especially a few years back, it was one of the best things that i could embrace that i didnt think before i could go back. And abandon, whatever, you know, security i had in california and so on so forth. Because, for me, it was always like a mission and responsibility, also to give back to that particular country. So when we talk about women, most of them were in my own because the majority of people in rwanda or at least of the ones now were refugees or they had abilities of other kinds. They stayed in the country, the majority survived the the horrible genocide, and i dont want to go back to that to tell you that in the genocide theres an institution functioning in the country with that, it was the state, with that was the family event. So the women did a lot, even if that particular perspective to survive, to mend the fabrics of broken societies, broken families, so on and so forth. But also the new sheep that was coming in was intending to use or to open the door to women because, number one, because of the reality, more women survive. There was a big gender racial in rwanda with 60 of women and for us the empowerment of women was also part of recovery. Not only that, but because even before energy came, before all the programs came, the women tried to take a child to brand it into whatever to try to survive. So our women had it way before, they are not subjects where you come and give something. They survived circumstances. And after genocide and all the agenda, the president s pro women parliament, it was part of the framework and then the practice started to come. Were not perfect, but what im saying is that once the framework came, when you put it in the constitution that women had to be presented, the practice followed. And its something along that particular course that you are on. And ive read about in rwanda that they call. Rosy, the riveter phenomenon, where men werent around, men were killed and women talk to up and started businesses. Isnt there a womens culture that helped rebuild the country . We when we look at the genocide, yeah. People died but women were even more violent than anybody. So, for instance, we had more than 600 600,000 deaths. 600,000. Yeah. People were infected with hiv. We had rwandans that were born out of rain. So if we talk about reconciliation and that we had to put in place to bring a society that can function together, we have to start thinking in terms of intimate reconciliation. When you look into the eyes of your child and you are able to forgive them and forgive yourself. Someone who has aucues accused husband and that proof is there. We have that generation of young ones and when we talk about reconciliation, its a very hard battle. Baugh row wand is able to function together and have an identity and its one of the Biggest Challenges among our youth because you have, you know, the children who were borne out of rain, we have the children who whose parents died during genocide, you with children whose parents were killed. How do you bring society together . So thats pretty much why i admire my country, because there was no single model where you were able to bring all these people together, are able to bring a society that is functioning into this perspective and you cant ealy remove the women. Because the women are the navigator of the spheres. They were married to the general, they were married to the victims, they were sometimes the mothers to the children. So you are looking at women who became very strong and rebuilt on resilience and a certain strength. So its pretty much that. A challenging time. So turning to st. Kitts and nevis, ambassador thelma phillipbrowne, 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, so 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 the western hemisphere. St. Kitts and nevis, nevis is just all of 36 square miles. It was a little bit larger, but a tsunami took it in the 17 hundreds. St. Kitts is 68 square miles but pure beauty both of them. Theyre interesting in that when the trade winds come off of africa, theyre two of the first islands that the trade winds meet. And so normally antigua, barbuda are the first to experience hurricanes. And, in fact, if you follow the track, they were headed directly towards us. But irma deviated a little bit north and mar ria deviated a little bit south so we were spared the brunt of the hurricane. 150 million in damage is nothing to sneeze at, but when you compare with domenica over 2 billion, you know, and some of the islands we have not even as yet computed the amount of damage and the human suffering, and we got off pretty good. That said, in small islands and in the lesser an till lees, the islands are very close and we move around a lot. So everyone in saint kitts and nevis has relatives in puerto rico and saint martin and so forth, so you are on facebook and asking where your relatives were. I didnt hear from my nephew in total a week. The first sign i had of anything to do with him i had a picture with his pickup in the sea. So that was frightening. And then i go back and, you know, people tell me of the devastation and the anxiety looking at the hurricane coming towards them, the expenditure to prepare for the hurricane. And though they were happy, it still left a scar because they had to be preparing all these boxss boxes at one time. At one time they ran out of food because they had to be sending all these boxes to other countries. So its very traumatic for the islands and were hoping that this next year would be better. Were hoping, against hope that this is not the new norm. But we are also mindful of the issues of Climate Change and i might not be politically correct to say it but for us and for me, particularly 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. And that is one of the Biggest Challenges we have because its a threat to all of us. Its health, economics, security, mental health, to everything. And so youre going to be facing that its getting worse as the years go so thank you for sharing that. Moving ton libya, ambassador Wafa Bugaighis, you are youre kind of home here put went to catholic university, got your Chemical Engineering degree. Spent time at gwu. Libya, talk about a country thats been through difficult times and youve been involved in rebuilding Civil Society and participation of women. Where do things stand on that front now . Youre talking about women or the country . Well, start with Civil Society. Okay. Well, first of all, i would like to thank csis for organizing this great event. We follow it every time you host the great women here and thanks to the participants and audience here. Libya is going my countrys going through a very challenging times. 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 facing hope still drives us to continue working to regain back our stability and rebuild our institutions. Its very much, id say after the Armed Conflicts it leaves the country broken with no institutions and its not an easy job to rebuild. And 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 though the aspirations were very high, nevertheless, after a while security threats, instability, social and cultural barriers hindered those efforts a great deal since society was very strong right after that uprising, and as my colleague ambassador from rwanda said here, women step up always in crisis and they harness society. And this is what happened to libya while men were fighting the front lines. It was women who held the society together and took care of daily life and helping the life to continue. Nevertheless, when the dust settled down, we went back to square one. Social economic barriers surfaced again up and then security threats and crimes and violence. Now 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 even while you try to be hopeful. It hasnt been easy. Its been very challenging and difficult. Its been tough seven years on the country. And seven years say long period really to endure, you know. Each year we would hope for the year after, we had great elections, we were on the road for democracy and we were fighting how to promote women rights and women, you know, we were issuing legislations and society was very active. We would have that turn and then it became security that was you know what im saying, when people are searching for security and thriving. We have extremism, we have crimes, we have a lot of insecured borders. Its been very challenging and we are hopeful. And the u. N. Is working out a plan with us and we hope it will work. I am cautiously. Cautiously. Open tune nistic. We might have to struggle for some time because things dont stay status quo. Its been difficult on the people. On daily lives people are struggling for their daily life in a very rich country. Healthcare, education, everything has become challenging and difficult. And to see that happening is sometimes way beyond, you know, bearing and its hard seeing that happen to a country you love. Yes. Yes. Its a beautiful country. Kosovo, ambassador vlora citaku, your country went through difficult times a while ago and youve 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 allwomen panel. Its not very common. I am from kosovo, which is the youngest democracy and youngest dem gra demo graph if i. We are just two years younger than twitter, to put it in context. But we are also very young demography. 70 of the population are under 30. Wow, 70 . Yes, under 30. So im not young for kosovo standards, just so you know. And 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. And were going to celebrate our tenth birthday next month. I was so envy us of my finnish colleague, 100 years. And 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 southeastern europe to have the commander and chief, a woman largest number of golden medals per capita. So i dont confuse you, thats just one. But that was also won by a woman, a young girl waited for her chance because kosovo just joined the Olympics Committee a couple of years ago, and it was in rio, we had the chance to compete for the first time. And there was this young woman and by the way, judo. You never say in kosovo you fight like a girl. You dont end up very well. But there was 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 and shes done for kosovo far more than all the other ambassadors combined. And 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 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 . Revenge. Never, ever. And when interviewed, one of them said well, hate is 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. And this is what women have brought in kosovo because state building is far easier than society building. 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, and im even prouder to represent them in washington, d. C. So what do you all think of this . Raise your hands if you want to chime in. This whole question of whether women approach conflict and moving past conflict without getting pollyanna, do they approach it in a different way and how so . I think that women approach it differently because they are mothers, they are spouses, they are everything. No matter how much we look, if we talk in the abstract and talk about womens movement, maybe, its a little bit we have to look at the specifics in everyday life, especially if i look in my society and my community, it was pretty established that the women were the heart of the home. In rwanda. In rwanda and many different societies i know of. It means that when the wars are going on, the rules are everything. They lose their home, they lose their husband, they lose their children. When i look at, for example, when were talking about our reconciliation and what was taking place, it meant that sometimes you had to bring two paths together, and usually the women, because they married all sides they didnt marry one part of that. Thats where our communities were, for instance, very complicated. When i was talking about the family, thats what i was talking about. You know, even when you are talking about it, they were married. But the determination who was to be killed and that was because of a patrilineal society, doesnt mean that the wife was not intimately and emotionally bound to the person of the other group so there was an divested interest, like an existential part of your soul. That is there to solve. But also, women, im not saying in general, i have come up with women who have been actively waging wars. I have never seen mens societies where women are waging war. It means that when they are upset in the debate that is bringing the warfare and stuff out of there, the discussion is where to be complicated because the other elements and concepts where you can bring peace, from another perspective, is sometimes absent on a global stage. If i may add, very often when we talk about women and 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 regime. I have met women who led the peaceful resistance during the 90s. So women are brave and when its needed, when its necessary, i have seen them be great champions of all values the society aspires. But what probably sets the difference oh. 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. Thank you, kosovo. Go ahead. Thank you. When you hear about what your countries have been through, i realize i came 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. We do. Before that, we had been to so many wars and we were so poor that everyone basically left for america. Its true. Its true. No, but what you are telling, the stories you are telling is of course what we have seen and coming from a very rich country where we set off 1 of our gtp in Development Corporation, this is also how we want to use our funds, to strengthen women in societies that have been through the horrors that you have. And thats what weve seen. We know through our very long time Term Corporation and the international outlook, that women are needed, at least as much as men. We must make room for women. So if we, coming from this rich part of the world, can facilitate, its really our responsibility to do that. Thats where we come from as well. I wanted to turn to our first audience im sorry, did you want to yes, i just wanted to say, we are a peaceful region, yes, so we have not faced conflict in the same way. But i go back there, theres a book written about society in jamaica. My mother and father had a different situation to deal with women in the caribbean, where men have traditionally been emasculated to slavery and women had to step forth. The difference is, the women do not have the political power but we like to say we are the neck that turns the head. My husband used to say you see around the corner, men see in straight lines. Women see around, because we look at all eventualities. We are more relational. As ambassador said, they dont have time to get caught up in the idea of the conflict. They must move on, because there are children, cousins, everybody depends on it. So even though we dont have the political power, we have to move on and we must find a way to deal with the 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. In the caribbean, sometimes we dont go out front in terms of the leadership, but youre behind, if you look at, like, the heads of departments and so, lots of women doing the hard work, because thats what women carry the brunt of the society. And so we dont get stuck in what has been. We have to move on. Ambassador . I would just add one thing to what my colleagues have said. I do believe women are agents for peace and we have witnessed, in our yeah, libya. Can you hear me . Yeah, okay. We have witnessed in all the reconciliation initiatives and efforts that we did that women dont have this competition for power that really hurt us and harmed us a lot. Women do think about the good for the society and the country, the good for the future of their children and the generations, while, on the other hand, men can be drawn into the vicious cycle of power struggle, and that just is an obstacle to all peace initiatives and reconciliation, and thats one thing thats come in between women and probably men lack that. If i could do you want to add anything . I could move into audience questions. I wonder if i can just make a comment on just the plight of women in general. I would share with you all just 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 i have used it in tennessee. I will share a quick story with you. A young lady who would come to me, young woman, in her 40s, the husband was cheating on her and she was just sick and tired of it all and she didnt know what else to do, and 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. And she goes i did it, i did it you did what . She said it was cold, it was winter and she took off her clothes and she got on her riding mower and she started just riding around the house hoping that some neighbors can come out and that would embarrass her husband. Well, i said what was your husband doing all this time . She said he was by the door calling me, youre crazy, come back in, come back in. She said until she started getting cold, nobody came out. But it was so reminiscent of what happens in my culture. You see, when a woman marries, she doesnt just marry the husband. She marries the husband and the whole village. And then you pretty much submit yourself to the husbands village. When you first get there, first your family tells you must represent us well, you must behave and you must so the woman goes there and she works like a chicken without a head. Shes running around like an everready battery. Everybody that needs help, they are calling on her. Her children start coming and shes trying to say i cant handle it anymore, its too much, i need help. Nobodys paying attention. Two, three kids down the road, the woman has had it. So what the african woman would do in the village is take off her clothes and run up and down the village, and thats the outward embarrassment to the husband. Then suddenly, the elders are now calling for an emergency village meeting. Now that is the only way the husband can get into trouble. That is the only way the woman can be heard. So now whats being done by women in an african village, the American Woman in tennessee is using it. Im saying this to say regardless of how we got to this state of disease means disease. Be it disease of the physical body, disease of the mind, at the end of the day, the pain is the same. And 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 ] tell us where your village is was. This is its really pretty much a lot of cultures involved. But all bantu tribes, really. So one of the things, this is an audience question, one of the things thats kind of consumed male female relations in this country, you know what im about to ask, is the me too movement. Has there been any trickle out to any of your countries . What are you seeing . Well, certainly we have also a me too movement. Even if finland is has a very high gender equality, the me too movement has brought more attention and light to Sexual Harassment, and 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. In other words, sort of learning to understand better and i think thats very, very important. Because sometimes, you know, 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 and 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, but for instance, in Entertainment Industries right here as well, somehow it has been part of the culture, and 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. So i think its a very important discussion and im happy that it has reached finland. Anyone else . Me too movement . 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 this significant extent. I had an interesting conversation with someone that i thought i knew just this christmas and she just said oh, 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 just went on to the next younger sister and the next younger sister. So we have a long way to go as africans and the conversation is not even begun. So 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 with my sister. But the country specific the movement is not lost on young women, because Sexual Violence is criminalized, and people have used that to also report on rape. The problem now is to go from reporting and actually going on record to say i was raped. Sometimes they become anonymous because, again, because of the issue of stigma still attached to Sexual Violence and so on and so forth. But 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. Right. You know, so, are we at the point where you can actually come and say, i was raped in an open forum . It becomes more and more difficult. And as she said, its really a long way to go. Its very, very important kosovo. 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 the day, because i fear if we are not consistent on the objective which is Sexual Harassment, we will lose this conversation on proper names, you know . Oh, did you see this x person sexually assaulted y person. There are millions of women out there that have no platform. Women that work in hospitals, in schools, in farms. They 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 measure cautious media needs to be much more cautious, but also the rest of us that are getting enthusiastic about the debate. We need to make sure that we stay focused on whats important and what is important is the subject, not Sexual Harassment, not individual stories, which are very painful, yes, but there are millions of stories out there that have never been told. So theres a question from the audience wanting to know if any of you have faced, encountered Sexual Harassment in your career and how you reacted to it. Does anyone want to take that on . I would like to take it on, but i would like to Say Something before that. While i do not disagree with you, i totally appreciate where youre coming from, but the truth is, if Alyssa Milano was not involved, we wouldnt have known that ti arana burke started a me too movement so there is place for celebrities. But i hear you. We dont need to yeah. 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 they are paying attention and i believe their actions could because it is very common. I can not give a specific instance, but it is very common in all culture. Men will slap you on the behind, and, you know, say remarks, and that is common place. Some people almost take it for granted. Some people like it, you know . 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. Even if they do not come out like they are doing here, i think they are paying attention. [ speaking simultaneously ] go ahead. I think it is very important also to have in place sort of structures, methods through which you focus on issues like that. For instance, in finland, in almost every workplace, for instance, in the government, every, including, for instance, my embassy, theres annually a sort of a how should i put it . A study, inquiry made about different aspects of the workplace. Everybody answers anonymously and the questions included are whether you have observed that behavior in the workplace, whether you have observed Sexual Harassment or other kinds 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 Something Like that comes up and you know when you go in the workplace, Something Like that has happened, how do you address it. So there has to be i think its very good that theres that kind of mechanism in place where its easy to sort of report, and then there is a clear path how you address it. So we are out of time. But what i want to do is 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, you have reached the pinnacle of careers, you are strong women, you are the ultimate symbol of success. What is your advice to young women who want to pursue your path . Kosovo. Well, thank you very much for the qualification. I dont think i have reached the peak yet. But i think what my life story tells is that you can succeed against all the odds if you work hard, if you are committed and if you put your heart in it. 18 years ago, i was a refugee. I was separated from everything 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. Dont ever think you cannot make it, whatever your heart, wherever your heart goes in your career, go for it and you will come out winner if you focus, if you are 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. I think we are all strong 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 it is you deserve, go for it and do it for yourself. Thank you. Advice from st. Kittsnevis . What shall i say. When i after i went into the white house, i went and i took a picture of the house, a similar house to where i was born, half the size of this platform. My father and my mother had eight surviving siblings. Its obvious where i would have done my ablutions, in an outhouse. And im raising it, but we all here have to be honest, and its elephant in the room, and so and i dont mind that. And so, as i look back, im black, im a woman, im from an extremely poor neighborhood, and so im probably the lowest on the totem pole. And i reflected on that just a few days ago in all the hoopla. And i went to a verse in songs of solomon 1 5, and the speaker is saying shes saying, im dark but lovely. And the king james says, i am black but comely. And she went on to say that, my why are you staring at me because im black . And she said, my brothers were 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 says, i am dark as solomons curtains. Solomon is the king. So she equates herself to the kings curtain. So, right away, it was in spite of who i am, in spite of where im from, god did not the creator did not make any mistake, 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 skein of wool or black thread, some white, some pink, some purple, but every one of us has a unique slot in that tapestry. And as long as we find that slot and the best little color that we are, then its going to enhance the whole tapestry. We enhance the tapestry, and those around us make us shine. And so, my 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. [ applause ] rwanda. Its pretty unfair to say anything after what she said. I know. But i have to say that, really, i encourage people to be of service wherever they are, at whatever station in life they are in. One of the things we have goals. We have dreams. We have but we never learn there. Its really when you start where you are in your community in extending yourself. I didnt plan to become what i am. Actually, i was very happy being being a professor. Absolutely. You know, but i think whatever i did when i was a professor, before then, in refugee camps, i was always doing those i was putting a little stone on top of one or the other. When you leave your country and you are young, you are not with your parents, you are not with any role model. You needed to find an eternal grounding. And that eventually i abandoned it, but for me, it was my catholicism. Until i abandoned catholicism because i equated it to genocide. Later on, i made peace with it. But what im saying, at least during that time, the concept of christianity and whatever to keep me out of trouble. But also they were able to promote me in a certain direction. But you become involved where you are. Once you especially everyone has challenges. Everyone. You know, whether they are big, small, however you are, and sometimes we tend to go into narcissistic suffering. Thats one of the biggest killing of anything that you can do in your life. So being around refugees and seeing help and wanting to help grounded you . Is that what youre saying . And being able to say, i still have my two legs, i was healthy, even in refugee camps. There were other people who were not really as lucky as i was. So, that also gave me the mission and responsibility to extend myself and to extend whatever i had. So, i think you can learn being in an ambassador place, but when you start where you are, even if you are in a school, you know, i think you start in a school, you start in volunteering, you start by looking at the other as a human being where you can make a big difference. So, i believe that we all have that capacity to reach the higher goals. Thank you. Sweden. Its very hard to come after these fantastic stories, so ill be a bit more maybe concrete. I think its very important not to think about that youre a woman so much. Think about that you are very capable and what you are doing. Work hard. Think more like a man. If theres an application for a job and it says you need these eight qualities, a woman will say,i only have seven. I cant apply. A man will say, oh, two. Thats me. [ applause ] and i think and thats how women have to think as well. We are being overcautious sometimes and think is that you have to be perfect. No, its about getting things done, you know, going maybe round the corners a bit, and not and actually career 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 bold. Thank you. African union. I was raised in a village in zimbabwe by a woman who would always tell us that work never killed anybody. Just do it. I had a brother who was very lazy, and mother would give us little portions of land to work, and my brother would spend more time trying to negotiate and play games with the rest of us and figure out how he can get us to do his work. And i still remember, even as a little girl, how we would be done with our work and he still tried to figure out how to get us to do his work. I remember, now, raising my own children, and i would now say to them, if this world was a beehive, i could never be a queen, because i enjoy work. I would have to be a worker bee. I thrive off of work. I was raised by a woman who didnt understand why any woman should just sit around the house and do nothing. Surely theres got to be something for to do. Theres a dress you could mend. You could rearrange these or rearrange that. Didnt realize how much that has become so much a 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. I said, doc, if you pay me enough, ill find dirt in your living room that you didnt even know existed. Because if i make up my mind to vacuum your house and clean your house, im going to clean it the best way i know how. Thats good. So to 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. [ applause ] finland, you have to top them all. I agree with everything that has been said, but i will say you said that 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 would 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, im a big believer in sisterhood and brotherhood. So, support the others, 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. [ applause ] thank you for coming. Please come to our next event. Do we have a date, bev . Its coming up soon. Not yet. But be sure to be here. But thank you for coming. We really [ applause ] this weekend on American History tv on cspan3, saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history, Depaul University professor mark on president abraham lincolns portrayal in art and photographs. Mr. Lincoln, give me back my 500,000 sons, meaning the soldiers that have been lost in the war, so this is the darkest hours of the civil war, 1864. And then lincoln, who the artist shows with his leg slung over his chair like hes a country bump kin, right, his reputation for being inelegant and crude. He says, by the way, that reminds me of a story, which was another part of his reputation. He was always telling stories and homilies and tall tales and jokes, sometimes to a really irritating extent. At 10 30 p. M. , from the american historical Associations Annual meeting, a discussion on free speech on college campuses. Intellectual diversity, i think, is healthier than many people suspect. Now, 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 cocaines not addictive, they lie. When you do cocaine, you lie to yourself about being in control. Cocaines not hip. Its hype. Anyone who tells you its okay is a liar. Watch American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Sunday night on afterwords, womens march on washington cochair reflects on the 2017 march and whats ahead in her book. Shes interviewed by heather mcgee. What do you say to them . I say and what do you say to them to say to their sisters who may not have marched but are, you know, otherwise share their culture and their beliefs . I say to them that it may not feel like this, but we are fighting for them too, and we believe in their potential to do the right thing, and i know that they continue, oftentimes, to disappoint including disappoint their white sisters, the 49 other percent or the 47 who dont vote for republicans but what i ask people to do, im not actually loyal to any Political Party and i have been known as a big critic of the Democratic Party for a long time. And i say to people, vote your values and your principles and also dont assume what this movement is about. And the reason why i say that is in the last year, we had got into a big controversy about proabortion, prolife, can prolife women come and be a part of this movement and what i said to people is that, we never said we were a proabortion movement. That wasnt the language that we