If you attended Women Deliver 2019 and even if you didn’t – consider this an opportunity to take note – “Women Deliver MORE than babies”!
Women DELIVER peace, women DELIVER security, women DELIVER more stable economies and women DELIVER societies that engender the advancement of economic prosperity. The point being – WOMEN DELIVER.
The theme of the 2019 Women Deliver conference was the “Equitable sharing of power. Progress. Change.” And the question that challenged us throughout was – how will you use your power? So, I sat with this…thinking about the power I have to make the world a more equitable, understanding and supportive place for women’s rights – for human rights. I sat thinking about the power that I have in my community, my family and in my country to take the power from Women Deliver back to my hometown, to my province and to my family and friends. I learned about feminism by femtors I never knew were female mentors. I made connections with advocates I never dreamed of making. I made lasting connections that will power, progress and change the lives of women all over the globe. I made friends from all around North America, Australia and Africa. I sat and learned from leaders, parliamentarians, civil society, youth and heard from intersections of the women’s rights movement that give it its unique strength and diversity.
As Michelle Obama shared during the closing plenary on the importance of education,
“When girls get the schooling they deserve – amazing things happen. Poverty goes down, economies grow, babies are born healthier, families get stronger, and the world by all accounts, gets better.”
Women Deliver and the Women Deliver Mobilization Canada bursary gave me something I will be eternally grateful for. It gave me hope.
Although, we are often cynical of change – Women Deliver reminded me that change is possible. Change is happening – albeit sometimes slow. The world is mobilizing towards powering positive change. Changes that are visible and changes that are not – changes that are rooted into the framework of the women’s rights movement and changes that are continuing to shape our understanding of the evolving nature and lens of liberating women around the world.
Women Deliver 2019 and the mobilization made sharing stories and sharing solutions possible. It helped us all understand that although we all have difference paths, we all have strength – we all have power and we are stronger together.
Women Deliver connected over 8,000 voices from almost every corner of the globe and as we wrapped up Women Deliver 2019 – it’s important to remember the words of Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau,
“When we talk about gender equality – we are not talking about a fight between genders – we are talking about a quest towards for more unity and harmony for humans on planet Earth…The end of this conference is only the beginning of our journey… When women rise – we all rise together.”