Women S Rights Activists

"If you stop, who will fight for you?"

"How will a monument help somebody whose personal integrity has been violated and who needs compensation for medical support and money to go back to school, who needs her children to be educated…The memorialization means nothing to me if my child doesn’t go to school, if the women can’t go back to school, if they don’t get medical help, if their fistula is not fixed, if their bodies are not healed… that means nothing"

"My advice to such radio presenters is, go to a counselling school and learn do you can offer constructive advice. Radio is a very powerful tool and some listeners take our word as the gospel truth"

"I see no issue if you can be able to give your voice to people and help them. My only problem would be if you know nothing about what you are speaking of hence, misadvising listeners"

"When you are involved in activism, your goal is never to get rewarded but to create impact and change."

"without access to education, it is impossible to make gender equality a reality"

"My philosophy is that in life you either succeed or learn."

"Things that change your life are the people you meet and the books you read."

"What if my daughter asks me about it? What am I going to answer? Does it matter to me what my in-laws think? What does it mean to me when my child starts condemning me? What if my husband leaves me? You manage the dynamics around you immediately, and then you develop resilience"

"My personal vision is that I will do all I can do with the ability I have"

"When you find a network of people who are thinking alike with a common desire to bring change, you achieve a lot."

"My singular motivation is that… if [the government] is responsible for me, when I do something bad it throws me in the slammer. In the same way, when it does badly, it should be thrown in the slammer"

"Since July, we've prevented fourteen early marriages"

"After the Boer War I saw that Boer and Briton would have to unite, but would they try to do it at the cost of their dark brothers"

"is due to the absence of a solid political structure to improve the standard of living in rural areas."

"We will end up with an ageing population in rural areas because of the youth’s exodus"

"Consequently, the cities will find themselves unable to accom­modate the increasing number of country people who are likely to live in substandard housing, which will in turn exacerbate poverty and crime and place considerable strain on their infrastructure, especially schools and hospitals"

"The rural flow is so important that it has surpassed the creation of housing despite the extraordi­nary policy of social housing"

"When I travelled in the most re­mote areas in Morocco, I asked the youth about their dream and the an­swer was to leave the countryside"

"Before, it was the children who were taking care of their parents but now it’s the other way round because of the current economic climate that is making it difficult for children to quit their parents’ house at an early age"

"What has been bothering me for the last 20 years is to see families getting more and more nuclearised because they have to adapt to the changing lifestyle"

"There is a lack of leisure places where the elderly can spend their time. It is heartbreaking to see old men playing checkers with a piece of cardboard and stones in the streets. This will adversely affect their dignity and make them feel marginalised in their own society, which will backfire on their fami­lies"

"We are going to reach a stage in which the government will not be able to pay pensions because there will be a minority (workforce) work­ing for a majority (pensioners)"

"We know very well that pensions are ridiculous and that not all the population has pension rights and medical coverage"

"Right now, we have not seen any long-term strategies and policies that can adapt to these situations. It is good to project the country’s future population but the main question is: What are we going to do today to solve these problems?"

"This year, we are trying to raise awareness among mothers and aunts, who are complicit in the ritual and whom we feel often don’t understand the repercussions. Many didn’t have the opportunity to go to school or learn about their rights"

"Our struggle must become everyone's: parents, neighborhood leaders, judges, imams... We are not fighting for money or fame, but because we have experienced this violence. Women deserve to have a pure and complete body, not to be deprived of their rights"

"Some women think that genital mutilation is a religious requirement, which is not true. We explain to them that traditions today are based on positive, not negative practices"

"It’s also important for us to go and talk to the fathers, even if the topic is taboo and hard to talk about. Sometimes it’s clear that we are unwelcome. We get chased out of some neighbourhoods by residents who are angry at us"

"The authorities need to stop supporting tradition and instead support the law. Everyone needs to wake up, including religious leaders, community leaders and other influential public figures"

"People tell my father, 'You've lost your daughter; she's fighting against tradition and religion!' He's scared but supports me"

"there used to be some degree of tolerance as Moroccans would not incriminate, condemn or judge homosexuals"

"More youngsters go to the mosque and feel invested in the mission to defend Islam against disbelievers who want to destroy it and push Muslims towards fornication and deprivation"

"We hear the voices from across the world telling us, yes it has been done elsewhere — it can also be done in Kenya"

"When I was 11, I witnessed my older cousin being cut. The pain and suffering that I saw during this period forced me to flee home and seek refuge in a boarding school. I knew there was no way I was going to wait and have my genitals hacked"

"By addressing the socio-cultural drivers, including peer pressure, stigma, marriage imperatives, and bride price incentives, this integrated strategy aims to break the cycle of FGM."

"Rebelling against a practice that was being carried out by almost everyone then wasn’t easy. In a way I had to find way of influencing my friends to stand with me. This is how I slowly became a campaigner starting at a very early age. When I went to college my sister was cut and this is when I realized I had to do more to protect other girls from the same."

"The networking between young women from different communities and countries is very powerful."

"I'm telling you one of the reasons why FGM is still happening in some parts of the communities is because of the celebration. It is a huge ceremony…There are dances. There's singing. It's like a one- or two-week celebration. That is not at the moment, because now it is against the law The prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act 2011… Nobody knows about the actual cutting and the pain and, of course, the suffering that comes after that."

"My project seek to address and eradicate it. Its abuse against women’s rights, over their bodies and feelings. We empower women and the society to understand that women are humans too therefore they deserve respect."

"Apart from one of my younger sisters going through it, none of the other girls from my family went through it after myself. So I became the first girl in my village to say I'm not going to be cut"

"I grew up in a village where everybody, all the older members of my family, the female members, had undergone FGM"

"I got involved [in campaigning against FGM] after I went to high school because I wanted to protect more girls… By the time I was going to the university, I was already taking part in mentorships programs, and working with a group of women who had also decided to campaign against FGM… When I left university, I went straight to campaigning."

"Not just in Kenya but the world over, women in high seats and who interact with men are viewed negatively. I appreciate that I can never control what people say, think or spread, that is why it is called a rumour"

"If I am not able to do anything for the young people and women of my nation, my story and journey should be an encouragement and inspiration that regardless of your background, you can make it."

"A woman doesn’t have to lose touch with her female attributes such as being caring and nurturing. You still look good and wear your skirts but even as you are feminine, that does not prevent you from following your dreams."

"Girls are now at the centre of saving their families… It has become the only commodity apart from their livestock, because girls are not being extinct as livestock is. So the girls' existence in itself is becoming a threat because right now, it's becoming a solution to the communities"

"Yes. We always tend to see the negative around us and rarely see the good. The number of women in Parliament has increased and at least now we can hear women voices"

"Climate change has really pushed people to the limit, beyond their limit, because… we continue to experience the worst impact of climate change, which is now forcing families to resort to the last solution to survive… We are pastoralists… So we entirely rely on livestock for survival… And now that the land has been degraded, now that there is no pasture, now that there's no water, it's becoming very, very scarce, and communities have been displaced"

"Some male leaders use the word when women engage in discussions to put us down. What they need to understand is women too are entitled to opinions. If anything, we are flower girls because we are beautiful but the word should not be used derogatorily. Inasmuch as we have affirmative action, I am hoping the law is fully implemented and women are given what is rightfully theirs. We appreciate the efforts made by some men but there are others who still think a woman cannot achieve anything without sleeping her way to it"