Women Born In The 1940s

"[Speaking in Buka, Papua New Guinea after flying from the Solomon Islands] As we were taking off, the militia were at the end of the runway, firing at us."

"[On Margaret Thatcher, then the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom] I can only think of one thing she has done for women [...] and that is to prove that being a woman is not an electoral liability."

"Are you the man from the Socialist Society?"

"It's as if they're saying that Neil without my ideological fanaticism wouldn't have the courage of his convictions. [...] They can't imagine a relationship of partnership. There has to be one person forcing an opinion on the other."

"Unforgiveness finds excuses to talk about what people have done to us, and we’ll tell anyone who will listen."

"Self-righteous attitude is a sin that we can be blinded to because we’re so focused on what the other person did wrong."

"Women have a tough time contesting elections and they have to show exemplary proficiency to get recognised."

"Parliament is very unfriendly for a woman with a child. We are talking about it and we would like to see more women with children getting into parliament and then performing their parental duties without hindrance, without neglecting the children.""

"For a woman to be successful, she has to have a very supporting husband and family."

"People were not used to seeing women in public meetings talking just like male politicians do. They realised that women can talk back."

"It's quite hard, especially because of African traditional culture where a woman's place is in the kitchen"

""I have never consciously chosen to keep on working, for example, even though I’m the proud owner of a Freedom Pass (and I will never, ever vote for any political party that takes it away!)".#"

""There’s no right way of doing it. Nobody looks at blokes in boring suits and criticises them"."

"When you have 50 per cent of women filling the top jobs, it becomes just uninteresting. Now, a few stand out – a few run companies, a few are famous. People have a go at them."

""I’m running in the last lap of life. But instead of relegating myself to deterioration, I try to regard myself as simply fraying at the edges"."

""Loneliness is the scourge of old age, which means there has never been a better time to enjoy those water-cooler moments"."

""I don’t have all the answers to old age. In fact, I rarely think about it"."

"A thin trickle of now’s, but a multidimensional world full of luxuriant plasticity."

"Matters" her focus turns to time: “not,”"

"The issue is it’s not how many years you have been there [near power], but that the value that you would bring to the Ghanaian leadership. My value that I would bring to the Ghanaian leadership is about the people, not the leader. As such, what I have done for Ghana is what will show and they would have to judge me on that directly."

"For the past 12 years she has stood by her husband in the struggle to restore Ghana. She has led a group of active women to help empower Ghanaian women, freeing them from being hewers of wood and drawers of water to be[ing] actors in the political arena"

"She (Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings) was special and she’s still special and for me, it had to be her. It was a privilege for me to be acquainted with her."

"Yes, she (Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings) has been a very bold lady I can confirm that she's been one of the catalysts that have brought the issue of women empowerment not only in Ghana, but globally."

"Her (Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings) unwavering advocacy on gender equality and equity, as well as her pioneering efforts for the cause of Ghanaian Women and children are worth noting...you are an inspiration to women everywhere and a shining beacon for our young girls to emulate, we celebrate you."

"I didn't Join the NDC, I helped Build It."

"Certainly, we cherish our cultural heritage and the centuries old traditions from which our society derives its identity and resilience. But we also acknowledge that practices that undermine human dignity, retard social progress and bring about unnecessary misery and suffering must not be countenance by a society that appreciates the worth of its people."

"Through my work as both an activist and a politician, I strive to demonstrate that it is our continuing responsibility, as African women, to challenge inequality, resist oppression, and question our exclusion from every level of African society"

"My desire is to see the emancipation of women at every level of development to enable them to contribute and benefit from the socio-economic and political progress of the country"

"Women's vital role in promoting peace in the family, the country and the world at large is not in question and they must be given the chance to play a critical part in identifying and assessing solutions for the betterment of the country (Ghana)."

"I am committed to laying the foundations of a prosperous future for Ghana so that all Ghanaians can have the confidence in a country built on a system that rewards their hard work and their sacrifice. I believe in creating a Ghana where mothers and fathers have the opportunity to invest in the future of their children; where Ghanaian genius is rewarded and where meritocracy is paramount. I believe in a thriving economy that creates equal opportunity for every Ghanaian"

"We recognised that for women to be really empowered for development, we needed to make them economically active"

"It is important for me to open doors for many other women to be there (presidential candidate) at some point or the other. I am making sure that children of this country (Ghana) see women as an absolute part of national development."

"You will have a miracle on your hands because I know it when we go out and I feel it."

"The upcoming general election (2020 Ghanaian general election) is really not about me or my individuality but about our nation and our future. We should try to refocus our lenses as a people on long term national development visions...We must have the ability to have a collective vision born out of our varied experiences, skills set and unique characteristics to propel the best, bright and most patriotic citizens to advance a nonpartisan agenda for a continuous development."

"Culturally, we refer to nature as ‘asase yaa’ and women are held in reverence spiritually and culturally, so why the disconnect in our contemporary society where women are treated like second-class citizens."

"It is only through writing that we capture who we are, where we have come from and where we are going and this must be written so generations yet unborn will know who we truly are."

"We need to constantly improve on the quality of life and so we need to read as individuals and inculcate the habit of reading to the young ones. We have to encourage the young ones to read but because of the existence of iPads and tablets they are not picking books to read out of curiosity."

"We have to instill in our children a certain traditional way even as we become modernized so that they do not move too far away from who we are as a people. Who is in charge of what our children see and emulate? Education is a tool; your upbringing is your tradition and your life."

"If you put something on your mind and your heart to do and to change something or situation, do not look back, stay focused and move systematically towards your goal."

"I faced tough time with my opponents during my campaign time but that didn't scare me as a woman, I urge all of you (women) to rise up and push the agenda of women’s involvement in decision-making process."

"It is important for us to groom other women, especially the young ones."

"Told by leading Government politicians that they pose an "existential threat" to the West's way of life, that they are part of a "hurricane" of mass migration, that MPs feel "besieged by asylum seekers", and that asylum seekers are "invading" Britain. We should reflect on what we say and what we do today before we exercise any moral entitlement to condemn the atrocities of the past. The language we use today matters."

"We as a nation should understand that how we treat those who escape from persecution and genocide is central to our reputation as a country that boasts a humanitarian approach to genocide and the Holocaust."

"[T]wo of my granddaughters are of secondary school age, so they go to a single-sex girls secondary school. And because it's single-sex, there's a very large Muslim population there. The school originally put up some sort of display where they had an Israeli flag and a Palestinian flag. Good stuff. But the Muslim girls tore down the Israeli flag and replaced it with another Palestinian flag. So, only two Palestinian flags. The girls came home — they live next door to me — and they said, "We're not going to tell anybody we're Jewish." So then we had a bit of a discussion about that. They went back the next day and the one who is — she's just 12 — some of these Muslim girls came up to her and said: "Are you Jewish?" So she says, "Yes". So they said, "Which side are you on?" Terrible. So she sort of said, "I’m not on either side," and then they started poking her with a Palestinian flag."

"On Saturday, the worst nightmares of the people of Kfar Aza were realised. A barrage of rockets sent men, women and children into their safe rooms. Then hundreds of Hamas terrorists breached the security barrier. A group of them, fully armed, went from house to house in Kfar Aza, searching for Jews to slaughter. People were burned alive in their homes and cars. Babies and young children were killed and mutilated. Others were dragged into Gaza as hostages. These heinous crimes are unspeakable, and yet we must speak them. The world must know what happened to the people of Kfar Aza."

"Kishinev. Babi Yar. Munich. The sites of Jewish massacres throughout history. Now there is another place that will for ever be associated with the slaughter of innocent Jews: Kfar Aza. Kibbutz Kfar Aza was home to about 800 people and was established in 1951 by Jewish refugees from Morocco and Egypt (where I was born and from which my family escaped in 1949). Like so many kibbutzim, its founders were idealists, living communally on a model with socialist foundations. Its name – literally meaning "Gaza Village" – reflects its location, just over three miles from the city of Gaza."

"[Is Labour never having a female leader "shameful"?] Yes. [...] Oh, it’s horrible. There’s still sexism, which is why you can never take your foot off the accelerator."

"[After the 2019 general election] Had Corbyn won then, I think things would have been different; I couldn't have stayed in the party."

"It was only because of his actions and his words that I came to the decision in 2018; this man was an antisemite and a racist."

"[T]he government proposes to outsource the registration of companies to the professionals working in this space, like accountants, lawyers and company service providers. While most professionals act with integrity, it is people in these very jobs who have been responsible for creating the web of opaque corporate structures that obscure illicit financial flows. So why does the government refuse to put in place robust systems to regulate, check and discipline the professionals involved so that the few bad apples can be eliminated?"