Empowering more women: Opening Speech by H.E. Jeannette Kagame at the WOMEN Deliver Conference

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00:00 We can only imagine how developed, how inclusive, how evolved the world could be with twice

00:08 as much handlers potential.

00:10 But why should we simply imagine, why should this reasonable target feel like a dream?

00:19 Is the systemic controlling of women and girls, the governance of women and girls' bodies

00:23 and minds truly the fate our world has chosen?

00:29 Women will not be discouraged by the extent of the work ahead.

00:33 Equality is our birth promise, right?

00:37 And it can and will be shaped.

00:40 Ladies and gentlemen, when women's bodily autonomy is overstepped, when women's health

00:46 is compromised, the choices that affect them the most are taken out of their hands.

00:53 They are infantilized and often exploited.

00:58 And yet created equal as we are from birth, women are equally capable and deserving as

01:03 men to decide on their own fate and make valid choices impacting the welfare of their communities.

01:12 Our choices can be equally instrumental as men's judgments to achieving sustainable development.

01:19 So why are preventable strains allowed to fester at the cost of countless women's power

01:26 of choice?

01:29 But this is the good fight that UNFPA has chosen to engage in, reclaiming women's equal

01:34 rights to health, to bodily autonomy, to wellness, promoting and preserving women's rights to

01:40 know safety and well-being over unnecessary and avoidable sufferings.

01:48 And in maternity health, sorry, and in maternal health, and in the need for family planning,

01:56 gender-based violence and all harmful practices.

02:01 UNFPA, your transformative agenda, alliance with WANDA's vision of an empowered, dignified,

02:08 protected population across genders.

02:12 Thank you for offering committed collaboration to those who, like you, refuse that women

02:18 who are so often nurturers, protectors, helpers should be made to feel helpless.

02:25 Ladies and gentlemen, partnering with UNFPA has been life-changing and conducive.

02:32 For women to be healthy, they need strong health systems.

02:35 A strong health system has optimal services tailored to the population it serves.

02:41 A strong health system is one that can mobilize populations to protect their own health and

02:48 their communities' wellness too.

02:50 But a strong system is one that prevents more than it treats, through education, through

02:56 public engagement and encouragement of healthy lifestyles and practices.

03:03 Such a system catalyzes prolific life choices for men and women.

03:09 There must be the political will to deploy all necessary resources to help for all.

03:17 And this will must give way to appropriate budget allocations, policies and laws, and

03:24 synchronized efforts across all state branches.

03:30 There must also be the dynamic I feel the people in this room embody, a commitment to

03:36 selfless, devoted collaboration between activists, advocates, organizations, and senior leadership.

03:45 I can only encourage you today in trusting and investing in strong partnerships, for

03:51 here we have witnessed their transformative power firsthand.

03:57 Ladies and gentlemen, before I close my remarks, I wish to thank the women-led organizations

04:03 and feminist organizations present here today for the groundwork they engage in every day.

04:09 The rights that we have claimed for all women, with the backing of visionary leaders, are

04:16 the reason we are here today, the reason we are able to defend our rights to choose health,

04:23 to equally contribute to our country's development, and to be successful in any of our endeavors.

04:31 Thank you for being your sisters' keepers.

04:34 I urge you to keep some of the grace and love you give the world for yourself as well.

04:42 Dear guests, may we all as members of society pledge to be the custodians of women's insecure

04:49 rights to parity.

04:51 May the leaders on whom women's fate depends realize that every day of gender inequality

04:58 is a moral, social, and economic failure.

05:03 Do we really want Indeed France to be our legacy, to a world that needed us to act?

05:11 Thank you for your conversation and work, and I wish you a wonderful session.

05:17 [APPLAUSE]

05:20 (electronic music)

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