Women Can Do It

There has been a pat expression among us, my two younger sisters and me, since we were at our young age. That is “there is only one in this world whom our mother is afraid of, that is dad” which is the most intolerable and inconsolable word for us. As the eldest daughter in the family, I have had a chance to record a large number of cases, challenges and successes which my mom has been able to tackle, overcome and achieve within the family and also in her social and professional life. We hugely admire our mom and at the same time, as young women and daughters, we really feel pain in our heart whenever we face our lady gives surrender to her husband. Actually, we know and understand everything especially in our family affairs. We know our mom is a remarkable woman. We see our society hold firmly the belief of “son is the master and husband is the god”. We understand our country is almost a patriarchy, man-dominated, society. That is why, we can feel that although she is a truly hero in the family, she is patient and experiences calmly all the difficulties and even accept failures courageously for, obviously, her family and her children. There is no doubt that my mom has been an influential figure in my life.

To be frank, as a young social and development worker, I tried myself to be outstanding woman devoting in education, youth movement, capacity building and psychosocial support programs but I had not participated directly in gender equality and women empowerment workforce. Last year October, I had an opportunity to attend a women leadership training named “Women Can Do It” in Thailand thanks to one of my teachers. That journey brought progresses in my life. I got better understanding of being a woman and the strengths and values of us for the society. I utterly believe that empowering women and girls is the fastest way to solve world problems. Not only having lots of memorable time with other fellows, acquiring knowledge and skills on women empowerment issue during the training days but also becoming promising young feminist activist is the benefits for both me and my community from the trip. After the trip, I met with some leading women who work for gender issues in my country and I tried to extend my new learning and I joined them in their attempts of women rights. Moreover, in my work, I approach considering for women and am always eager to do something for them. In summary, when I heard about the Voices of Our Future from a woman who I adore, it is difficult to capture with words the high level of regard and respect I have for the online community. Based on my life experience and my vision, I have no doubt your program will be a valued asset to me.