Mighty Be Our Powers

"Leymah Gbowee starts out as somebody who takes circumstances as they come, but she becomes a woman who helps end the war in Liberia. She goes from being a battered wife to becoming a woman who leads her country to peace. She organised the “women in white”, as her group came to be called for the colour they wore. They went to negotiations, forced their way in and made the world hear their voices. Her argument was simple and powerful. She has this great line: “Why are women, who bore the brunt of war, expected to remain quiet while men debated how to make peace?” She showed that women in war are far more than victims to be pitied. They’re survivors to be respected, who work around obstacles to create opportunities for themselves and others. She empowered other women to become activists. Together, they couldn’t be ignored. That’s right. She said, “Women have a lot more power than you think; let’s exercise it.” In fact, Leymah Gbowee has a great story about how she threatened to strip in a meeting unless her group was heard. They would block roads, wage sex strikes, threaten to strip, anything to be heard because war was killing their kids and they wanted a seat at the table to stop the fighting. Many of these women had never told their story. Getting together and talking about how much they had seen and endured because men made war empowered these women to say, “I don’t have to be a passive victim, I can be part of the solution.”"