The women that change the world

When I saw that Time magazine had named “The Protester” as person of the year, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of solidarity with the countless men and women who have taken to the streets this year in stunning displays of ‘people power’.

It’s a fitting coincidence that in 2011, the year that Amnesty International celebrated its 50^th anniversary, one of the world’s most influential publications recognised the power held by a movement of ordinary people achieving extraordinary change.

While Amnesty has stood staunchly behind those that have risen up against injustice this year, what has struck me the most has been the women of the revolutions.

Women have stood beside men on the frontlines of the Arab Spring facing batons, bullets, brutality and death. But women have not only suffered against repressive rule, they are also suffering simply because they are women.

Over the course of this year, I have met and heard the stories of women, not just from the Middle East and North Africa but around the globe, who are showing the world that the tide is changing, that women’s voices are starting to be heard loud and clear.

Perhaps the loudest message was heard when this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni activist Tawakkol Karman.  Although it was three women who ascended to the podium in Oslo to accept the award, the victory has been shared by every woman who has fought for human rights and equality in their societies.

Syrian journalist and lawyer Razan Zaitouneh is one such woman whose participation in public life has come at great personal cost. Razan was forced into hiding in April after months of defying a government-imposed media blackout to tell the outside world the full horror of the brutality taking place in her country. Razan’s bravery over the past decade as a human rights activist was recognised when she won the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya Award in October.

She told Amnesty International after winning the award: “Living in suspense of what may happen next is not easy. But we all know the price I’m paying is modest in comparison to others. Some paid with their lives and others suffered imprisonment, torture and other ill-treatment.”

In August, I met Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, another woman recognised for her activism, recipient of the 2011 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.  Kasha is a gay rights activist in Uganda – a country where homosexuality is a crime that carries the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Because of her work, Kasha has been evicted from her home and office multiple times. It is not safe for her to walk around openly on the streets and she has been attacked and threatened.

In a powerful expression of her dedication to her cause, Kasha told me that while she realises that she may never see the future she is fighting for, it is nonetheless an honour to be a part of the struggle.

Closer to home, I’ve had the honour and privilege of working closely this year with one of Australia’s most formidable Indigenous Rights activists, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks.  Rosalie played an instrumental role in our work to expose the shocking third-world living conditions, thanks to government policies, for Aboriginal people who choose to remain on their traditional homelands.

Rosalie’s dedication to the empowerment of her people and preventing the destruction of Aboriginal cultures and customs hit home when she explained to me, “Once we are moved from our place of origin, we will not only lose our identity, we will die a traumatic tragic end”.

Each of these women have a unique story but they all send a strong message that women around the world are breaking the mould and defying expectations of their societies.

They also embody the idea that individuals can make a difference.  This past year we have seen a living testament to our dream of individuals acting in solidarity – across borders, across class, across beliefs, across all the differences exploited by those seeking to maintain power – to demand an end to repression.

The latest wave of protests unravelling in Egypt over the past few days shows us the revolutions are far from over. The influence wielded by ‘people power’ was seen when Amnesty’s demands were heard by the head of Egypt’s military forces as he promised to stop forced ‘virginity tests’. Now thousands of women have again poured into Tahrir Square in defiance the military forces’ brutality against female protesters.

The stories of these women show that change is possible, and that it is happening now. Whether that change secures true equality is yet to be fully seen, but I am excited to be one individual committed to the struggle of making this aspiration become a reality.

It was, after all, the vision that Amnesty’s founder Peter Benenson had 50 years ago that as individuals united in common action we can all be part of that change.

Claire Mallinson is the Australian Director of Amnesty International