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By accepting what the external structures have told us we need to do, we have given the power of our realities and ourselves to others. It is time to tell a new story for women, and that can only start with women.
Zainab Salbi -
I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and not killing and not pillaging and not burning and not raping, and the group of people who are mostly — though not exclusively — who are keeping life going in the midst of war, are not included in the negotiating table.
Zainab Salbi
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Sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff without knowing where you will land.
Zainab Salbi -
No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.
Zainab Salbi -
Leadership is about encouraging women to break their silence and tell their stories to the world.
Zainab Salbi -
Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.
Zainab Salbi -
Long-term trauma for women who have survived armed conflict is a haunting reminder that health issues and depression can follow decades after the end of war, but women who hope for healing can and do move forward.
Zainab Salbi -
Every woman must own her story; otherwise we are all part of the silence.
Zainab Salbi
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As women, we must speak out, speak up, say no to our inheritance of loss and yes to a future of women-led dialogue about women's rights and value.
Zainab Salbi -
I couldn't find anyone doing something about the astounding injustices women were experiencing, so I decided to do something myself. I cannot tell you how many people ridiculed my efforts.
Zainab Salbi -
There is never a typical week. I don't think I can live with a typical week.
Zainab Salbi -
It is the diversity of views that stems from different experiences and different backgrounds that lead to healthy decision-making and not the unified experiences and unified views.
Zainab Salbi -
I grew up with injustice and could do nothing about it. But once in America, I had freedom of choice.
Zainab Salbi -
I have come to understand that in order to effectively advance women's rights, we need to galvanize a global women's movement.
Zainab Salbi
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There's a lot of projection that if you're in service then you shouldn't look good. I'm no different from anybody else. I like clothes, I like shoes, I like to go have nice dinners, I like to dance. Just because I've dedicated myself to serving women, why do you think I need to sacrifice myself?
Zainab Salbi -
Do you know that people fall in love in war and go to school and go to factories and hospitals and get divorced and go dancing and go playing and live life?
Zainab Salbi -
In my 20s I was such a serious, boring-looking person. I would never do my nails. I never even danced. But I was taught by the women. They had gone through hell, but they would dance and sing. I came to realise I can't argue for a happy world if I am not happy myself.
Zainab Salbi -
Since I was 15 years old I have dedicated my life to serving women.
Zainab Salbi -
I don't have a child, so Women for Women is like my child. But I always said I would step down after 20 years. I didn't want to be a 60-year-old woman holding on to something I created when I was 23.
Zainab Salbi -
I have learned not only that the colors and the sounds of war are the same, but the fears of war are the same. You know, there is a fear of dying.
Zainab Salbi
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While women may look different, as some wear suits and others wear saris, or some cover their hair while others wear their hair loose, women need to stand together because they all face the central point of discrimination, although the extremity of which may be different from Kigali to Kabul.
Zainab Salbi -
Growing up under Saddam's rule, I witnessed many injustices occurring everyday in my country and yet I could not do anything to prevent them.
Zainab Salbi -
I by no means intend to simplify the challenges women face in any culture. Women are marginalized in all cultures in my opinion, some in more extreme ways than others.
Zainab Salbi -
Being a leader for me is about having the courage to speak the truth, and live the truth, despite attempts to silence our thoughts, feelings, and past experiences.
Zainab Salbi