Women are not making it to the top.
When women have their voices heard
they transform the entire world.
If women were presidents all over the world
the world would be a safer place.
When do we want this?
Now!
It would be a more peaceful place.
It would be a place of equality.
We will not be quiet.
The world would be a better world.
Two years after Hillary Clinton
failed to shatter the highest hardest glass ceiling,
Americans elected a record number
of women to office, in 2018.
Women like me
aren't supposed to run for office.
But, women make up only 24%
of all national parliaments.
And, only 6.3% of the total number of international leaders.
Men still rule the world.
It matters, for women to be fully represented
in the leadership of the world.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf would know.
She was elected Africa's first female president in 2005.
And, put Liberia back on its feet
after 14 years of brutal civil war.
We are, we are Ellen, we are.
We are.
It was a huge grass roots action,
led by Liberian women,
that paved Mrs. Sirleaf's way to power.
Women felt male domination in our country
had been there for too long.
And, it was time for change.
They voted, and they voted en mass.
80% of women at the polls
voted for Ma Ellen, as she's known.
My election will inspire women everywhere.
But today, only 12.3% of seats
in the Liberian parliament are held by women.
Through collaborative effort we have to
break down the barriers, one by one.
And this is how Mrs. Sirleaf
believes it could be done.
I always say that, women bring to leadership
a special sensitivity.
We need to change the stereotype that women are weak.
I believe that this will be a government of change.
A woman who is able to negotiate, to compromise,
to find alternatives, is an example of strength.
That's when you ensure that people are given a dignity,
and the rights that they deserve.
One needs to look at constitutional change
that includes affirmative action.
Such as quarters, even though
you may phase them out over time.
Because women have been neglected
over the whole history of nations.
Now is the time for preferential treatment for them.
The obstacles go beyond misogynistic handicaps.
They're institutional,
institutions are still dominated by men.
We must make our institutions all over the world,
and particularly in Africa, stronger than the individual.
So that the individual does not use discretion
to dictate the participation of women.
In 2018, after two terms in office,
Mrs. Sirleaf bucked the trend of African presidents
for life, and stood down for Liberia's
first peaceful transfer of power since the 1940s.
I don't think, given the state of our country,
that a man would've gone through the steps I did.
Only a woman could've done it.
One woman at the top can push harder,
but unless you have enough women in the system
to give the support, it can be a very difficult job.
And, I can use my own example.
You're on a microscope all the time.
I don't wanna shock anyone, I really don't,
but the world is still run by men.
We must put women in all levels,
right across society, no matter what area you look at.
You see enough women participating,
enough women being able to move up,
enough women challenging the status quo.
That's the equality that we search for.
And, it's taking a while to get it,
but it's coming, and no one can stop it.
This is an irreversible road.