The discrimination of women and girls goes to the core of any and all analyses of the world's economic, political, and environmental problems.
Interpretation
Discrimination against women and girls is at the root of many global issues.
Winnie Byanyima's quote emphasizes that the systemic discrimination faced by women and girls is foundational to understanding broader global challenges, including economics, politics, and environmental issues. Addressing gender discrimination is essential for creating sustainable solutions to these complex problems and advancing society as a whole.
In practice
During a keynote address on gender equality, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of addressing women's issues.
High corruption and the influence of big business and the wealthy elite keeps the poorest Nigerians trapped in poverty and cut off from the benefits of economic growth and basic services. Some people - searching for the means to survive - became vulnerable to groups like Boko Haram.
African countries lose billions every year because of tax dodging by big corporations and wealthy individuals. They lose billions more from overly generous tax incentives in a misguided belief that this is the only way to attract foreign investment.
The high price of medicines is crippling healthcare systems and denying people access to the treatments they so desperately need.
Instead of presiding over an economic system that panders to big business and a wealthy elite, a more human economy must be established which meets the needs of African women and young people.
Inequality, climate change, and conflict are evicting millions from their homes. But these perils are being met with 'anti-answers' such as nationalism, closed borders, lies, and hatred.
We don't want to tell young girls and boys that the odds are stacked against them from the start. Instead, we could tell them that with passion, conviction, and determination we can build a better future. This future is possible by redesigning our economy to truly reward hard work rather than wealth.
Retirement requires the invention of a new hedonism, not a return to the hedonism of youth
Thomas Jefferson believed that to preserve the very foundations of our Nation, we would need dramatic change from time to time. Well, my fellow Americans, this is our time. Let us embrace it.
It is tragic that people who are incarcerated are unable to vote. They are probably the most important voices to listen to because they can tell us what we need to change.
The biggest political change in my lifetime is that Americans no longer assume that their children will have it better than they did. This is a huge break with the past, with assumptions and traditions that shaped us.
You can't expect to go about change - especially change of this nature, when you talk about racial equality and justice - you can't expect to go about or engage in that without resistance, and so you're going to have some people who aren't on board.
In a summer marked by instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I know the world also took notice of the small American city of Ferguson, Missouri - where a young man was killed, and a community was divided. So yes, we have our own racial and ethnic tensions.
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