Our second keynote speech on Friday, 28 July, came from Nicole Ameline, former member of the National Assembly of France and distinguished member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Martyna Wykrota provided the summary of her talk below.

Nicole Ameline is renowned for her strong advocacy of women’s rights and has actively fought against discrimination of women across all sectors, which has garnered her global recognition. In her keynote speech held on Friday morning, invited us to think about ways in which we can encourage women to strive for positions in leadership.

Nicole emphasised the need for increased representation of women in politics in order to bring more attention to women’s social and economic issues. Only 25% of the world’s parliamentary bodies are women, meaning that we are severely underrepresented and often excluded from decisions which impact women both nationally and internationally. With more women in politics, we will be able to create policies which challenge existing issues and create parity.   

During the question-and-answer session with Nicole, delegates asked thought proving questions, asking for guidance in ways we can better empower more women and girls to enter politics. Nicole advised that in order for this to happen, we need to make parity the norm, ‘if we want to move from victims to leaders we have to build a safe world and be concerned with peace’. By taking a top-down approach and changing the system of governance, we can create powerful change.