For more information, Lina can be reached at www.LinaAbiRafeh.com
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rights have been stripped away, leaving Afghanistan a humanitarian disaster and a human rights crisis. This book tells the story from the perspective of those who are most important - Afghan women.
~What are a few tips you can give our readers today to help them step forward in their life powerfully?
My us-goal for 2022 is to take my space — whatever space I occupy — and make it feminist. Here’s how you can do it too:
1. Wake up and look around. Pay attention to what’s going on around you. Examine the spaces you’re in — home, school, work, the street — and ask yourself: Who is there? Who is in charge? Who is not there? And — why aren’t they there? What do we gain or lose when some people are left out — or left silent? Open your eyes. And once you see what’s going on, you can never unsee it. If you’re not angry about something, you’re asleep.
2. Learn something. Expand your socio-political horizons. Seek information, read, learn. And expand your sources of information. I don’t know about you, but my social media is an echo chamber. Sometimes I need to go wider to understand what other people are saying. And why they are saying it. Read from a variety of sources, perspectives, and backgrounds This helps us understand how different experiences and identities impact who we are. There’s even a word for this — intersectionality — in case you haven’t already heard it!
lasting relationship. When such a relationship is mastered, it gives you the capability to be the constant gardener to nurture various meaningful relationships in life.
3. A mindful, responsible leader knows that individualism to strive for personal improvement and collectivism to build collaborative teams are both equally vital for success. True leadership
expand your sources of information. I don’t know about you, but my social media is an echo chamber. Sometimes I need to go wider to understand what other people are saying. And why they are saying it. Read from a variety of sources, perspectives, and backgrounds This helps us understand how different experiences and identities impact who we are. There’s even a word for this — intersectionality — in case you haven’t already heard it!
3. Ask to listen, and listen to change. Ask questions with curiosity and generosity. Listen to the answers, learn from them, and apply them. Asking others about their experiences or even simply asking “how can I help?” is a good place to start. Challenge yourself to see things differently. Open up space for learning, and crucially, un-learning. Call out the crap — in yourself and others.
4. Start where you stand. People always ask me if they have to fly off into a warzone to be able to make a difference. Of course not! If you wanted to help the environment, would you start by strapping yourself to a tractor that is about to destroy a field, or joining an expedition bound for Antarctica? Probably not. Instead, you’d take your can of Diet Coke out of the trash and put it in the recycle bin. Start there. Micro-actions, mega-impact. Your behavior matters. And behavior is contagious — so we might as well make it good.
~Any final thought, share, or idea that you would like to share with our readers?
We have to see women’s rights as our RIGHT – and as a collective responsibility and a collective duty. I speak in my TED talk about taking it personally, about seeing the role that we all play in being agents of positive change for women and girls. We know that inequality isn’t just a problem “over there” for “other women” – it is everywhere, all around us. To make it concrete, we know that one in three women and girls will experience some form of violence in their lifetime. This cuts across every country, culture, and content – without exception. Even one case of violence is one too many. We know that equality is our inherent right. And it is better for all of us. It is worth repeating what we already know: None of us can be free unless ALL of us are free.