UNA International Women's Day Celebration Begins!

    

    I had the honor of attending the UNA International Women’s Day Celebration two years in a row and each event was just as captivating as the last. Our speakers this year were Ms. Khin Sandi Lwin, a UN and UNICEF Ambassador, and Ms. Eunice Reddick, former Ambassador to the Republic of Niger. Luckily, I was able to hear Ms. Lwin speak about her experiences at another GIP event earlier in the school year, but this was my first time hearing Ms. Reddick. 

Both women are incredible and have many accomplishments to their name, but it was not easy for them to get there. Khin Sandi escaped Myanmar at the age of 10 from the military coup and joined UNICEF in Thailand, becoming a champion for women’s rights all over the world. She went back to Myanmar to advocate for democracy then came back to Bangkok to work with refugees there. In each position she held, she was forced to prove herself every step of the way. Eventually, she joined the UN and served as a monitoring officer in India for 60 million people. Her achievements are inspiring and showed me that you can never simply get a job you want without earning it through hard work and dedication. Being a woman makes this possibility twice as hard as we have to work longer and harder to get recognized for the same feat. Ms. Reddick shared a similar anecdote when it comes to leadership. As she strived to become a senior foreign service officer and a country ambassador, she also acknowledges the difficulty it is for women to acquire such male-dominated careers. She analyzed the workplace as a pyramid scheme and if you are able to reach the top, the jobs become more competitive and arduous. Therefore, you must have confidence in yourself and your abilities in order to prove that you can lead people and achieve your goals. 

They shared their struggles as women in the foreign services field and there were many parallels in their experiences. For example, listening to they talk about how their voices never get heard in meetings, but men who speak the same point will get acknowledged and praised. This is something that really resonated with me and I found it universal to the female experience. I hope that one day this does not remain a concern that all women face when applying for a job or serving a male-dominated position or field. Both of their achievements and perseverance through hardship demonstrate how hard work and dedication can attain greatness. Thank you to Ms. Khin Sandi Lwin and Ms. Eunice Reddick for inspiring young women everywhere!