10,000 Women are Just the Start
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Helen Reddy’s iconic “I am woman, hear me roar” is more likely to cause a cringe than goose bumps these days – more a comical anthem to bra-burning histrionics than the soundtrack to a serious movement aimed at greater equality.
But when those same sentiments are voiced by a young Afghan woman named Fatima, who has created her own construction business amid war, corruption and a culture that barely tolerates women, one is more inclined toward the goose bump.
“Every morning, I stand in front of the mirror and say, ’I am a woman and I am powerful,’ ” she told a luncheon gathering in New York. Hosted by Daily Beast founder Tina Brown, the luncheon was in honor of four Afghan women, including Fatima, who are recent graduates of Goldman Sachs’s “10,000 Women” business program.
Fatima’s mirror-mirror mantra is one of the things that she says she learned from her teacher. “I realized – there is no difference between me and my brother.”
