I by no means intend to simplify the challenges women face in any culture. Women are marginalized in all cultures in my opinion, some in more extreme ways than others.

Unfortunately, violence against women is not the only injustice women face globally; it is one of the many inequalities that impede the full development of socially excluded women globally.

Believe in your passions and act on them.

My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.

The single thing all women need in the world is inspiration, and inspiration comes from storytelling.

Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.

Everything is give and take. The solutions are in the middle not in the extremity of the situation.