1. “I believe that a lot of progress has been achieved to address gender inequality: We have moved from a time where women in the US could not apply for credit card without their husband’s signature to a time where women are the owners of their businesses.” – Zainab Salbi
2. “I have come to understand that in order to effectively advance women’s rights, we need to galvanize a global women’s movement.” – Zainab Salbi
3. “Changes don’t happen in the world by playing it safe, taking risks is the way to change the world.” – Zainab Salbi
4. “Leadership is not about having the charisma or speaking inspirational words, but about leading with example.” – Zainab Salbi
5. “Stronger women build stronger nations.” – Zainab Salbi
6. “Passionately enjoy life!” – Zainab Salbi
7. “Everything can be taken from you in a second, but the human spirit is so strong. War can teach you so much about evil, and so much about good.” – Zainab Salbi
8. “The single thing all women need in the world is inspiration, and inspiration comes from storytelling.” – Zainab Salbi
9. “While women may look different, as some wear suits and others wear saris, or some cover their hair while others wear their hair loose, women need to stand together because they all face the central point of discrimination, although the extremity of which may be different from Kigali to Kabul.” – Zainab Salbi
10. “Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.” – Zainab Salbi
11. “Women are part of peace keeping troops in countries like Liberia.” – Zainab Salbi
12. “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.” – Zainab Salbi
13. “Every woman must own her story; otherwise we are all part of the silence.” – Zainab Salbi
14. “Do you know that people fall in love in war and go to school and go to factories and hospitals and get divorced and go dancing and go playing and live life?” – Zainab Salbi
15. “Since a very young age, my mother made sure to tell me about the plight of women. As she raised my awareness about women’s issues, she also made sure to ingrain in me the importance of being strong and independent and not to let anybody define me by their images of what women should be.” – Zainab Salbi
16. “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.” – Zainab Salbi
17. “From an economic perspective, women are treated unfairly: they perform 66 percent of the world’s work and produce 50 percent of the food but they only earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.” – Zainab Salbi
18. “Only 8 percent of peace talks have included women at any level.” – Zainab Salbi
19. “It appears easier to talk about protecting women than it is to fully include women at all decision-making levels in peace talks and post-conflict planning.” – Zainab Salbi
20. “Living in war is a co- existence with death.” – Zainab Salbi
21. “Sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff without knowing where you will land.” – Zainab Salbi
22. “No change can come if those who are impacted the most by discrimination are not willing to stand up for themselves.” – Zainab Salbi
23. “Leadership is about encouraging women to break their silence and tell their stories to the world.” – Zainab Salbi
24. “As women, we must speak out, speak up, say no to our inheritance of loss and yes to a future of women-led dialogue about women’s rights and value.” – Zainab Salbi
25. “Believe in your passions and act on them.” – Zainab Salbi
26. “Without women’s full inclusion at the decision making table, we cannot have any healthy decision making that is good for men and women alike.” – Zainab Salbi
27. “Everything is give and take. The solutions are in the middle not in the extremity of the situation.” – Zainab Salbi
28. “It is the diversity of views that stems from different experiences and different backgrounds that lead to healthy decision-making and not the unified experiences and unified views.” – Zainab Salbi
29. “Since war often enters homes through the “kitchen door,” we need to understand women’s attempts to keep life going in the face of shortage of food, closing of schools and reduced freedoms.” – Zainab Salbi
30. “Where has change ever been clean and nice? It has always been messy and painful.” – Zainab Salbi
31. “I believe that leadership acts should be manifested by engaging in external work that can be observed and shared with everyone else.” – Zainab Salbi
32. “Being a leader for me is about having the courage to speak the truth, and live the truth, despite attempts to silence our thoughts, feelings, and past experiences.” – Zainab Salbi
33. “It seems to me that violence against women has been tolerated for so long that the world has become numb to it.” – Zainab Salbi