Read excerpts of the Vice President’s speech to the European Parliament on International Women’s Day.
On January 20, 2021, Kamala D. Harris became the first woman, the first African American woman, the first Indian-American, the first person of Asian-American descent, and the first graduate of an HBCU to be sworn in as the Vice President of the United States of America. As she said in her election acceptance speech, she “may be the first, but [she] will not be the last.” Kamala Harris has spent her life breaking glass ceilings.
Born on October 20, 1964 in Oakland, California, Harris is the daughter of immigrants. Her father was born in Jamaica and her mother was born in India. After her parents divorced, Harris and her younger sister Maya were raised by their mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a single parent. Harris recalls she “had a stroller-eye view of the Civil Rights movement” as she went with her mother to marches. These early experiences inspired her to make it her life’s work to fight against injustice.
While growing up in Oakland, she was immersed in both Indian and African American culture. Her mother took Harris to spend time with her grandparents in India during the summer but also made sure her girls were connected to their African American roots. Harris noted in her autobiography, “My mother understood very well that she was raising two black daughters…She knew that her adopted homeland would see Maya and me as black girls and she was determined to make sure we would grow into confident, proud black women.”
Women have had a rough year, and the Vice President knows it. In her speech before the European Parliament on International Women’s Day, an event aimed at “celebrating women’s empowerment and leadership during Covid times,” Vice President Kamala Harris called on nations to build a world that works for women. Doing so is “not just an act of goodwill,” Harris said, but a “show of strength.”
“If we build a world that works for women, our nations will all be safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” she said. Harris’s speech comes after a recent focus on women in the workforce. Last week, the Vice President visited a woman-owned business in Alexandria, Virginia, to urge the passage of the American Rescue Plan as a way of helping women and families, specifically women small business owners. She also convened women leaders in Congress and advocacy organizations for a virtual roundtable, and wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post last month, calling the exodus of women from the workforce a “national emergency.”
Read excerpts of her speech below:
Today, it is essential that we work together to advance those principles that strengthen democracies: accountability and transparency, the rule of law and human rights. And let us not overlook the opportunities right in front of us to do that. We know that the strength of our democracies, and the strength of every nation on Earth, depends on the strength of all people. As half of the world’s population, women drive major economic growth and major contributions to society. They are the scientists who cure disease, and the military members who defend our nations. They are the entrepreneurs who create jobs, and the educators who shape the next generation. And, of course, women are government leaders — from this parliament’s first elected president, Simone Veil, to all the women leaders who sit among you today.
Today, the global crises we now face have made abundantly clear both the contributions of women and the challenges facing women. Simply put, our world does not yet work for women as it should. As we endure the pandemic, the economic instability, the racial injustice, the threats to democracy, and the effects of climate change, the question before us is simple: How do we build a world that works for women? I believe we must ensure women’s safety at home and in every community.
We must ensure that women can access high-quality healthcare, and that those health needs particular to women are addressed. We must treat women with dignity at work, and put in place the structures needed so that women can both care for their families and excel in the workforce. Finally, we must give women equal voice in decision-making, for this is essential to free and fair democracies. And this is not just an act of goodwill. This is a show of strength. If we build a world that works for women, our nations will all be safer, stronger, and more prosperous.” This Women’s history month, let us be determined in this effort. Let us be united in this effort.
