In my position as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Malawi to the United Nations in Geneva and Ambassador to Switzerland, I support many initiatives to inspire other ambassadors to engage on issues that empower women and girls and that promote gender equality, both here in Geneva and in my home country. These include cervical and breast cancer, menstrual health, and maternal mortality, all of which have strong socioeconomic and cultural determinants that need to be addressed.

I grew up in a village in Balaka, Malawi in quite a humble - but not poor - family. The countryside was fertile and there was plenty of food. My father was an entrepreneur who ran a maize mill and a business selling groceries. I was the fifth-born in a family of 11 children – six boys and five girls. My mother was married young, with little hope beyond spending much of her life caring for us all.

At that time, expectations for women were dictated by religion and culture, and being a girl in that village was not easy. Most girls only got a basic education, and many were married at a young age - some as young as 12 or 13 years – and then dropped out of school. My closest sister was given to marriage at aged 16. I was heartbroken when she became ill and passed away at a relatively young age without the opportunity to fulfil her ambitions and her dreams.

As in many families, my father was not keen for me to attend secondary school, and my parents already had a husband selected for me by the time I was aged about 12. I had to fight for my right to education by threatening to run off to live with the Christian nuns – we are a Muslim family! My father was quite concerned about that prospect, and because I was so headstrong and persistent, I became the first girl in my family to be selected to go to secondary school. This was key to establishing my place in society, to earning respect and gathering the support I later needed to succeed. Once I was in high school, many in the village supported me, including my mother and sisters. “Look at her coming home from school!” people would say proudly. After that, I was able to go on to university in Sudan, post-graduate studies in Turkey, and leadership roles in academia back in Malawi, acting as a champion for women and girls and being selected by my President to represent my country abroad. But that first step of continuing beyond the basic education usually given to girls was key to unlocking these later opportunities.

Sometimes I wonder how as a young girl, I gathered the courage to follow my passions. So when I am asked what advice I would give young girls today, I just say: “Listen to yourself. It is that difficult, and that simple. Listen to the voice within you, and rise up to meet it. You may feel pulled this way and that by social expectations and gender roles, but if you push against these forces, little by little, nothing can really stand in your way. You have everything you need within you to be who you want to be”.

I also emphasize the importance of working hard. This is true for everyone, but I have found over the years that if a woman makes a mistake in a male-dominated field, there is a risk that men will say, “Well, what did you expect? ”So I say, women should not have to work twice as hard as men, but it’s important that we always give our best. And it’s because women work so hard that they often excel at what they do. It’s usually through hard work that women are such successful leaders in politics, in diplomacy, in science, in religious institutions and communities. And this is why, in this current terrible climate of war and division and conflict, the tireless work of women as builders, creators and peacemakers is so important in the world.

In addition to mentoring and inspiring women and girls wherever possible, it’s also vital that we empower parents, as well as boys and young men. They too need to be champions of equal opportunity for women and girls. This is actually not so hard, because parents and boys already understand the importance of sending boys to school – why not girls too? Parents and boys should quickly come to understand that girls have dreams and talents to be harnessed, and that – to echo the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day - by giving opportunities to girls, everyone stands to gain.

An ambassador’s advice to girls on International Women’s Day: “No matter the barriers, listen to the voice within”