Natalie Portman urged world leaders at the United Nations to put an end to violence against women and girls.
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00:00When I was 25, I traveled to Uganda.
00:02There, I met a woman, Fatima, who started her own business
00:06cooking food at a stall in the market.
00:08She had three children and her own home.
00:11When I asked her what the best part of having her business
00:13was, she answered me that it was the ability
00:16to throw out her abusive husband because she
00:18was financially independent.
00:21Fatima's freedom from violence afforded to her
00:23by economic independence allowed every other area of her life
00:27to thrive.
00:28I had never before realized the interconnectedness
00:31of economic empowerment and physical safety,
00:34but I quickly understood this was not
00:36the case only for Fatima, but for women globally.
00:39As one of my favorite writers, Rebecca Solnit,
00:41put it so well in her book, Men Explain Things to Me,
00:45we tend to treat violence and the abuse of power
00:48as though they fit into airtight categories, harassment,
00:51intimidation, threat, battery, rape, murder.
00:56But we need to address the slippery slope
00:59rather than compartmentalizing the varieties of misogyny
01:02and dealing with each separately.
01:03The overwhelming levels of violence against women
01:06and girls is as much a threat to our voices
01:09as it is to our lives.
01:10Humanity is losing out on the full expression of half
01:13its citizens as those citizens are
01:15being deprived of their essential human rights.
01:18I encourage every country here to develop a national plan
01:21to end violence against women and girls
01:23based on the Spotlight Initiative's
01:25comprehensive model.
01:26Every country should have adequately funded budgets
01:29dedicated to ending violence against women and girls
01:32and to create an environment where survivors feel supported
01:36and perpetrators are held accountable.
01:38And I urge UN member states to reinvest
01:41in the Spotlight Initiative and its comprehensive model.
01:44Let us continue to amplify the voices of survivors,
01:47advocate for justice, and stand against the injustices
01:51faced by women and girls worldwide.
01:53Together we can build a future where violence
01:55against women and girls becomes a dark chapter in history
01:59and where their rights are respected,
02:01their voices realized.