Graça Machel Quotes

We are a society where women, and children by the way, are not safe anywhere. Something absolutely and deeply wrong is happening in our society.

Africa’s socio-economic transformation will only be realized once we aggressively address gender-specific challenges, prioritize gender equality and women’s participation, and firmly entrench women in leadership positions at all levels in society.

We have to change our mindsets, our behaviours, our value system.

We must reinvent our relationships and re-engineer the way we relate in our families, in our schools, in our workplaces with the spirit of ubuntu that Archbishop Tutu taught us and exudes with every fibre of his being.

Tradition has developed into practices which overtime have become beliefs which in essence they put women in a position of inferiority.

African women need to be in the driving seat of national discourse,women need to be at the centre of our economies,they must also pro-actively seek to correct the status quo.

Culture for me is when you sing or dance, when you have theatre, when you read a book, a beautiful poem. It doesn't matter whether it's Shakespeare who wrote it or whether it is an African poet – it is communicating with all of us, regardless of who you are, your colour, your social structure.

When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.

Investing in education from early childhood has a lasting effect on the survival, development, protection and active participation of children in social, economic and political activities.

What they have taught me and what I take from their lives is this real ability to go beyond yourself and to dedicate your life to the common good, to create spaces and opportunities for freedom for all.

Women are not children; they are adults that know what they want to do. They should be recognised with their dignity and to start a business whenever they feel like it.

People say I am powerful but I care more about impactful – in the work I do with children, adolescents, women or even institutions. Those who observe can say, ‘you are powerful,’ but it doesn’t come from me to say I am powerful.

It is not just fear of a husband that makes a woman bow to these traditions. They are ingrained in her from her upbringing, the women learn to accept as if it's normal.

We are proving that we can come together as a united human family to holistically tackle COVID-19, let us apply an equally comprehensive, vigorous, and unrelenting focus to eradicating gender-based violence as well.

We need to make the message much clearer -- that aid means saving lives, it’s not a luxury.