White House Hosts International Women of Courage Awards

US First Lady Jill Biden wanted to put this year’s International Women of Courage winners on the biggest stage possible, so she invited the 11 honorees to the White House on Wednesday for the award ceremony. awards held on International Women’s Day.

“Girls around the world need to know that there are women who are fighting for them and winning,” Biden said Wednesday, speaking to a room packed with guests and honorees gathered for the State Department’s annual award.

“Opening doors, transforming schools, communities and governments, building a better world for all of us. And we are also here to tell your brothers, fathers, husbands and friends: as much as we need women who are willing to talk, we need more men who are willing to listen and act.”

For the first time this year, the award also honored a group, naming the protesting women and girls of Iran as the inaugural recipients of the Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award. Countless women and girls led protests in the country’s 31 provinces after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in police custody in September, allegedly because she was not wearing her headscarf properly.

“The Iranian people, led by women, took to the streets in peaceful protest,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said in announcing the award on Wednesday. “They followed in the footsteps of brave women before them, who sacrificed so much in the name of freedom. Through neighborhoods and classrooms, from apartment buildings and car windows, protesters chanted across Iran and around the world, creating a global chorus demanding gender equality and human rights. … To all the women and girls of Iran, know this: we will continue to support you in your fight for women, for life and for freedom.”

Fired, threatened, arrested, tortured

The other 11, including journalists, activists, educators, lawyers and a brigadier general, have been fired, threatened, arrested and tortured while seeking justice and equality.

Dr. Zakira Hekmat from Afghanistan had to attend high school in secret, defying her country’s hardline rulers. She became a doctor and worked with refugees. She now she lives in Turkey.

Brigadier General Bolor Ganbold overcame her army’s biggest obstacle to become the first female general in Mongolia and the first female staff officer from that country assigned to a UN peacekeeping operation.

Professor Daniele Darlan was fired from her nation’s highest court after she refused to allow changes to the constitution of her country, the Central African Republic, to allow the president to extend his term. That and other acts of hers earned her the nickname “Iron Woman”.

Recognized Iranian protesters

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who introduced four recipients chosen for their advocacy of free speech, said the recognition from the Iran protesters is highly significant.

“We’re doing it right here in the White House, which we think is incredibly important for women around the world, but also for women here and young women here, to hear the stories of these incredible people,” Jean-Jean said. Pierre, in response to a question from the VOA. “Girls all over the world need to know that there are women who are fighting for them.”

Analysts say the recognition shows that the Biden administration is holding Iran in the same league as the rest of the world.

“We are three weeks away from the Democracy Summit, where the administration calls on countries around the world to reaffirm their support for democratic governance and civil society that drives democracy in authoritarian contexts,” Marti Flacks, researcher who focuses on human rights at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the VOA.

But the award is unlikely to impress those in power in Tehran, he said. Almost all the members of the nation’s supreme council are men.

“They will find any opportunity to blame the United States or the West for their own challenges and for running their country,” Flacks said. “I think it’s pretty clear to anyone who follows the situation in Iran that this is a local movement. … So I don’t think the regime’s efforts to blame the US for this are going to get much of an audience.”

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.