Address to Peace Summit 2023
May 2-5, 2023
I want to thank the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) for giving me the opportunity to speak at this great event. I especially thank Dr. Moon and take this opportunity to congratulate her on her 80th birthday.
I recognize your great career and responsibility to host a venue for dialogue where we are united by a genuine desire to resolve the challenges to world peace. These problems transcend borders, including: poverty, violence, climate change, forced migration, hunger, and gender inequality, the last which I will address in my remarks.
It is our duty as women parliamentarians to create public policies that guarantee equal rights between women and men. When we manage to end this inequality gap, we will be one step closer to achieving peace in our societies.
In my country of Honduras, for example, more than 50 percent of women of working age are unemployed, compared to men, who experience more than 70 percent labor participation.
This clearly adds to the fact that 55 percent of families in Honduras are dysfunctional, and in the majority. It is the woman who assumes the role of caring for the children and the home.
For this, I am promoting to the National Congress, that large companies receive incentives in exchange for providing free day care centers for their employees, overcoming this limitation and opening equal opportunities for women.
In the political area is where the highest rates of inequality exist. A study in 2020 showed that only 44 percent of 153 countries have been governed by women.
We are belittled and we are believed incapable. In my country, for the first time in history, a woman governs. Though my society has macho roots, conscientious men have made a difference. They have recognized women and given us a chance. My husband, for example, selflessly gave up his personal interests and handed over the presidential candidacy to the leader who governs the nation today.
I urge women to break with the paradigms of our historically macho societies.
I am an example of this, a young woman, winner of the Miss Honduras Universe beauty pageant. Many believe that we are only decoration figures, and that our contribution to society is only our pretty face. I decided to end that stereotype created against us, with courage, and by the will of the Honduran people. Today I am a proud congresswoman and Vice President of the National Congress of the Republic of Honduras.
I have shown from that platform granted by the people of Honduras, that women can lead with authority and deal with the issues that concern our people.
In July 2020, the members of the National Congress approved that our country would become a dump of toxic waste from the other nations of the world, aberrantly allowing the entry of used lead-acid batteries and completely ignoring that, in previous years, exposure to this toxic material worldwide caused approximately half a million deaths per year.
This material led us to contaminate practically 100 percent of the water in one of our most critical natural beauties, Lake Yojoa.
I championed this issue together with environmentalists from our country. I resisted from my seat to allow this to continue, and at the beginning of this year, the National Congress unanimously approved the repeal of this embarrassing decree approved in 2020, thus guaranteeing our friendship with the environment, with our lakes, forests, and animals and demonstrating that, if we set our minds to it, we can achieve it.
I am determined not to take a single step back until we women of the world succeed in obtaining our political, labor, and economic rights, and until we gain ground in spaces historically assigned to men, such as governing our nations.
Let's take advantage of these open and inclusive spaces for dialogue to build the society we want. It is my wish, that UPF create a system of advice and accompaniment to strengthen the still weak thread of women's participation in state affairs, at all levels, and that we become standard-bearers of interdependence, mutual prosperity, and shared universal values.
Without equality and justice there can be no peace, and without peace there is no development for our nations.
To go to the Peace Summit 2023 Schedule page, click here.