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Salwa Bugaighis of Libya - Eternal Sisterhood of Women

HUMAN RIGHTS, ADVOCACY FOR WOMEN, POLITICAL & PUBLIC LEADERSHIP

“My main concern is the role of the women in the future.We want equal opportunity in all sectors."

TO SALWA  - WOMAN WHO HAS CARRIED A TORCH

My life as a woman, belongs to the whole community.

And as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die.

For, the harder I work, the more I live.

I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no "brief candle" to me.

It is a sort of splendid torch which I have for the moment.

I want to make it burn as brightly as possible

Before handing it on to future generations.

Anonymous

Human rights lawyer Salwa Bugaighis has long been known throughout Libya for her work defending political prisoners during the Qaddafi regime. She played a prominent role throughout Libya’s rebellion, including as an organizer of the February 17, 2011 demonstrations in Benghazi that marked the beginning of the dictatorship’s end.

Salwa has remained an active force in the country’s ongoing political transition. An original member of Libya’s National Transitional Council, she resigned her position after three and a half months to protest the lack of women in the new government. As she says, “They knew that women were very effective and very strong in this revolution, but they think that now, the role is for the man.” 

Outside of government, she has become a one-woman force for political reform, supporting female candidates and lobbying the government to heed their views. “My main concern is the role of the women in the future,” she says. “We want equal opportunity in all sectors. We want to ensure that our rights in the constitution will be there.”