Episode: 2 Part 2
Podcast Title: Power Of...
Episode Title: Feminist Leadership Beyond Gender Binaries: Perspectives from Belize – Part 2
Welcome to the Power Of…, a production by the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH). In this collection of conversations, we dive into critical, thought-provoking, and contemporary content to stimulate debate and dialogue with the aim of driving gender equality in global health. Host, Johanna Riha, works at UNU-IIGH in Malaysia and is passionate that the bold commitments towards gender equality in health be met with commensurate action.
In this mini-series, Johanna focuses on the power of the feminist leadership and how this type of transformative leadership can be used to advance gender equality and health equity. In this episode, Johanne continues to speak with Simone Hill, founder of the organisation, Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian and Bisexual women (PETAL), in Belize.
Simone shares her experiences and the challenges she confronted, both in her personal life and those faced by PETAL, in efforts to advocate for the rights of lesbian and bisexual women in Belize. At the start of the episode, Simone candidly discusses the discrimination and difficulties she and her family encountered after publicly coming out as a member of the LGBT+ community on national television. However, she explains that her resilience, knowledge and previous achievements continue to motivate her to overcome challenges and work to fight ongoing discrimination.
As the conversation continues, Simone highlights the need to empower women through education, especially in light of challenges posed in the current climate of regression of women and LGBT+ rights, both within Belize and globally. As she contemplates these issues, she further discusses interconnecting issues around patriarchal power, trauma and the limits of gender parity in leadership, and emphasizes the importance of empathy, reflexivity and inclusivity to overcome these challenges at an individual and organizational level. Through this approach PETAL has achieved various successful outcomes including providing mental health support and legal assistance to lesbian and bisexual women in need.
The episode concludes with Simone discussing ongoing efforts of self-improvement and growth to advance the rights and well-being of lesbian and bisexual women in Belize, including pursuing higher education and studying law in Barbados to better serve her community. Simone is a trail-blazer and continuously looking to grow and better herself. Listen in to Part 1 of her story if you missed it.
In the next two episodes we’ll hear from Kobe Smith, a young male leader from Guyana as he shares how he understands and practices feminist leadership to improve health and wellbeing for women, girls and structurally marginalized populations in Guyana and globally.
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