Graça Machel

Dame Graça Machel in 2010

Dame Graça Machel FBA (née Simbine; born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique l (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998–2013). Machel is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and was made an honorary British Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for her humanitarian work. She is the only woman in modern history to have served as First Lady of two countries, South Africa and Mozambique. She is a member of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of ten distinguished individuals who advocate at the highest levels for equitable and sustainable development in Africa. As a panel member she facilitates coalition building to leverage and broker knowledge, and convenes decision-makers to influence policy for lasting change in Africa.

Quotes

"Graca Machel: Traditional practices put women in positions of inferiority" (26 June 2009)

"Graca Machel: Traditional practices put women in positions of inferiority" (26 June 2009) by The Elders retrieved 21 July 2022

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

• Tradition has developed a hierarchy in relationship between men and women that leads to discrimination.

• The role tradition has played in the relationship in the family between men and women has been detrimental to women.

"West must help Africa on poverty, education: Machel" (9 October 2009)

Machel urging European MPs to do more to help Africa meet development targets.

• The developed world needs to feel that these huge levels of poverty (are) a threat to their own security. When their interests are at risk, money can be found.
• We need to make the message much clearer -- that aid means saving lives, it’s not a luxury.

"Graça Machel: We continue to fight" (17 December 2012)

"Speaking during an interview with The Guardian"

• 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.
• 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.

"Machel speaking at a memorial service for student, Uyinene Mrwetyana, who was assaulted and murdered in 2019"

"Graca Machel speech against Gender-Based-Violence(GBV) in South Africa"

• 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.
• The problem is not the consequences of what’s happening, it’s the root causes of why and how we got where we are as a society.”

"A ‘pandemic within a pandemic’ has been exposed."

"Her writing piece in the Guardian explaining that violence against women and children was on the rise, and something needed to be done."

• A pandemic within a pandemic has been exposed and we are confronted with the horrific reality that millions of women and children — in every country — are fighting for their survival, not just from COVID-19 but from the brutalities of abusers in the prisons of their homes.
• 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.

"Violence is the breast milk we are feeding our young."

"Machel's illustration on how violence has to be dealt with at its source"

• 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.

"There are precious lives between these cold numbers"

"Machel delivering a speech at Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s International Peace Lecture"

• These are the beautiful faces,the brilliant minds and vibrant voices of our daughters, nieces, sisters, whose childhood and innocence we have left unprotected, and these shocking statistics on teenage pregnancy do not even paint an accurate nor comprehensive picture of our shameful disregard for young people we claim to love and cherish.

"Graça Machel: Women Must Redesign the table, and not just expect to be at the table" (16 November 2018)

"Talking at about how Africa’s socio-economic transformation can take place"

• 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.
• 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.

"Educating the Girl Child, Empowering Women, and Enhancing Female Entrepreneurship in Africa"

" Machel at the 22nd Eminent Speakers’ Lecture of the African Development Institute held at the Babacar N’diaye Auditorium in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire"

• 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.
• Education, particularly for girls, is a catalyst for reducing child and maternal deaths and lifting people out of poverty.
• To ensure that we achieve the goals for our development by 2063 we need to fully invest in and optimize of the continent’s other half which for too long has been neglected: the African female.
• “When you educate a girl, you educate a nation.”

"Celebrating powerful women: there is enough on the table for all of us."(6 March 2020)

"Her opinion on some of the challenges facing female entrepreneurs in accessing funding"

• 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.

"Her description of powerful woman in 2022"

"Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, says global leadership during the pandemic has been 'inadequate" (8 October 2020)

"talking about how fortunate she is for getting married to Mozambique's President Samora Machel and to Mandela in 1998."

• 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.