Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower is an unprecedented book and companion art exhibition celebrating 100 global women leaders who are redefining power. Edited by Alyse Nelson, with a foreword by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman and paintings by Gayle Kabaker, the book and exhibition feature a selection of original portraits, accompanied by thought-provoking excerpts of first-person narratives from some of the most influential and insightful women in the world, including: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Malala Yousafzai, Bozoma Saint John, Jacinda Ardern, Donna Langley, Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju, Joy Buolamwini, Megan Rapinoe and so many more. Candid and compelling, each leader shares personal stories, wisdom and ideas, showing us that women lead differently and that this difference is sorely needed in our world today.
While each woman is path-breaking in her own right, it’s together that these 100 voices illustrate the transformative power of women’s leadership across cultures, sectors and generations.
2020 has laid bare the critical value of leadership at every level; from heads of state to community healthcare workers and racial justice activists, we have witnessed remarkable courage and compassion in the face of historic challenge. Global crises have shown us that the solutions we seek already exist, so often being championed by women leaders like those featured in this book.
This year we also commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the historic United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, which sparked a new wave of activism in pursuit of gender equality. As we look to the future, and the great unfinished business that remains, we turn to 100 of the most daring and creative leaders of our time, who share their vision and solutions in Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower.
Video courtesy of Gayle Kabaker
Alyse Nelson is President and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an organization that invests in women leaders solving the world’s greatest challenges. A co-founder of Vital Voices, she has worked with the organization for more than two decades.
Gayle Kabaker is an award-winning illustrator, writer and visual storyteller living in Ashfield, Massachusetts. She has had five New Yorker magazine covers, beginning in 2012 with “June Brides,” celebrating the legalization of marriage equality.
