UN Resident Coordinator Remarks at opening of the13th Women’s Film Week

Distinguished guests, colleagues, and friends,

Good evening.

It is an honor to be here with you for the opening of the 13th Women’s Film Week. This is the third time I’ve stood before you to open this extraordinary gathering since arriving in Jordan. Every time, I am inspired by the courage and creativity on display, and this year is no different. 

This festival is a space where women’s stories are told honestly, openly. Not filtered. Not flattened. Told in their own words, in their own languages, through their own eyes. 

These films are mirrors of reality. We witness the joys, the griefs, the strength, and the struggles that define women’s lives around the world. They spark important conversations around the most pressing issues facing women today and issue a call for action.

This year’s Women’s Film Week coincides with significant milestones in our global movement:

• The 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action—the most visionary agenda for advancing the rights of women and girls ever adopted.
• The 25th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security.
• And the 15th anniversary of the creation of UN Women, which continues to lead the United Nations’ efforts on equality between men and women and women’s empowerment worldwide.

These anniversaries remind us of how far we’ve come—but also how fragile progress can be.

In Jordan, we’ve seen important achievements over the past year, particularly the expansion of women’s political participation. Jordan has now surpassed the regional average of women in parliament, with women comprising 20% of parliament.

These are achievements we must protect and expand. They reflect a growing understanding that no society can truly thrive without the full and equal participation of all its people—including women.

And while I commend Jordan on its hard-won progress, I must call attention to the fact that the situation for women and girls across the region and the world has also seen changes for the worse over the past year. 

We are witnessing threats to the rights and freedoms of women and girls that risk to roll back the gains that generations before us fought to secure. From education bans to political exclusion and escalating violence against women in conflict zones, the erosion of these rights is not abstract—it is real, and it is urgent. 

In the face of these challenges, one thing becomes unmistakably clear: the future of women’s rights depends on us—all of us—working together and never giving up, never slowing down.

That’s what makes this festival special. It is a living, breathing declaration by a cross-section of society – artists and story tellers, civil society, film commissions, donors and supporting Governments and beyond – that women’s stories matter. That women's voices must not only be heard—they must be listened to, acted upon, and allowed to lead. 

In this spirit, I want to offer a special tribute tonight to the people who made these films— to all those who brought these powerful stories to life. 

Your work, your contribution is a testimony to your unrelenting commitment to advance equal rights for women and girls. 

In a time when some seek to silence, restrict, or erase women, your support is an act of unrelenting determination and hope. Of saying no, we will not be defeated. We will not go backwards. We will not accept less than equal rights for all.

To all film goers, tonight and throughout the week, your very presence is an act of belief … belief that women's voices are worth hearing, that truth matters, that culture can change the world. And that you support equal rights for women and girls.

To UN Women Jordan, thank you for your leadership and vision. 

To the Royal Film Commission, thank you for standing with the storytellers, and with women and girls in Jordan, in the region and across the world. 

And to my friend Ghada—your dedication over the past 13 years has ensured that this festival is not just sustained, but evolving.

Let us leave here tonight inspired—not only by what we’ve seen on screen, but by the possibility of what we can achieve together. 

Let the films remind us that while progress may be slow or under threat, it is still possible—when we choose it, and when we defend it. 

Because even during the longest of nights, we know that light will eventually overcome the darkness. 

Thank you.