My warm greetings to you all!
Introducing oneself is never that easy and, personally, I prefer others to talk about me..however, I'll try to write down something simple and clear. First, my name is Maria and I am 26. I come from a small town in the suburbs of Naples, in Southern Italy.
I am a university student and my Major is Foreign Languages and Literatures, I am currently studying Portuguese.
My passion above everything is Music, my greatest teacher in life.
I am also deeply interested in colonial and postcolonial studies which, in time, got me more and more sensitive about migration issues, integration, racism.
Of course, I am a woman, and with this we get to the very point of my presence here. In a sense I am lucky because I live in a country where apparently women are considered and treated just the same as men. Apparently, though. The reality is that here in Italy, women are being considered as objects to own and use, especially by politicians. Scandals were just too heavy to bear during the last year.
Yet, I know in other countries women are completely taken their individual freedom and they are forbidden to express themselves, their skills, their passions. So I say: the time is now. The time is now to join together and work for ourselves and our daughters, the time is now, to speak out our belief and give voice to women who cannot speak. The time is now, to endorse the Earth Charter principle about gender equality. I am not referring to any feminist idea, for when I talk about gender equality I refer to equal opportunities for all, men and women, and it is clear that today, we are not always given this kind of equality.
Women must have a voice in the decision making process, must have access to education and must be respected. I believe that if we start with ourselves, we will be able to bring the change everywhere else.
Women have the blessed gift of giving life. Let us come together to protect it in all its forms.