Angelina Jolie Reflects on Refugee Women as the True Leaders of Global Resilience

Who is a woman who has inspired or mentored you, and what lessons from her influence have stayed with you?

The refugee women I have met are the most inspirational to me. The most vulnerable, who are living in the most impossible situations. From the grandmother in Chad raising her grandchildren after the slaughter of her daughter, keeping positive every day to give them hope amidst the horrors and injustice. To Loung Ung, a child of the Khmer Rouge who, to this day, honors her parents’ legacy and her love of Cambodia with her writing. To the girls learning in the camps, even when they have to sit in sweltering tents, or in the rain, or risk abuse when displaced in violent countries. They are the strength holding up the world. They are graceful under enormous pressure and pain. They deserve so much more than the world has given. When they are abused and abandoned, the gifts that they would have been able to give to the world are lost. Anytime we don’t invest in them, we should be ashamed of our ignorance of their value and all that they contribute.