Oklahoma Women’s March 2020 Published January 28, 2020

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan spoke at the Oklahoma Women’s March 2020 on January 25. Some 350 people attended the event at the Scissortail Park in Oklahoma City.  Her speech honored the model and bravery of Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi activist. Murad was an Nobel Peace Prize honoree in 2018 for her efforts “to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” 

She also said, “Violence of any kind is unacceptable! Women must have the self-esteem and self-worth to protect their physical, psychological, and emotional health by not succumbing to violent threats or violence of any kind. 

Educated women should fully participation in professional and political life. 

In order to take decisions that question those social norms that glorify toxic masculinity, women must be psychologically empowered. The psychological aspect refers to developing self-esteem, for which some form of financial autonomy is a basis. Women must also be politically empowered. The political aspect involves the ability to organize and mobilize for social change, which requires the creation of awareness not just at the individual level but at the collective level as well. For me, empowerment is a process that enables marginalized women to make strategic life-choices regarding education, livelihood, marriage, childbirth, sexuality. Those choices are critical for people to lead the sort of lives they wish to lead, and they constitute life’s defining parameters.” 

Dr. Nyla Ali Khan