Unite- Meet Khadija Gbla
15 Feb 2021
At MIMCO, we're dedicated to empowering all women—and we believe that the right accessories can help you take on the world.
That's why, in line with the launch of our latest collection, we partnered with five trailblazing young changemakers who are paving the way for a better, brighter future.
Meet Khadija Gbla
Speaker, human rights activist & Our Watch ambassador.
Having experienced war, poverty, discrimination and one of the most brutal forms of gender-based violence - female genital mutilation - Khadija Gbla has dedicated her life to fighting for social justice and human rights; determined to make the world a better place for those who come after her.
Here, she opens up about her inspiring personal journey.
Can you tell us who you are and how you got to where you are today?
“I am a human rights activist, entrepreneur and mentor. I came to Australia in 2001 as a refugee with my family. I decided to study law and international studies as a double degree because of my passion for social justice and human rights.
“As a child having experienced social insecurity, war, poverty and just a general sense of unsafety, I wanted to live in a world where other kids didn’t experience that, and women felt safe from violence. A world where people were treated equally, regardless of their class, age, gender, ability or where they lived. So, I decided I was going to dedicate my work and my activism to create that world. Because I’m a believer that we are the changemakers. It’s up to us to create the type of world we want to live in.”
You’re a huge advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion. Where does this passion come from?
“My passion stems from my own experiences. I became a refugee at the age of three. My son is now five and we couldn’t have been raised in more different worlds. When I was three, bombs were dropping around me. People were trying to kill me. The world thought I was a threat. My family members were butchered and killed. My country, the place I should call home, became the most unsafe place for me.
“By the age of eight or nine I had fled the war and ended up in an unofficial refugee camp… not knowing when food was going to come next, if I was going to get killed, or if the single parent I had left living would survive herself. There was a sense of hopelessness, with each day blending into the next.
“By the time I was nine or 10 I had experienced one of the most brutal forms of gender-based violence—female genital mutilation (FGM). By the time I was 13 I was living in a whole new country that I should call home – Australia – but the colour of my skin, which had never mattered to me because it was as natural as breathing, was now hyper visible. Being told to go back where I came from. Those experiences changed me. They don’t define me, but they certainly changed me. They opened my eyes to the world around me – a world without equality, a world where differences aren’t celebrated but instead attacked. A world where being born a girl can almost be a life sentence.
“I wanted to make sure there weren’t any more little Khadija’s. So, I became an activist at the age of 13 and I haven’t stopped. In raising my little boy, I am reminded – we must make the world a better place for those who come after us every single day. There is no choice.”
What do you love most about what you do?
“I love knowing that something good has come out of my own experiences. What I love the most is those little black girls who get to see themselves in me. Women who email me, all across the world and say to me, because I spoke up about FGM, they feel validated and heard. They feel seen. What makes this worth it is those women in my community who now feel like they can make different choices for their children and for themselves. Knowing that they deserve safety and that they are safe.”
What does empowerment mean to you?
“Empowerment to me is about knowing your self-worth, having confidence in who you are. Being able to acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses. Most of all, it’s having choice. Being able to create the life and the world you want for yourself. Every single day when I wake up, I say to myself with my words of affirmation, ‘You are beautiful, you are strong, you are the expert of your life, you know what you want. Hold your head up high and take on the world’.”
Can you tell us about your own path to personal empowerment?
“I wasn’t born empowered or confident… I was a shy kid who barely could say a couple of words, but I nurtured that. I didn’t want to go through the world being at the mercy of society and other people’s choices, so I started building myself up. I have affirmations – my colour doesn’t determine my worth. My gender doesn’t determine my worth. My outside looks don’t define who I am as a person. I define who I am as a person and I refuse to let the world box me in.”
“I’m one of a few black women in Australia with a profile and I see little black girls who get to see themselves represented. My son gets to see someone who is kicking ass and knows that his place in this world is not determined by his colour. The sky should be the limit for him - like all other kids - and that’s the power of me controlling my own narrative.”
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
“To know my worth, and never compromise. I want to be somebody who changes and grows, while staying rooted in the things that matter to me at all times.”
What is your hope or vision for women in the future?
“I think about this a lot. I want a world where women stand united and in solidarity with each other. Our challenges may be different – some of us experience racism, sexism, disability, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia – but we do need to be united and stand together in solidarity. Saying, your challenge doesn’t look like mine, but I will show up for you, sister. I’ll be there for you and acknowledge my privilege. Unless all of us are free, none of us are free.”
What’s something you wish you could tell your younger self?
“You’re not too much. I’ve spent my whole life being told that I am too much. Too much of everything. My younger self didn’t know how much power she had because the world constantly said to me that I was a threat, that I was less than. And when I think back to that little girl, all I want to say to her is that... you are not too much. You are so much more. Don’t dim your light, don’t stay quiet, don’t shy away. Be louder, be bolder, and take up more space because, goddammit, you are literally the answer. Be that answer!”
Can you tell us about your partnership with Our Watch?
“Our Watch is the lead national organisation working to prevent violence against women and children. The lives of women and children are under attack every single day in Australia, a first world nation. Every week a family loses a daughter, a sister, somebody they love—all because of male violence. Our Watch tries to prevent that.
“We work with schools, talk to young girls and boys—we get in early, talking about gender equality. We go to sports clubs where we know toxic masculinity thrives and we talk about what that looks like, and how we need to change that. How our boys need to be raised in a world where they can have all of their feelings—not just anger or violence. My proudest moments are when my son says, ‘I’m sad, mum’ or ‘I’m scared’. It’s okay to feel that way. Because that’s a world where he’s able to feel a full range of emotions, a world where he sees women and non-binary people and treats them equally regardless of their gender.
“Our Watch wants to achieve a world where we all as individuals take ownership of this terrorism, of this cancer that breeds in our homes, in our sports clubs, in all areas of our society and we say, enough is enough. Our daughters deserve to be raised in a world where when they leave their house, they don’t have to have keys between their hands. Or where the people they choose to love don’t pose the greatest danger to them. We need to do better and that’s what Our Watch is doing. We are choosing to educate a whole society around how gender equality is a good thing for everyone. How a world where everyone is safe, and we all have access to equality and opportunities—that’s a world we all want to live in.”
Shop the Unite collection, as seen on Khadija
