SIMA SAMAR, chair of the AfghanistanIndependent Human Rights CommissionDo you remember at what point in your life you realized that something was amiss, and that society played a huge, mostly negative, role in reinforcing gender bias? I remember the late, great Norma Scarborough, founder of the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, telling a story about the exact moment when she realized there was an unfair playing field for women. There was a contest in her community—a spelling bee, if I recall correctly. Norma was nine years old, smart as a whip and something of a tomboy. She won the contest and then watched the contest organizer switch the prizes for first and second places so that she would get the doll carriage and the boy who came second would get the bike. “I wanted the bike,” she’d roar every time she told the story, to the delighted recognition of her audience. That was the event that introduced her to the thorny topic of sexual equality.I experienced a similar aha moment.
