Sheila Saunders Opening Statement

“We need to just take a few seconds to try and harness the power that we bring into this room. All of us here, saying, “enough is enough,” from all over the world, wherever we've come from, wherever we live, wherever we are, we're saying, “no more.” We're here, whether we're on the platform, in the hall, or on the street. We're all of us experts. We're here to share, to network, to build bridges across the political turbulence of nation states. And we're pretty privileged to be here together. We're privileged to be here at all. And I guess as we work our way through the week, we must keep with us thoughts of hundreds, of thousands, of millions of women who haven't made it, who've lost their lives, or imprisoned, because violence and abuse against women isn't a crime, it's just a fact.” 

“What we have, is woman power.”

Sheila Saunders was an Honorary Fellow of the Violence, Abuse and Gender Relations research Unit, University of Bradford. She was also Chief Executive of the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board/Leeds Jewish Housing Association.

Sheila died in 2013. Read her obituary in the Yorkshire Post.