The Women Empowerment & Democracy for Belarus Forum 2025 opened today in Stockholm, dedicated to the role of Belarusian women in the struggle for democracy.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya delivered a welcome address, reflecting on her personal experience, the challenges faced by women in politics. She called for true equality – not as a foreign concept but as a natural need of Belarusian society.
“Being a woman in Belarus is not easy. Being a woman in politics is even harder. I know this from personal experience. It’s not just about constant pressure and challenges. It’s also about what experts call the ‘impostor syndrome’ – the feeling that you’re never doing enough. The authoritarian regime and our education system teach people – especially women – to stay silent. Not to stand out. Not to be visible.
We’ve all heard it countless times: ‘A woman’s place is in the kitchen’. I have nothing against kitchens. But I know that women are capable of so much more, especially when we stand together.
We want to build a Belarus where women lead, make decisions, and shape the future. Empowering women is not only a shared European value. It is also a Belarusian one. Gender equality is not a foreign idea. It is not something ‘borrowed’ from abroad. It is a demand of the Belarusian people, born of Belarusian pain, and carried forward by Belarusian women”.
