DR. ALAA MURABIT
DOCTOR, ADVOCATE, FEMINIST, STRATEGIST, SPEAKER, WRITER Dr. Alaa Murabit wears a few pretty impressive hats. Aside from being a doctor, speaker, writer and feminist hero, she is also a United Nations global Sustainable Development Goals advocate (fit that on a business card!), where she supports the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals for climate change, women’s rights and inequality reduction; a UN high-level commissioner on health employment and economic growth, where she promotes investing in health care to spur economic growth; and part of the Emerging Leaders Task Force, which brings together women from marginalized communities around the world for support and training. Born in Saskatchewan, Murabit moved to Libya in 2005. She returned to Canada in 2016 and now lives in Vancouver. Here, she talks power and more with FASHION.
“I knew from when I was very young that I wanted to be a doctor. My dad and my sister are both surgeons, so, growing up, I remember the conversations we would have about saving lives. I have a medical degree, but in 2011, when I was 21, I founded The Voice of Libyan Women (VLW) during the Libyan Civil War. That’s when my brain switched; there are so many ways to impact so many more people.
“If you look at countries in conflict, there’s a significant moment when social norms are up in the air and you can significantly change gender roles and social norms and challenge the structure. VLW looks at how we can take advantage of those moments to recognize how women and girls face different and more unprecedented risks than men and boys do in conflicts and also how women are incredible architects of peace.
“The most powerful people in my life have been my parents. And yet by every conventional standard of power, they probably don’t have it. My mom was a stayat-home mom with 11 kids, and I think her footprint on the world is bigger than mine will ever be because of the way she raised us. I think we all hold unique power, and it’s all about how we leverage that with others that makes us significant.”