Episode 8: Samira Rafaela

Samira Rafaela is a Dutch Member of the European Parliament for the social-liberal political party D66. She made great strides so far in changing things for the better. Ever since her appointment, she helped to launch the Renew Europe Group, advocating for a strong, social and secure Europe. She also came up with the Women on Boards campaign, which aims to have at least 40% of non-executive director positions in listed companies held by women. This year, she won the Harper’s Bazaar International Women of the Year 2020 Award for pursuing a more diverse political discourse. In this episode, she talks about one of her biggest role models: her own mother. Samira grew up just north of Amsterdam. She believes that it’s her culturally rich background – being the daughter of a Curaçaoan-Dutch Jewish mother and a Ghanaian-Nigerian Muslim father – that has given her this open-minded world view. The EU’s official motto to be ‘United in Diversity’ is what she stands for. In our interview, Samira touches on racial justice and how to implement anti-racism in children’s classes early on in life. Apart from that, she openly shares how she has dealt with personal attacks because of her public persona and standpoints. She speaks on gender-based discrimination and why we can’t have any setbacks if we want to move into a more fair and sustainable future.

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Confidence

“My mindset really helped me say to myself: you have the right to be there, you have the right to have your opinion. But you also need people in your direct environment who can help and support you in the moment.”

“To cope with possible backlash in this digital society, you need to have a very strong mind and need to be convinced of your own mission.”

Diversity

“You need a diverse group of people raising the right questions. If they don’t participate in the decision-making process, how can you guarantee that legislation or new policies will work for people that have not been part of the decision-making process?”

“When speaking about the topic of diversity and representation, everyone can be there, but I believe it cannot be only or mainly a group of people that look like each other, for example when it comes to men; that they decide for the rest of society. There needs to be a balance.”

“We have to make sure you have men, women, young people, people of color, people with disabilities, people from the LGTBI+ community are sitting at the table. Then you’re making sure that a lot is covered, especially when it comes to the experiences that marginalized groups in our society have. And then, you get quality.”

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

“We need to have more female role models who can show that even though you are a mother or not, women also deserve to be there.”

“We should make it way easier for women with all kinds of identities and all kinds of roles in society.”

“We have enough talented women, but really, we need to break through this old boys network.”

“It’s very important that women have the right to have their own identity. Whether they become a mother or not, they all need to be supported in their career, in the dreams that they have.”

CHANGE

“Children at a certain age are becoming sensitive to thoughts and opinions that are being shared at home and in school and are very vulnerable to polarized opinions. That’s something we need to take care of as adults.”

“Parental leave needs to be more flexible, much more flexible. Also for fathers, so they can help more, and spend more time with their children so that mothers can start to go to work earlier if they want to.”

“I see a new generation growing up now, that are having a different view on things in life and I have hope that we will break through some barriers and that in a matter of time women just can follow their dreams and women are safe in the world.”

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episode preview

Pilot episode: The power of feminine energy and what it means to Artipoppe, explained by Anna van den Bogert