The thing I want to see before I die is women achieving full

Hear now, O children of justice and daughters of the dawn, the words of Cherie Blair, who spoke with the fire of conviction and the tenderness of compassion: “The thing I want to see before I die is women achieving full equality in the world. I’m very passionate about injustice against women, and there’s too much of it in the world. In so many parts of the world, women are not regarded as worthy or equal to men. In parts of the world, women are bought and sold.” These are not the idle musings of comfort, but the cry of one who has witnessed both the progress and the pain of her time — a call to awaken hearts, to stir nations, and to redeem the half of humanity too long denied its rightful dignity.

The meaning of her words lies in their urgency. Cherie Blair, a woman of learning and leadership, stands as both witness and warrior. She does not speak of equality as an abstract dream, but as a sacred necessity — the balance without which the world itself falters. She reminds us that though we live in an age of progress, the chains of inequality still rattle in the shadows: in the labor camps where women toil unseen, in the villages where daughters are denied education, and in the markets where the bodies of women are still treated as commodities. Her vision — full equality — is not a privilege for the few, but a birthright of all. For without it, humanity itself remains incomplete.

The origin of this conviction can be traced to Blair’s life as a barrister, advocate, and First Lady of the United Kingdom, where she saw both the strength of the law and its limitations. She founded the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, to give voice, opportunity, and empowerment to women across the world. Yet even as she built programs to uplift, she knew that policy alone cannot heal the ancient wound of injustice. Her words arise from a moral awareness older than any government — the truth that equality is not merely a social construct, but a divine principle: that every soul, male or female, bears the same spark of life, the same sacred worth.

To understand her passion, one must recall the countless women who have stood upon the battlegrounds of progress. Think of Malala Yousafzai, who, as a child, defied tyranny for the right to learn and was met with bullets — yet rose again to speak for millions. Or Sojourner Truth, who once cried, “Ain’t I a woman?” before a crowd that denied both her race and her sex. These women, like Blair, stand in the lineage of the courageous — those who refused silence even when the world preferred their obedience. In every age, such voices have risen to remind us that oppression does not only wound its victims; it impoverishes the whole of civilization.

When Blair speaks of women being bought and sold, her words pierce like an arrow. For she speaks of an evil that persists even in the modern world — the trafficking of women, the exploitation of laborers, the silencing of those whose bodies are treated as property. In this she calls not only for pity, but for righteous action. The wise must not look away and say, “This happens far from me,” for injustice anywhere is an infection that weakens the heart of all humanity. The freedom of women is the measure of a nation’s soul, and where they are enslaved, no man is truly free.

Blair’s cry for equality is not against men, but for humanity. For true balance does not destroy one side to lift the other; it restores harmony. When women rise, societies flourish. When girls are educated, nations prosper. When mothers are safe, peace takes root. Her dream, then, is not of rivalry but of redemption — the day when no child grows up believing that her worth depends on her gender, and no man believes that his power depends on her submission.

Therefore, O listeners, take this lesson into your hearts: justice begins not in parliaments or courts, but in the choices of everyday life. Teach your sons to honor women as equals, not prizes. Teach your daughters to walk tall, not in defiance, but in dignity. Speak out when you see injustice, even when it is small — for silence, like neglect, feeds the tyrant. Support the hands that build and the voices that speak; lend your strength to those who have none.

Thus spoke Cherie Blair, whose vision shines like a beacon through the fog of inequality. Her words remind us that the liberation of women is not the task of women alone, but the sacred duty of all humankind. Let every generation strive for the world she dreamed of — where no woman is bought or broken, where no girl is silenced or shamed, and where equality is not a wish upon the horizon, but the living light of every home, every nation, and every human heart.