Vad gör en ambassadör? Den allmänna bilden är nog att en ambassadör träffar andra ambassadörer i formella och informella samtal, där middagar, mottagningar och olika event avlöser varandra i en lång rad. Ett slit att ständigt hålla i cocktail-glaset och att underhålla gäster och bekanta i en slags konstgjord och lång rad av tillställningar med artighet och vänliga fraser som viktigaste uttryck. Tillåt mig att nyansera bilden.

Ett event för kvinnliga konstnärer
I Uganda, som jag och sambon besökte nyligen, har Danmark, liksom många andra länder, en ambassad och ett residens för ambassadören. Residensen används för olika event, eftersom de oftast har plats för många gäster under tillfälliga tak osv. Danmark ordnade ett kulturevent på sitt residens i början av mars som knöt an till kvinnodagen. Ett tjugotal kvinnliga, ugandiska, konstnärer ställde ut sina tavlor och konstverk och de inbjudna gästerna fick möjlighet att samtala direkt med kvinnorna.

Talet som hölls på vers
En höjdpunkt under kvällen var när ambassadören, Signe Winding Albjerg, höll ett inspirerande tal på vers, som självklart knöt an till 8 mars och kvinnodagen. Det var så fint att jag återger talet i sin helhet här. En röst för kvinnor:

” A voice for women

Today,
as we celebrate culture,
we lift our voices high.
We honour what makes us different,
and we question what makes us sigh.

We highlight the good,
and challenge the pain,
because culture can heal—
but it can also chain.

See, every culture’s got stories,
some lift up us above,
and some hold us down below
from the power, the people, the love.

Too loud,
too skinny,
too fast,
too bold—
too much to handle,
or so we’re told.

Culture tells us we are too much,
But also that we are never enough.

Still—
culture can be a force of good.
A pulse of possibility,
laced with the rhythm of Ubuntu,
the beat of belonging,
the drum of dignity.
Festivals bursting with colour,
traditions that hold power.

So how do we keep tradition alive,
and still let equality thrive?
How do we preserve the roots,
but prune the weeds
that choke women’s dreams
and limit their deeds?

How do we balance preservation
with transformation?
How do we walk the line
between heritage and liberation?

We navigate landscapes
where women’s chances are gated,
where their labour sustains
yet remains underrated.

Still—
they rise.

Because women—
are culture bearers,
story sharers,
memory keepers.
They pass down language,
faith, and food,
songs that soothe,
art that renews.

They carry traditions
that sometimes cage them,
customs that praise them—
then erase them.

Patriarchy whispers:
“Stay small. Stay soft.
Your voice—better kept off.”

Through music and tales,
gender roles are drawn:
the woman—private,
the man—strong.
She stays home,
he roams far.
He’s the leader,
she’s the star—
in the shadows.

And so violence hides in silence,
called “private,” not pain,
as women are told to endure,
again and again.

But today—
we break that pattern.
We say: enough!
Women can be loud,
strong,
and tough.

We question the rules,
we challenge the lies.
We say: let women rise!
Let men humanize.

Because gender norms—
they trap us both.
Teach men to be stone,
teach women to cope.

But we’re rewriting the script,
line by line,
with art,
with rhythm,
with rhyme.

Because across the world,
from village to city,
from drumbeat to committee,
gender roles shape destinies
and hold back possibilities

We challenge
toxic masculinity—
the silence it breeds,
the pain it hides,
the hearts it bleeds.

We challenge the triple burden—
the woman’s back bent with the weight
of home, work, and fate.

We challenge the idea that
men can’t cry,
that strength can’t sigh,
that tenderness is treason.

And we applaud—
yes, we applaud
the men who rise to rewrite the story.
The male allies
who sing equality into being,
who paint justice on the walls,
who preach compassion from the pulpit,
who rap respect into rhythm.

Because gender equality—
they say it’s 134 years away,
But we’re cutting that time short—
starting today.

One poem,
one painting,
one heart,
one song—
changing the story,
righting the wrong.

Reimagining a world
where it’s not us against them,
not a zero-sum game,
but collective gain.

Where all can rise,
regardless of gender,
identity,
or name.

This, my friends,
is the future we are creating—
under this campaign,
under this sky,
under this shared humanity.

Working hand in hand,
for gender equality strong—
this is our culture,
our rhythm,
our song.

Thank you ”