Trust Women Conference: One Delegate's Reflections LONDON - The first Trust Women conference, hosted by ThomsonReuters Foundation and the International Herald Tribune, in London this week boasted an impressive line up of speakers - from Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, to Christy Turlington Burns of Every Mother Counts, from Mabel van Oranje of The Elders to Queen Noor of Jordan, to name a few. The conference confronted difficult subjects like modern-day slavery, the role of women in the Arab Spring, child marriage, corruption and development. And the opening speech was delivered by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by video. Having grown up with her widowed mother, she said, when she was small she thought women ruled the world. The Burmese politician was the second woman in history to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1991. She said she couldn't empathize more with the title of the conference "Trust Women." She said, "We women have to learn to trust ourselves much more than society has perhaps allowed us to do." Sessions on how to change laws, enforce existing laws and change mind-sets to empower women led inevitably to discussion of the role women play in passing their predicament on to future generations. Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist featured in my film "Lili's Journey," said, "Men are children of women, they are raised by women, and often these notions of patriarchy are carried from generation to generation even more fiercely by the women themselves." Dr. Ebadi, also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has set out with volunteers to collect one million signatures in Iran to address the gender discrimination laws in the country's Constitution. The aim is not to simply gather these million signatures, but to engage the entire society so that they themselves can be the change from within. We tell them useful facts, unbeknownst to many like: Did you know that in an accident, the law dictates that compensation for your male counterpart will be twice the amount of yours? Nazir Afzal, Britain's chief crown prosecutor, told the conference that he was on a drive to bring those guilty of "the organized crime that is honor killing" to justice. Most shockingly, he explained to the audience that a missing underage girl in Britain who is often forced into marriage and sent back to her parents' native country is not protected by the laws of the Western country in which she is born. He pointed out, "Nobody looks for them when they go missing. When your own family is at the origin of the harm that is being done to you, there is no one else to ring the alarm bell for them. Home-grown grass-roots action and leadership is needed to change some of these vast issues in different cultures, which are intrinsically linked to strong traditions. And whilst the concept of the "white savior complex" crossed a few minds at the conference, it was very obvious that the activists represented today need support but are deemed best placed to know how far to stretch their own communities, challenging their own specific circumstances and heritage. They are not expecting anybody else to do it for them. Ms. van Oranje, senior adviser to the group known as The Elders, said, for instance, that "in the African countries where we are active, we are often told to keep our nose out, but the word of Desmond Tutu, the word of Kofi Annan is highly respected to them, it is the voice that comes from within" Africa. The panel on the role of women and the Arab Spring brought about some of these perspectives. When journalist Katrin Bennhold of the International Herald Tribune asked the panel of women from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt whether they perceive Western women to be charging around with notions of what is best for them, the answer was rather candid. "We are not here to import Western laws" said Alaa Murabit, the founder of Voice of Libyan Women. Then she added, "We need a more accurate interpretation of the Shariah law to establish our new constitution." The comment upset an Iranian delegate who begged for clarification on what exactly it meant for women to be subjected to Shariah. What is the provision for women in a correct interpretation of Shariah law when it comes to gender equality, access to your children and to financial independence? The outburst threw a lot of questions into the air. They remained unanswered. Personally, since producing my film, "Lili's Journey," on women's empowerment, I am compelled by the topic of public-private partnerships to achieve some of the important development goals broached during the conference. I caught up with Alison Smale, executive editor of the IHT, and asked her about the role of businesses in this realm of women's rights and law. "I think it's easy to carp about it, but at the same time there are more and more corporations who are taking on the issue," she said. I don't think it's just window dressing. You have to have a determined or a convinced person within a corporation, someone capable of steering this new dialogue who will in turn convince others.