Melania Trump Speaks At International Women of Courage Ceremony

First Lady Melania Trump spoke at the International Women of Courage award ceremony on Wednesday, speaking on behalf of women who battle gender discrimination around the world.

Melania Trump’s International Women of Courage Ceremony Speech

“Wherever women are diminished, the entire world is diminished with them,” Melania Trump said at the ceremony held at the State Department. The event honored 13 women who have faced acid-wielding attackers, rapists and the biased courts that were supposed to protect them.

“Together, we must declare that the era of allowing the brutality against women and children is over,” Mrs. Trump said, softly but firmly.

Speaking from a teleprompter, the First Lady prodded her audience to put themselves in the shoes of these women — victims of domestic abuse, violence or gender bias.

“Ask yourself if you would have the fortitude of spirit, the courage of your convictions, and the enormous inner strength required to stand up and fight against such overwhelming odds,” Melania Trump said, gesturing to the women, from Yemen to Sri Lanka, standing behind her.

The 13 honorees of the ceremony came from Bangladesh, Botswana, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, Vietnam and Yemen.

Trump praised the honorees as “true heroes,” saying that they’ve “fought on the frontlines against injustice.”

The ceremony is held annually at the State Department to honor women who have displayed extraordinary courage, strength, and leadership in improving others’ lives.

More than 100 women from over 60 counties have received the honors since 2007.

Trump emphatically said, “we are all ultimately members of one race. The human race.”

Watch the empowering speech below.