I have always found that silence carries so much power. The ability to sit and accept the harsh words of another and walk away without saying anything back in anger is self-control. It is power. Perhaps being Malian has a lot to do with my respect for silence, as our culture expects women to be submissive and quiet. Every culture has its own idea of what a woman should and not do, and in many ways, it's similar to the media's portrayal of women in the West. The idea that women are nothing but thigh gaps and as thick as paper. In many African countries, strength is perceived through enduring silently. How well can you hold down your family? How well can you support your family?

Notice two different types of silence: one that doesn’t fight back when someone is fighting, but listens but is patient with her words. The second type is the dangerous type, as she locks down the valuable stories that society deems different.

Although we learn the hard way that there is only so much that we can suppress. Our minds were not built like software. We cannot delete and reprogram the glitches. We cannot turn our minds off and then back on again. This type of silence is a virus. The longer you sit with it, the more destruction you create. Nigerian author Ijeoma Umebinyuo at a TEDtalk at Cooper Union explained how this silence, this refusal to share one’s story because of fear, never benefited anyone. This silence leads to a perpetuation of the single narrative of survival and strength, but no stories of weakness, she explains.

If we plant seeds of silence, we will continue to teach our daughters to remain quiet about their stories. The cycle then continues. Yes, our sons need to be raised differently, but there is no doubt that our daughter need to be raised to speak up. They must know that their feelings matter just as much as the little boy's right next to them. To know that today silence is not an option anymore because we want to end the cycle.

Just like ignorance, silence is bliss. The act of staying silence means that one has accepted their situation and there is nothing else they would prefer. Ijeoma Umebinyuo said it best: staying silent is an act of civil disobedience. Women need to break the silence among each other, because at the end of the day, we are all women. Maya Angelou said, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”