The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir

by Samantha Power

In 2014, thanks to rotations among the ten nonpermanent members of the Council, I had the chance to serve with five other women, the ambassadors representing Argentina, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria, and Jordan. We were the largest female contingent on the Security Council in the seven-decade history of the UN. Although we still accounted for less than half the ambassadors on the Council, and although our number would dwindle back to one female representative in 2016, the excitement around the UN was palpable. Young women would pull me aside in the restroom to say how proud they were to see the six of us duking it out in the traditionally male chamber. Our deliberations changed in subtle ways; I noticed that the female ambassadors tended to refer back to their colleagues’ comments more frequently than the men did. Having six women on the Council didn’t deter male ambassadors from occasionally taking outlandish positions, such as questioning well-documented cases of sexual violence. Once, when we were discussing what to do about allegations that Sudanese Army soldiers in Darfur had perpetrated mass rape, one of my African colleagues dismissed the detailed reports.* “Why would the soldiers have done this when they have their wives to come home to? Where is the proof?” he asked, insisting, “If these rapes really happened, the women would have spoken openly about it—even if the security forces were present.” I interjected. “Oh, are you speaking from your vast personal experie...