An 11th-century
monastery in Provence,
St. Paul de Mausole,
also houses a historic
psychiatric facility;
Vincent van Gogh
painted while confined
there. Art therapist
Anik Bottichio heads
the art studio at St.
Paul for troubled and
traumatized women—
“to help them become
visible,” she says, “first
to themselves and
then to the outside.”
FRANCE
HEALER
have been leaders before, and they have not been leaders by intimidating
men but by engaging them and persuading them to open space.” She
continued, “It’s in the approach. So we need to look at our own traditions
and do it our own way.”
Banda’s life has shaped her struggle for women’s rights, first in the com-
munity development world and later in politics. Seeing her best friend,
Chrissie Zamaere, forced to abandon her education after primary school
because her parents couldn’t afford the six-dollar school fee pushed Banda
to start the Joyce Banda Foundation, which among other things has edu-
cated 6,500 girls in tuition-free schools. Surviving a decade-long abusive
marriage inspired Banda to establish the National Association of Business
Women, a group that lent start-up cash to small-scale traders, because,
she said, financial independence gives women options.
In 2006, as minister of gender, Banda championed a domestic violence
law, and under her presidency, Malawi in 2013 enacted its Gender Equality
64 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC