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”Just listen to women,” said Simone Veil during the presentation of the draft of the law on abortion in the National Assembly in 1974. As an evidence that it was then necessary to remind an essentially masculine Chamber of Deputies. It is obvious that even today we must repeat that the word of women throughout the world remains inaudible, so much is their opinion in matters concerning them scorned.

We must respect the voice of women. This is an essential principle of Médecins du Monde, a necessity for those who want to defend their rights and their health.

This photographic project written with Denis Rouvre opposes to the silence the faces and words of dozens of women.

A political, artistic and human gesture that intends to bring to the attention of the many, the singular, upsetting stories, where the violence of the world is expressed.

Unsung Heroes are the silent struggles, nourished by acts of daily survival and resilience. These are lives of commitment in the service of all, a relentless revolt against injustice. Unsung Heroes is an echo chamber where the messages of hope of millions of women are reverberated and where we hear, if we want to listen, the murmur of change, the social transformation that as humanitarian NGO we support and accompany.

Women’s rights in health and many other areas are never achieved. Every day, we observe it, they are challenged, flouted, and every step towards more freedom, every step towards gender equality is a fragile victory.

It is urgent to listen to women, therefore, to hear their cry of resistance. Better than anyone, they tell us the need to finally recognize their rights as universal and fundamental human rights. – Catherine Giboin, Vice President of Médecins du Monde