It’s about time! Lessons from TED Women 2016

  • Many TED Women talks this year focused on the power of women to make changes and to be involved politically and otherwise to create a word where women exercise their full influence.
  • Sandy Toksvig tells the story of the creation of the Women’s Equality Party in England, a party with a simple agenda of “changing how politics is done.” While nobody had been elected (prior to the talk), it introduced some interesting discussions in a country where, like the US, women are underrepresented within their elected political representatives:  View Ted Talk
  • Halla Tómasdóttir explains her campaign to become to second women president in Iceland, and how she almost succeed against all odds by working hard, listening to her “own authentic voice and intuition.” She explained how she was able to “surround yourself with aligned people but avoid the sameness,” and “invest time and attention to people who energize you, starting with yourself.” She concluded with a powerful message, “I am so glad I had the courage to run, to risk failure.” View Ted Talk
  • Ashley Judd, a movie star and activist started her talk about the amount of misogyny and violent threats she received on twitter, and how the Internet has allowed for so much hate speech. Her solutions are focused on better social media literacy, ending sexism in tech, plus a law enforcement that cares and changes in legislation.
  • Erica Gregory talked about nuclear proliferation and how to create “generation possible” to really push for denuclearization started with this statement, “10 nuclear weapons can lead to the end of life in this planet.” There are 15,000 nuclear weapons today in the world! Her approach to a critical yet little known issue is fascinating, and she is the director of N Square, a multimillion dollar initiative to stimulate innovation around nuclear disarmament.
  • Laura Vanderkam takes on the myth of not having enough time, and challenge us to think of “time as a choice.” She explains how time is highly elastic and that “we have the power to fill our lives with the things we deserve.”
  • Finally there is one talk that I still can’t forget, nor have found a good way to decide how to think about it. Telling you more would be a spoiler so please check the Thordis Elva and Tom Stranger story when it comes up on Ted.com

To conclude, I would encourage you to watch these talks when they become available and you are looking for inspiration and hope. There are some truly amazing women (and men) out there!

Note: If you missed it, you can read the Part I of this article on Violence, Discrimination and Hope here