The command of ordinary women | Marianne Pearl | TEDxBarcelonaWomen
Salma Hayek, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Katy Perry, Ben Affleck, Julia Roberts, and the speaker advocate for women's empowerment through education and storytelling. The central claim is that giving a voice to women and the voiceless reveals inherent human resilience, as exemplified by Fatima (Morocco/France) and Malala Yousafzai. The strongest evidence is the demonstration of women overcoming systemic barriers, from cleaning service to literary authorship, through personal narrative. ## Speakers & Context - **Salma Hayek Pinault**: Chimes for justice. - **Beyoncé Knowles-Carter**: Chimes for health. - **Katy Perry**: Chimes for justice. - **Ben Affleck**: Chimes for health education. - **Julia Roberts**: Chimes for every woman. - **Unnamed Speaker**: Worked on women's issues for 15 years; focus is on finding "genuine human hope" outside of religion after witnessing the aftermath of 9/11. ## Theses & Positions - Empowering girls through education is a fundamental issue necessary for addressing every other global issue. - The most powerful resource a woman possesses is her own education. - The critical need is giving a voice to women and the voiceless, as history often erases women's contributions during conflict. - The confluence of powerful partners (artists, social media, foundations) results in powerful change, but the ordinary person must remain at the heart of the story. - The capability for humanity to effect change originates from individual courage and shared narrative strength, as seen in the ability of children to stop violence. - In the current era, the network and global audience connection is the force that might shift the balance of gender and terror. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Genuine human hope**: Hope that is not religious or spiritual, but derived from observable human resilience. - **Storytelling**: The mechanism used by the organization "It's Time for Change" to center the ordinary person within the narrative of empowerment. - **Voiceless**: People, particularly women, whose stories and experiences are historically ignored or excluded from public discourse. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Storytelling as Advocacy**: Used to give visibility to marginalized voices and connect local struggles to global potential. - **Pattern Identification**: The speaker notes that when teaching about world events like WWII, the narrative often omits women entirely, making it a recurring pattern in conflict. - **Narrative Shift**: Changing the focus from external trauma (like the attacks on the World Trade Center) to internal potential (finding hope within the community). - **Systemic Intervention**: The process shown by Malala's community where children talking about pain and sorrow prompted adults to intervene and end conflict. ## Timeline & Sequence - **After 9/11**: The initial catalyst for the speaker's work—observing mothers who came together to find hope for their children. - **Historical precedent**: The study of WWII, noting the absence of women in the historical record. - **Fatima's journey**: Started in Morocco, received three years of schooling, was married, worked as a cleaning lady in France, and eventually began writing phonetically in her kitchen. - **Malala's shift**: Initially wanted to become a doctor, but after experiencing violence, realized the country needed great politicians, changing her dreams. ## Named Entities - **It's Time for Change**: The organization facilitating the campaign for women's rights. - **Johnson & Johnson Sirleaf**: Example of a woman whose impact spanned from a Moroccan cleaning lady to a president. - **Yoli Maoli**: Individual featured from the suburbs of Bogota, Colombia. - **Ravina**: Young girl featured from Incheon (details not specified beyond location). - **Malala**: Individual from Pakistan, Nobel Peace Prize recipient. ## Numbers & Data - **Three years**: The number of years Fatima attended school in Morocco before being taken out. - **Two decades (20 years)**: The length of time Fatima worked as a cleaning lady while writing. - **Seven million seven hundred million**: The estimated number of girls who will be married before the age of 18 this year. - **12 years old**: The age of Ravina (estimated) and the age of Yoli Maoli when she first took action. ## Examples & Cases - **Fatima (Morocco/France)**: A cleaning lady who, after being abandoned and unable to read much, began writing phonetically on her kitchen table about her invisibility, which was eventually transcribed into French and published. - **Yoli Maoli (Bogota)**: Led neighborhood children to take over a play area where they organized, realized violence started at home, and successfully pressured local authorities to stop fighting for a day so children could vote. - **Malala Yousafzai**: A Pakistani student who, despite facing the Taliban, spoke out, changing her ambition from becoming a doctor to influencing great politics for the country's future. - **Ravina (Incheon)**: A young girl featured who does not know her identity, has never met her fiancé, and whose wishes are unimportant as long as parents agree. - **Literature Inspiration**: The mention of Victoria Gordon as Fatima’s favorite writer, providing early motivation for literacy. ## Tools, Tech & Products - **Click of a button**: Described metaphorically as a modern weapon that allows instant global connection. - **Facebook or Twitter**: Cited as examples of social media platforms involved in the movement. ## References Cited - **Victoria Gordon**: Fatima’s favorite writer during her time in school. - **The World Trade Center attack**: The traumatic event that spurred the initial conversations about finding hope. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Narrative vs. Reality**: The tension between the documented human achievement (Fatima, Malala) and the ongoing systemic problems (child marriage, war). - **Focus**: The speaker pivots the focus from simply "women's rights" (a category) to the *potential* residing within women and the voiceless (an ideal). - **Method**: The use of international profiles (18 countries) to showcase diverse forms of female agency. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The speaker acknowledges that the current global focus on women's issues must not become a limitation, as she stresses the potential for *all* people to change the world. - The speaker admits that the "Gap" between the potential (the women speaking out) and the current reality (the oppression) is where the work must be done. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - To effect change, one must highlight the inherent emotional wisdom and experience of the overlooked individuals. - The effort must be global and interconnected, ensuring that help given in one location (like Incheon) supports people worldwide. - The ultimate goal is to find the specific, localized stories that reveal the broader human capacity to overcome adversity. ## Implications & Consequences - The potential for global connection, facilitated by modern technology, can shift not only gender balance but also the balance of terror and other societal ills. - The current generation of women has achieved far more than previous generations combined. - The ability to speak out, even when starting with simple narratives, can lead to massive political and social change. ## Verbatim Moments - *"The most powerful tool a woman can have is her own education."* - *"It's time for change."* - *"I'm going to look for genuine human hope."* - *"Every conflict women are victims but who are they what is their stories?"* - *"These little babies here have lost their father to the attack on the World Trade Center."* - *"I wrote phonetically... that nobody sees nobody notices she doesn't exist isn't interchange the ball."* - *"My dreams have changed... I realized that the country needs great politicians so my dreams have changed."* - *"If you see human rights or women's rights you need a narrative to marry an annual door to practice female genital mutilation or or to impose anything on anyone."* - *"The children's... are taking on the finishing terminating a war that has been going on for 40 years."* - *"There's a big gap in the two stories that I'm going to show you and in this gap is where we matter is where we can do something right."* - *"I don't know who I am I don't know how I feel I don't know why I was born."* - *"God gave me intelligence and faith I am like a book all women are like book which title is their husbands take the time to open the book."*