Translator: Florencia Bracamonte
Reviewer: Peter van de Ven Good afternoon. So I'm not sure if I can detect
any bristling in the audience with my somewhat controversial title, given that we sit here
in a diversity-themed event. What I will say is
just please bear with me, particularly because I'm going
to be starting on such a positive note. There has never been
a better time to be a woman. Never have women had
as many opportunities as they do now. To run countries, companies, to control their personal,
financial and sex lives. Girls outperform boys at school,
more go to university. Women in their 20s and early 30s
are frequently outearning men. We should feel optimistic. And yet we're not. In fact, sometimes it seems
all womanhood is depressed. Faced by an avalanche of information regarding the ongoing disparity
and fortunes between women and men; by a narrative of disadvantage
and societal patriarchy that runs through Me Too,
the gender pay gap, the glass ceiling, and more. But how crystal cut are these assumptions? And what are the possible implications
for how women respond to both opportunities
and challenges in their lives? So who am I? A woman, yes, and a mother
to three children under five. I'm a successful entrepreneur enjoying a career where I get to deal
with some of the biggest thinkers and doers in the world today, in business, in politics,
in media, academia. I'm privileged, no question. My race, background and opportunities
mark me as one of the privileged elite. What do I know about disadvantage? And what's my agenda here? Well, as a woman, I'm a minority in my field
of technology and entrepreneurship. Hard industries to be a woman in - or so the narrative
would have you believe. No. Not so. I don't believe that this
has been a disadvantage, only the most incredible opportunity. One that has enabled me
to stand out and get recognition. I describe myself as an entrepreneur,
not a female entrepreneur, because I subscribe to a brand of feminism that told me I could be and do
anything the boys could. And in fact, I've come to resent
the move towards positive discrimination, that might imply
that any of my achievements are due to anything other than merit. If I look back at all my good fortune, I can honestly say that to a large extent, it's been down to the love and support
and belief of the men in my life. My father, my husband, the bosses,
business partners, peers and mentors enabled my journey. But of course the biggest advantage
I posses is self-confidence and belief. And it's this that I want
to look at in more detail today. Why is it seemingly so much harder
to find in women than in men? And how might modern feminism
be further undermining it? The talk of the gender pay gap
is everywhere and actually incorrectly assumed
by 70% of the population to refer to women being
paid less for the same work. Not true. Illegal, actually. And also nonsensical, as surely businesses would prefer
to pay a cheaper workforce. The median disparity of 18.4%
can to a large extent be explained by the choice of 42% of women
to work part-time. The figure drops to 9.1%
when you compare full-time to full-time, with this figure
understandable to a degree by the fact that women are
choosing different profession types. Women in their 20s and early 30s,
as we've heard, are frequently outearning men. The pay gap is negligible; it fluctuates;
some years women outearn men. And part-time women
actually outearn part-time men. So in effect, the headline statistic ignores many of the complicated
variable factors beneath it. And in particular a potential positive:
that of female choice. The glass ceiling - it's been shattered time and time again by female heads of state
and business leaders, demonstrating that for those women
that do aspire to that sort of career, it's absolutely possible. But these are of course hard -
masochistic almost - lives, filled with imbalance, politics,
stress, long hours. We can hardly even whisper
any suspicion we may have that this is a lifestyle
that fewer women and mothers aspire to. And arguably, only
the tiniest percentage of men. Right now, I'm currently observing a large number of some
of my highest-flying friends quietly leaning out of aspirations
of making partner, away from 60-hour work weeks,
with some choosing to quit altogether so as not to enjoy these early years
of family life, myself included. Two years ago, I made the decision to step back
from the front seat of my business to spend more time with my three children. And it's a decision I will never regret. Having lost two friends recently,
very early in their lives, it really brought home to me the fact
that I will never get these years back. That's too important. But of course, women like me are
partly responsible for the gender pay gap, and many of us may never go
knocking on that glass ceiling because it's simply not
a lifestyle that we desire. These is just two of the big
feminist issues of our time, with others including Me Too,
online trolling, body shaming and objectification, and domestic violence - all issues you'd be forgiven
for thinking were exclusively female. Now, there's been a lot
of very well-intentioned campaigning behind these issues and some very positive by-products, such as the light being shone
on some of the more insidious ways in which some men can
mistreat and underestimate women, and of course, on abuses of power. But my fear is that the broad-spectrum,
expanding definition of prejudice and harassment is now something that almost any woman
can associate with. And we simply can't cry misogyny every time we're called out
or held back in some way. I fear for an ideology and a rhetoric
that is starting to set women against men, that focuses on what we
can't do and haven't got rather than what we can and have. My intention in seeking to shine light
on some of the other sides of these issues is not to deny the existence
of discrimination that may exist in some of them, but to question
the cumulative net effect - that of female victimhood. Feminism, like other forms
of identity politics, has become obsessed
with female victimhood. Whereas it once used to be about the portrayal of women
as mature, equal partners in society, it now seems more to be about girl power. And yet it disempowers. It seems that we're weak
and defenseless, like children. Psychologists have long
emphasized the power of beliefs to be born out in reality, and how stereotypes
contribute to social inequality. Confidence is, of course,
self-fulfilling - something you will all have experienced. You look good; you feel good. You're told someone likes you;
you're more relaxed around them. And conversely, if you suspect
someone doesn't like you, then you act in a more defensive,
less confident way around them. Victims believe they are impotent and that they have no sense of control
over the way that events unfold. Assuming that something has happened
to you due to prejudice, whether right or wrong,
it's rarely the most productive response. It prevents introspection, self-analysis, and more importantly,
particularly if it was due to prejudice, evaluation of new methods and techniques
for circumventing your status quo. And what about men? Well, there's actually competition here
for competitive victimhood if we want to play that game. Men have their own unique set
of disadvantages that are rarely up for public discussion, including higher rates
of school dropout; of mental health; vastly higher suicide rates; vastly higher workplace deaths;
war deaths; deaths in crime; higher rates of homelessness; criminal court bias
and sentencing disparity, where men receive nearly 60% longer
sentences than women for the same crime; near equal domestic abuse rates; paternity fraud; child custody; and, of course, reduced life expectancy. Even now, in this age
of aspirational equality, the cry will go out:
"Women and children first!" Take for example
the awful news story of Boko Haram and the terrorists
that abducted the girls. Did you know that prior to this happening, those same terrorists
had been abducting thousands of boys and murdering hundreds
of boys and young men? Burned alive in their schools,
shot in the streets. A situation that received
no international attention until the terrorists turned
their attention to the girls. And then, First Ladies, media,
celebrities, politicians up in arms. But why only then? Why are boys' lives seemingly valued
so much less than girls'? Whoever might have it worse, I take issue with the debating ground
based on competitive victimhood. It's fruitless; it's destructive. Women are being encouraged
to fear and distrust men, and men are more nervous and guarded
in their interactions around women. And worse, resentful
of a label of "patriarchy," one that the vast majority
don't recognize, and who have their own challenges to face. Already, we're seeing some rather
worrying by-products to all of this, such as five times more men
now less inclined to mentor women in the wake of Me Too. 75% of young girls yet to experience
any form of discrimination talk about anxiety about it
affecting their lives in some way. And working class girls
have been deprived of jobs that they love, such as Page 3 Girls and Grid Girls,
because other women disapprove of them. What happened to "my body, my choice"? It's OK for Kim Kardashian,
but not for a Page 3 Girl. And men have had their careers
and reputations ruined overnight by Me Too. Some possibly justly,
but without any due process, no innocence until proven guilty. And where might all this lead? Quotas leading to doubts in ability? Was my recent MBE because of
positive discrimination? Am I on this stage because of it? Should we ban flirting on campus
and in the workplace? - incidentally two of the places where
you're most likely to meet a life partner. My company started recruiting fewer women
into entry-level, lower-payed work so as to even out their gender pay gaps. And if 50/50 is the ultimate aim, then shouldn't we be arguing
for quotas for more men in the fields of nursing,
teaching, veterinary science? More women on the front line,
in construction, in refuse collection? And perhaps the three most
important questions of all: Does power exist solely in the boardroom and at the highest levels
of politics and business? Or is there the possibility
that it exists in choice? And arguably, don't women
have more of that? Does equality of opportunity
have to equal equality of outcome? And aren't the assumptions that women need more support,
protection, quotas in the workplace arguably the most patriarchal
assumptions of all? Now, don't get me wrong. I don't believe that the women's
movement has had its day or that there's no longer
a case for feminism. But I do believe we need to reverse
some of these negative trends. So here are three positive solutions, as I see it. One: Where girls are concerned, best way that we beat prejudice is to build up confidence and to show it
and demonstrate it to be wrong. We teach girls strength and resilience
to call out prejudice in the moment. We celebrate successful women, hold them up there as role models
for both girls and boys, where arguably the impact may be greater. And we don't do so always complaining
about the minority representation. And we celebrate the unique power
that women have today in schools, homes, marriages,
families, and yes, business and politics, wielding immense influence
over the hearts and minds of the future. Two: We turn our attention
to true gender equality, stop painting all men
with the broad brush of oppressor and recognize that yes,
there are bad, abusive men in this world, but there are also bad, fallible women. Sadly, we are all equally capable
of inflicting misery on each other. And in a world where women are able to participate
more equally in the public sphere, we need to better level the private
for men in our homes and families. And it's here that we
should refocus the debate. And three: We give more oxygen to the truly deep,
profound inequalities that still exist in this world, in developing countries, for women who can't get
the same education, get forced into arranged marriages,
can't have access to birth control. Or here, socioeconomic
and educational disadvantage. And the fact that hiring typically still
happens along "people like me" lines, a much bigger threat
to business diversity than gender. And above all, we listen
to each other with open minds. Play the ideological ball
and not the player. Be kind. So it's often said that you
can't be what you can't see. No. Not so. Some of the most powerful
figures in history have been something
that didn't exist. Rosa Parks refused
to give up her bus seat, so kick-starting
the course of civil rights. Steven Hawking changed
the world of science with his brain, irrespective of his bodily weakness. Tommie Smith and John Carlos silently raised their fists
on the podium of the '68 Olympics, so drawing attention to black rights. And Malala stood up
publicly to her oppressors, and that earned her a platform
from which she could educate the world. They never believed they couldn't. They never cried victim. They were strong, resilient, defiant. Just as a terrorist thrives on terror
and the bully on distress, defiance, ridicule, even pity is a much stronger antidote
to bad behavior than wounded insecurity. We need to stop thinking
of gender as an identity. We have so much more in common with those with whom we share
values and outlook than chromosomes. Our gender, our race,
our sexuality, our disability - they are all just part of the rich
tapestry of who we are as individuals, and none of these things outside
of our control should affect our outlook. There are still a huge number
of inequalities in this world, but our individual right to self-belief
is a simple and universal possibility, and it is this that we need
to instill in our young. Because it's actually not my daughter
I'm worried about in this new-world view; it's my sons. But that'll be OK. Because we'll be bringing them up
to recognize their individual potential, to not indulge in victimhood, and to see that the power they have
being born where and when they have is one of choice. They'll make all their own, and they'll deeply respect
those of other people. Thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause)
“Starting”?
good found
Nice. This drumbeat needs to continue to get stronger.