What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank
-
0:09 - 0:12Someone who looks like me
walks past you in the street. -
0:14 - 0:16Do you think they're a mother,
-
0:16 - 0:18a refugee
-
0:18 - 0:20or a victim of oppression?
-
0:20 - 0:22Or do you think they're a cardiologist,
-
0:22 - 0:23a barrister
-
0:23 - 0:25or maybe your local politician?
-
0:26 - 0:27Do you look me up and down,
-
0:27 - 0:29wondering how hot I must get
-
0:29 - 0:32or if my husband has forced me
to wear this outfit? -
0:33 - 0:36What if I wore my scarf like this?
-
0:39 - 0:42I can walk down the street
in the exact same outfit -
0:42 - 0:45and what the world expects of me
and the way I'm treated -
0:45 - 0:48depends on the arrangement
of this piece of cloth. -
0:48 - 0:51But this isn't going to be
another monologue about the hijab -
0:51 - 0:55because Lord knows, Muslim women
are so much more than the piece of cloth -
0:55 - 0:58they choose, or not,
to wrap their head in. -
0:59 - 1:02This is about looking beyond your bias.
-
1:04 - 1:06What if I walked past you and later on
-
1:06 - 1:10you'd found out that actually
I was a race car engineer, -
1:10 - 1:13and that I designed my own race car
and I ran my university's race team, -
1:13 - 1:15because it's true.
-
1:15 - 1:20What if I told you that I was actually
trained as a boxer for five years, -
1:20 - 1:21because that's true, too.
-
1:22 - 1:25Would it surprise you?
-
1:25 - 1:26Why?
-
1:28 - 1:30Ladies and gentlemen, ultimately,
-
1:30 - 1:33that surprise and the behaviors
associated with it -
1:33 - 1:35are the product of something
called unconscious bias, -
1:35 - 1:37or implicit prejudice.
-
1:37 - 1:40And that results
in the ridiculously detrimental -
1:40 - 1:42lack of diversity in our workforce,
-
1:42 - 1:44particularly in areas of influence.
-
1:44 - 1:46Hello, Australian Federal Cabinet.
-
1:46 - 1:49(Applause)
-
1:52 - 1:55Let me just set something out
from the outset: -
1:57 - 2:00Unconscious bias is not the same
as conscious discrimination. -
2:00 - 2:03I'm not saying that in all of you,
there's a secret sexist or racist -
2:03 - 2:06or ageist lurking within,
waiting to get out. -
2:06 - 2:08That's not what I'm saying.
-
2:08 - 2:09We all have our biases.
-
2:09 - 2:12They're the filters through which
we see the world around us. -
2:12 - 2:14I'm not accusing anyone,
-
2:14 - 2:16bias is not an accusation.
-
2:16 - 2:18Rather, it's something
that has to be identified, -
2:18 - 2:21acknowledged and mitigated against.
-
2:21 - 2:23Bias can be about race,
-
2:23 - 2:24it can be about gender.
-
2:24 - 2:27It can also be about class,
education, disability. -
2:27 - 2:30The fact is, we all have biases
against what's different, -
2:31 - 2:33what's different to our social norms.
-
2:33 - 2:36The thing is, if we want
to live in a world -
2:37 - 2:40where the circumstances of your birth
-
2:40 - 2:42do not dictate your future
-
2:42 - 2:45and where equal opportunity is ubiquitous,
-
2:45 - 2:48then each and every one of us
has a role to play -
2:48 - 2:51in making sure unconscious bias
does not determine our lives. -
2:53 - 2:57There's this really famous experiment
in the space of unconscious bias -
2:57 - 3:00and that's in the space of gender
in the 1970s and 1980s. -
3:01 - 3:05So orchestras, back in the day,
were made up mostly of dudes, -
3:05 - 3:08up to only five percent were female.
-
3:08 - 3:11And apparently, that was because
men played it differently, -
3:11 - 3:14presumably better, presumably.
-
3:14 - 3:17But in 1952, The Boston Symphony Orchestra
-
3:17 - 3:18started an experiment.
-
3:18 - 3:20They started blind auditions.
-
3:21 - 3:24So rather than face-to-face auditions,
you would have to play behind a screen. -
3:24 - 3:26Now funnily enough,
-
3:26 - 3:28no immediate change was registered
-
3:28 - 3:31until they asked the auditioners
to take their shoes off -
3:31 - 3:32before they entered the room.
-
3:32 - 3:35because the clickity-clack
of the heels -
3:35 - 3:37against the hardwood floors
-
3:37 - 3:39was enough to give the ladies away.
-
3:39 - 3:40Now get this,
-
3:40 - 3:42there results of the audition showed
-
3:42 - 3:45that there was a 50 percent
increased chance -
3:45 - 3:48a woman would progress
past the preliminary stage. -
3:48 - 3:51And it almost tripled
their chances of getting in. -
3:52 - 3:54What does that tell us?
-
3:54 - 3:58Well, unfortunately for the guys,
men actually didn't play differently, -
3:58 - 4:00but there was the perception
that they did. -
4:00 - 4:03And it was that bias
that was determining their outcome. -
4:04 - 4:07So what we're doing here
is identifying and acknowledging -
4:07 - 4:08that a bias exists.
-
4:08 - 4:10And look, we all do it.
-
4:10 - 4:11Let me give you an example.
-
4:12 - 4:15A son and his father
are in a horrible car accident. -
4:16 - 4:18The father dies on impact
-
4:18 - 4:21and the son, who's severely injured,
is rushed to hospital. -
4:21 - 4:24The surgeon looks at the son
when they arrive and is like, -
4:24 - 4:26"I can't operate."
-
4:26 - 4:28Why?
-
4:28 - 4:31"The boy is my son."
-
4:31 - 4:32How can that be?
-
4:32 - 4:33Ladies and gentlemen,
-
4:33 - 4:36the surgeon is his mother.
-
4:36 - 4:38Now hands up - and it's okay -
-
4:38 - 4:41but hands up if you initially assumed
the surgeon was a guy? -
4:43 - 4:46There's evidence that
that unconscious bias exists, -
4:46 - 4:49but we all just
have to acknowledge that it's there -
4:49 - 4:51and then look at ways
that we can move past it -
4:51 - 4:53so that we can look at solutions.
-
4:54 - 4:56Now one of the interesting things
-
4:56 - 5:00around the space of unconscious bias
is the topic of quotas. -
5:00 - 5:02And this something
that's often brought up. -
5:02 - 5:05And of of the criticisms
is this idea of merit. -
5:05 - 5:08Look, I don't want to be picked
because I'm a chick, -
5:08 - 5:10I want to be picked because I have merit,
-
5:10 - 5:12because I'm the best person for the job.
-
5:12 - 5:16It's a sentiment that's pretty common
among female engineers -
5:16 - 5:17that I work with and that I know.
-
5:17 - 5:19And yeah, I get it, I've been there.
-
5:20 - 5:22But, if the merit idea was true,
-
5:22 - 5:27why would identical resumes,
in an experiment done in 2012 by Yale, -
5:27 - 5:31identical resumes sent out
for a lab technician, -
5:31 - 5:34why would Jennifers
be deemed less competent, -
5:35 - 5:37be less likely to be offered the job,
-
5:37 - 5:40and be paid less than Johns.
-
5:41 - 5:43The unconscious bias is there,
-
5:43 - 5:45but we just have to look
at how we can move past it. -
5:45 - 5:47And, you know, it's interesting,
-
5:47 - 5:49there's some research that talks about
-
5:49 - 5:52why this is the case
and it's called the merit paradox. -
5:52 - 5:54And in organizations -
and this is kind of ironic - -
5:54 - 5:58in organizations that talk about merit
being their primary value-driver -
5:58 - 5:59in terms of who they hire,
-
5:59 - 6:03they were more likely to hire dudes
and more likely to pay the guys more -
6:03 - 6:07because apparently merit
is a masculine quality. -
6:07 - 6:08But, hey.
-
6:08 - 6:11So you guys think you've got
a good read on me, -
6:11 - 6:13you kind of think you know what's up.
-
6:14 - 6:16Can you imagine me running one of these?
-
6:16 - 6:18Can you imagine me walking in
and being like, -
6:18 - 6:21"Hey boys, this is what's up.
This is how it's done." -
6:22 - 6:24Well, I'm glad you can.
-
6:31 - 6:35(Applause)
-
6:36 - 6:39Because ladies and gentlemen,
that's my day job. -
6:39 - 6:42And the cool thing about it is
that it's pretty entertaining. -
6:43 - 6:45Actually, in places like Malaysia,
-
6:45 - 6:47Muslim women on rigs
isn't even comment-worthy. -
6:47 - 6:49There are that many of them.
-
6:49 - 6:50But, it is entertaining.
-
6:50 - 6:51I was telling one of the guys,
-
6:51 - 6:54"Hey, mate, look, I really want
to learn how to surf." -
6:54 - 6:56And he's like, "Yassmin, I don't
know how you can surf -
6:56 - 6:58with all that gear you've got on,
-
6:58 - 7:00and I don't know any women-only beaches."
-
7:01 - 7:03And then, the guy came up
with a brilliant idea, -
7:03 - 7:05he was like, "I know, you run
that organization -
7:05 - 7:07Youth Without Borders, right?
-
7:07 - 7:11Why don't you start a clothing line
for Muslim chicks in beaches. -
7:11 - 7:14You can call it
Youth Without Boardshorts." -
7:14 - 7:16(Laughter)
-
7:16 - 7:17And I was like, "Thanks, guys."
-
7:17 - 7:20And I remember another bloke
telling me that -
7:20 - 7:22I should eat all the yogurt I could
-
7:22 - 7:26because that was the only culture
I was going to get around there. -
7:28 - 7:30But, the problem is, it's kind of true
-
7:31 - 7:34because there's an intense
lack of diversity in our workforce, -
7:34 - 7:36particularly in places of influence.
-
7:36 - 7:38Now, in 2010,
-
7:38 - 7:40The Australian National University
did an experiment -
7:40 - 7:43where they sent out
4,000 identical applications -
7:43 - 7:46to entry level jobs, essentially.
-
7:46 - 7:50To get the same number of interviews
as someone with an Anglo-Saxon name, -
7:50 - 7:54if you were Chinese, you had
to send out 68 percent more applications. -
7:54 - 7:57If you were Middle Eastern -
Abdel-Magied - -
7:57 - 7:59you had to send out 64 percent,
-
7:59 - 8:01and if you're Italian,
you're pretty lucky, -
8:01 - 8:04you only have to send out 12 percent more.
-
8:04 - 8:07In places like Silicon Valley,
it's not that much better. -
8:07 - 8:09In Google, they put out
some diversity results -
8:09 - 8:15and 61 percent white, 30 percent Asian
and nine, a bunch of blacks, Hispanics, -
8:15 - 8:16all that kind of thing.
-
8:16 - 8:19And the rest of the tech world
is not that much better -
8:19 - 8:20and they've acknowledged it,
-
8:20 - 8:23but I'm not really sure
what they're doing about it. -
8:23 - 8:25The thing is, it doesn't trickle up.
-
8:25 - 8:26In a study done by Green Park,
-
8:26 - 8:30who are a British senior exec supplier,
-
8:30 - 8:34they said that over half
of the FTSE 100 companies -
8:34 - 8:37don't have a nonwhite leader
at their board level, -
8:38 - 8:39executive or non-executive.
-
8:39 - 8:43And two out of every three
don't have an executive -
8:43 - 8:45who's from a minority.
-
8:46 - 8:48I've told you a bunch of terrible things.
-
8:48 - 8:51You're like, "Oh my god, how bad is that?
What can I do about it?" -
8:51 - 8:54Well, fortunately, we've identified
that there's a problem. -
8:54 - 8:56There's a lack of opportunity,
-
8:56 - 8:58and that's due to unconscious bias.
-
8:58 - 9:01But you might be sitting there thinking,
-
9:01 - 9:03"I ain't brown.
What's that got to do with me?" -
9:03 - 9:05Let me offer you a solution.
-
9:06 - 9:07And as I've said before,
-
9:07 - 9:11we live in a world where
we're looking for an ideal. -
9:11 - 9:13And if we want to create a world
-
9:13 - 9:15where the circumstances
of your birth don't matter, -
9:15 - 9:17we all have to be part of the solution.
-
9:17 - 9:20And interestingly, the author
of the lab resume experiment -
9:21 - 9:23offered some sort of a solution.
-
9:23 - 9:27She said the one thing that brought
the successful women together, -
9:27 - 9:29the one thing that they had in common,
-
9:29 - 9:31was the fact that they had good mentors.
-
9:31 - 9:33So mentoring, we've all
kind of heard that before, -
9:34 - 9:36it's in the vernacular.
-
9:36 - 9:38Here's another challenge for you.
-
9:38 - 9:43I challenge each and every one of you
to mentor someone different. -
9:44 - 9:47Everyone wants to mentor someone
who kind of is familiar, -
9:47 - 9:47who looks like us,
-
9:47 - 9:49we have shared experiences.
-
9:49 - 9:51If I see a Muslim chick
who's got a bit of attitude, -
9:51 - 9:53I'm like, "What's up? We can hang out."
-
9:53 - 9:57You walk into a room and there's someone
who went to the same school, -
9:57 - 9:58you play the same sports,
-
9:58 - 10:02there's a high chance that you're
going to want to help that person out. -
10:02 - 10:06But for the person in the room
who has no shared experiences with you -
10:06 - 10:09it becomes extremely difficult
to find that connection. -
10:09 - 10:12The idea of finding someone
different to mentor, -
10:12 - 10:14someone who doesn't come
from the same background as you, -
10:14 - 10:16whatever that background is,
-
10:16 - 10:18is about opening doors
for people who couldn't even get -
10:18 - 10:20to the damn hallway.
-
10:21 - 10:24Because ladies and gentlemen,
the world is not just. -
10:25 - 10:27People are not born
with equal opportunity. -
10:27 - 10:30I was born in one of the poorest
cities in the world, Khartoum. -
10:30 - 10:32I was born brown, I was born female,
-
10:32 - 10:36and I was born Muslim in a world
that is pretty suspicious of us -
10:36 - 10:38for reasons I can't control.
-
10:39 - 10:42However, I also acknowledge the fact
that I was born with privilege. -
10:42 - 10:44I was born with amazing parents,
-
10:44 - 10:46I was given an education
-
10:46 - 10:48and had the blessing
of migrating to Australia. -
10:49 - 10:52But also, I've been blessed
with amazing mentors -
10:52 - 10:55who've opened doors for me
that I didn't even know were there. -
10:55 - 10:56A mentor who said to me,
-
10:57 - 10:58"Hey, your story's interesting.
-
10:58 - 11:01Let's write something about it
so that I can share it with people." -
11:01 - 11:02A mentor who said,
-
11:02 - 11:06"I know you're all those things that don't
belong on an Australian rig, -
11:06 - 11:07but come on anyway."
-
11:07 - 11:08And here I am, talking to you.
-
11:08 - 11:10And I'm not the only one.
-
11:10 - 11:12There's all sorts of people
in my communities -
11:12 - 11:14that I see have been
helped out by mentors. -
11:14 - 11:16A young Muslim man in Sydney
-
11:16 - 11:19who ended up using his mentor's help
-
11:19 - 11:22to start up a poetry slam in Bankstown
-
11:22 - 11:24and now it's a huge thing.
-
11:24 - 11:27And he's able to change the lives
of so many other young people. -
11:27 - 11:28Or a lady here in Brisbane,
-
11:28 - 11:30an Afghan lady who's a refugee,
-
11:30 - 11:32who could barely speak English
when she came to Australia, -
11:32 - 11:35her mentors helped her become a doctor
-
11:35 - 11:38and she took our Young Queenslander
of the Year Award in 2008. -
11:38 - 11:40She's an inspiration.
-
11:45 - 11:47This is so not smooth.
-
11:49 - 11:51This is me.
-
11:51 - 11:55But I'm also the woman in the rig clothes,
-
11:55 - 11:58and I'm also the woman who was
in the abaya at the beginning. -
11:59 - 12:02Would you have chosen to mentor me
if you had seen me -
12:02 - 12:04in one of those other versions
of who I am? -
12:04 - 12:06Because I'm that same person.
-
12:07 - 12:10We have to look past our unconscious bias,
-
12:10 - 12:13find someone to mentor who's
at the opposite end of your spectrum -
12:13 - 12:15because structural change takes time,
-
12:15 - 12:18and I don't have that level of patience.
-
12:18 - 12:19So if we're going to create a change,
-
12:19 - 12:21if we're going to create a world
-
12:21 - 12:23where we all have
those kinds of opportunities, -
12:24 - 12:26then choose to open doors for people.
-
12:26 - 12:29Because you might think
that diversity has nothing to do with you, -
12:29 - 12:31but we are all part of this system
-
12:31 - 12:33and we can all be part of that solution.
-
12:33 - 12:36And if you don't know
where to find someone different, -
12:36 - 12:38go to the places you wouldn't usually go.
-
12:38 - 12:40If you enroll in
private high school tutoring, -
12:40 - 12:42go to your local state school
-
12:42 - 12:44or maybe just drop into your
local refugee tutoring center. -
12:44 - 12:46Or perhaps you work at an office.
-
12:46 - 12:49Take out that new grad who looks
totally out of place - -
12:49 - 12:51because that was me -
-
12:51 - 12:52and open doors for them,
-
12:52 - 12:55not in a tokenistic way,
because we're not victims, -
12:55 - 12:57but show them the opportunities
-
12:57 - 12:59because opening up your world
-
12:59 - 13:02will make you realize
that you have access to doors -
13:02 - 13:03that they didn't even know existed
-
13:03 - 13:06and you didn't even know they didn't have.
-
13:06 - 13:08Ladies and gentlemen,
-
13:09 - 13:12there is a problem in our community
with lack of opportunity, -
13:12 - 13:14especially due to unconscious bias.
-
13:14 - 13:18But each and every one one of you
has the potential to change that. -
13:18 - 13:21I know you've been given a lot
of challenges today, -
13:21 - 13:25but if you can take this one piece
and think about it a little differently, -
13:25 - 13:27because diversity is magic.
-
13:27 - 13:30And I encourage you to look past
your initial perceptions -
13:30 - 13:32because I bet you,
-
13:33 - 13:34they're probably wrong.
-
13:35 - 13:36Thank you.
-
13:36 - 13:39(Applause)
- Title:
- What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank
- Description:
-
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Unconscious bias is a prevalent factor driving culture, causing us all to make assumptions based on our own upbringings and influences. Such implicit prejudice affects everything, and it's time for us to be more thoughtful, smarter, better. In this funny, honest talk, Yassmin Abdel-Magied uses a surprising way to challenge us all to look beyond our initial perceptions.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 13:50
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
Ivana Korom approved English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
Ivana Korom accepted English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank | ||
TED Translators admin edited English subtitles for What does my headscarf mean to you? | Yassmin Abdel-Magied | TEDxSouthBank |