Why women should tell the stories of humanity
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0:01 - 0:03Why do we think
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0:03 - 0:08that stories by men are deemed
to be of universal importance, -
0:08 - 0:13and stories by women are thought
to be merely about women? -
0:15 - 0:18My grandmother left school
when she was 12. -
0:18 - 0:19She had 14 children.
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0:20 - 0:22My mother left school when she was 15.
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0:22 - 0:24She was a secretary.
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0:24 - 0:27I graduated from university
to become a theater director, -
0:27 - 0:32and that progress is entirely to do
with the fact that people I'll never meet -
0:32 - 0:34fought for women to have rights,
-
0:34 - 0:37get the vote, get education,
have progress. -
0:37 - 0:41And I'm determined to do the same,
and obviously you are, too. -
0:41 - 0:42Why not?
-
0:42 - 0:43(Applause)
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0:43 - 0:47So I started a festival called WOW,
Women of the World, seven years ago, -
0:47 - 0:50and it's now in 20 countries
across five continents. -
0:50 - 0:54And one of those countries
is Somaliland in Africa. -
0:54 - 0:56So I traveled there last year,
-
0:56 - 1:01and part of the joy I had in going there
was going to these caves. -
1:03 - 1:05The Laas Geel caves.
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1:05 - 1:10Now, these caves contain some
of the oldest cave paintings in the world. -
1:11 - 1:16These paintings are thought to be
round about 9,000 to 11,000 years old. -
1:17 - 1:19Art:
-
1:19 - 1:22what humanity has done
ever since it evolved. -
1:22 - 1:24It's how we speak about ourselves,
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1:24 - 1:26how we understand our identity,
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1:26 - 1:28how we look at our surroundings,
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1:28 - 1:31who we find out about each other
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1:31 - 1:34because of the meaning of our lives.
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1:34 - 1:35That's what art is for.
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1:36 - 1:38So look at this little picture.
-
1:38 - 1:40I think it's a little girl.
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1:40 - 1:43I thought it was a bit like me
when I was a little girl. -
1:43 - 1:47And I thought, well, who painted
this joyful, youthful figure? -
1:47 - 1:49And I asked the curator of the caves.
-
1:50 - 1:53I said, "Tell me about the men
and women who painted these." -
1:53 - 1:57And he looked at me
absolutely askance, and he said, -
1:57 - 1:59"Women didn't paint these pictures."
-
1:59 - 2:02And I said, "Well,
it was 11,000 years ago." -
2:02 - 2:03I said, "How do you know?"
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2:03 - 2:06(Laughter)
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2:06 - 2:10And he said, "Women don't do these things.
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2:10 - 2:13Men made these marks. Women don't."
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2:15 - 2:18Now, I wasn't really surprised,
-
2:18 - 2:22because that's an attitude
that I've seen continuously -
2:22 - 2:25all my life as a theater maker.
-
2:27 - 2:32We are told that divine knowledge
comes down through the masculine, -
2:32 - 2:37whether it be to the imam,
the priest, the rabbi, the holy man. -
2:37 - 2:43Similarly, we're told that creative genius
resides in the masculine, -
2:43 - 2:44that it is the masculine
-
2:45 - 2:48that will be able to tell us
about who we really are, -
2:48 - 2:51that the masculine will tell
the universal story -
2:51 - 2:53on behalf of all of us,
-
2:53 - 2:57whereas women artists will really
just talk about women's experiences, -
2:57 - 3:01women's issues
only really relevant to women -
3:01 - 3:04and of passing interest to men --
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3:04 - 3:06and really only some men.
-
3:06 - 3:08And it's that conviction,
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3:08 - 3:10that that we are taught,
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3:10 - 3:13that I think colors so much
of whether we're prepared to believe -
3:13 - 3:16that women's stories really matter.
-
3:16 - 3:20And unless we're prepared to believe
that women's stories really matter, -
3:20 - 3:23then women's rights don't really matter,
-
3:23 - 3:25and then change can't really come.
-
3:27 - 3:32I want to tell you
about two examples of stories -
3:32 - 3:35that are thought to be
of universal importance: -
3:35 - 3:37"E.T." and "Hamlet."
-
3:37 - 3:40(Laughter)
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3:40 - 3:44So I took my two children
when they were little -- -
3:44 - 3:47Caroline was eight and Robby was five --
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3:47 - 3:49to see "E.T."
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3:49 - 3:52And it's a fantastic story
of this little alien -
3:52 - 3:54who ends up in an American family
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3:54 - 3:57with a mum, two brothers and a sister,
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3:57 - 3:59but he wants to go home.
-
4:00 - 4:02Not only that, but some
really bad scientists -
4:02 - 4:05want to do some experiments on him,
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4:05 - 4:06and they're looking for him.
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4:07 - 4:09So the children have a plot.
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4:09 - 4:12They decide they're going to take him
back to his spaceship -
4:12 - 4:13as soon as they can,
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4:13 - 4:15and they plop him in a bicycle basket,
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4:15 - 4:16and off they ride.
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4:16 - 4:20But unfortunately, the baddies
have found out, and they're catching up -
4:20 - 4:23and they've got sirens
and they've got their guns, -
4:23 - 4:25they've got the loud-hailers,
it's terribly frightening, -
4:25 - 4:27and they're closing up on the children,
-
4:27 - 4:29and the children are never
going to make it. -
4:29 - 4:34And then all of a sudden, magically,
the bikes fly up in the air, -
4:34 - 4:35over the clouds,
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4:35 - 4:36over the moon,
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4:36 - 4:39and they're going to save "E.T."
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4:39 - 4:42So I turn to see my children's faces,
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4:42 - 4:46and Robby is enraptured,
he's there with them, he's saving E.T., -
4:46 - 4:48he's a happy boy.
-
4:48 - 4:51And I turn to Caroline,
and she's crying her eyes out. -
4:52 - 4:53And I said, "What's the matter?"
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4:53 - 4:59And she said, "Why can't I save E.T.?
Why can't I come?" -
4:59 - 5:02And then all of a sudden I realized:
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5:02 - 5:03they weren't children;
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5:04 - 5:05they were boys --
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5:06 - 5:08all boys.
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5:08 - 5:11And Caroline, who had invested
so much in E.T., -
5:11 - 5:13well, she wasn't invited to save him,
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5:13 - 5:16and she felt humiliated and spurned.
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5:16 - 5:18So I wrote to Steven Spielberg --
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5:18 - 5:24(Laughter) (Applause)
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5:24 - 5:27and I said, "I don't know
if you understand -
5:27 - 5:29the psychological importance
of what's happened, -
5:29 - 5:32and are you prepared to pay
for the therapy bills?" -
5:32 - 5:33(Laughter)
-
5:33 - 5:36Twenty years later, I haven't
had a word back from him, -
5:36 - 5:38but I'm still hopeful.
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5:38 - 5:39(Laughter)
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5:39 - 5:41But I thought it was interesting,
-
5:41 - 5:44because if you read reviews
of what he intended with E.T., -
5:44 - 5:46he says very specifically,
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5:46 - 5:48"I wanted the world to understand
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5:48 - 5:51that we should love
and embrace difference." -
5:52 - 5:56But somehow he didn't include
the idea of girls' difference -
5:56 - 5:58in this thinking.
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5:58 - 6:02He thought he was writing a story
about all humanity. -
6:02 - 6:04Caroline thought he was marginalizing
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6:04 - 6:06half of humanity.
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6:06 - 6:09He thought he was writing a story
about human goodness; -
6:09 - 6:13she thought he was writing
a lad's heroic adventure. -
6:14 - 6:16And this is common.
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6:17 - 6:22Men feel they have been given the mantle
for universal communication, -
6:22 - 6:24but of course, how could they be?
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6:24 - 6:28They are writing from male experience
through male's eyes. -
6:30 - 6:32We have to have a look at this ourselves.
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6:32 - 6:36We have to be prepared to go back
through all our books and our films, -
6:36 - 6:37all our favorite things,
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6:37 - 6:40and say, "Actually, this is written
by a male artist -- -
6:40 - 6:42not an artist.
-
6:42 - 6:45We have to see
that so many of these stories -
6:45 - 6:47are written through a male perspective.
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6:47 - 6:49Which is fine,
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6:49 - 6:52but then females need to have
50 percent of the rights -
6:52 - 6:55for the stage, the film, the novel,
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6:55 - 6:57the place of creativity.
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6:58 - 6:59Let me talk about "Hamlet."
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6:59 - 7:01To be or not to be.
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7:01 - 7:02That is the question.
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7:03 - 7:04But it's not my question.
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7:05 - 7:09My question is: Why was I taught
as a young woman -
7:09 - 7:13that this was the quintessential
example of human dilemma -
7:13 - 7:15and human experience?
-
7:15 - 7:16It's a marvelous story,
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7:16 - 7:21but actually, it's about a young man
fearful that he won't be able to make it -
7:21 - 7:24as a powerful figure in a male world
-
7:24 - 7:27unless he takes revenge
for his father's murder. -
7:28 - 7:32He talks a great deal to us
about suicide being an option, -
7:32 - 7:37but the reality is that the person
who actually commits suicide, Ophelia, -
7:37 - 7:39after she's been humiliated
and abused by him, -
7:39 - 7:43never gets a chance to talk
to the audience about her feelings. -
7:43 - 7:46And then when he's finished with Ophelia,
he turns on his mum, -
7:46 - 7:49because basically she has the audacity
to fall in love with his uncle -
7:49 - 7:50and enjoy sex.
-
7:50 - 7:52(Laughter)
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7:52 - 7:54It is a great story,
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7:54 - 7:59but it is a story about male conflict,
male dilemma, male struggle. -
8:00 - 8:04But I was told this was the story
of human beings, -
8:04 - 8:07despite the fact that it only
had two women in it. -
8:07 - 8:10And unless I reeducate myself,
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8:10 - 8:12I am always going to think
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8:12 - 8:15that women's stories
matter less than men's. -
8:16 - 8:18A woman could have written "Hamlet,"
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8:18 - 8:20but she would have written it differently,
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8:20 - 8:23and it wouldn't have had
global recognition. -
8:23 - 8:25As the writer Margaret Atwood says,
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8:25 - 8:27"When a man writes about doing the dishes,
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8:27 - 8:29it's realism.
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8:29 - 8:32When a woman writes about doing it,
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8:32 - 8:34it's an unfortunate genetic disposition."
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8:34 - 8:35(Laughter)
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8:35 - 8:39Now, this is not just something
that belongs to then. -
8:39 - 8:41I mean, when I was a young girl,
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8:41 - 8:44wanting desperately
to be a theater director, -
8:44 - 8:46this is what my male lecturer said to me:
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8:46 - 8:51"Well, there are three women
directors in Britain," he said, "Jude." -
8:51 - 8:55"There's Joan Knight, who's a lesbian,
there's Joan Littlewood, who's retired, -
8:55 - 8:57and there's Buzz Goodbody,
who's just killed herself. -
8:58 - 9:00So, which of those three
would you like to be?" -
9:00 - 9:01(Laughter)
-
9:01 - 9:05Now, leaving aside
the disgusting slur on gay women, -
9:05 - 9:08the fact is, he wanted to humiliate me.
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9:08 - 9:12He thought it was silly
that I wanted to be a director. -
9:12 - 9:15And I told my friend Marin Alsop,
the conductor, and she said, -
9:15 - 9:18"Oh yes, well, my music teacher
said exactly the same. -
9:18 - 9:20He said, 'Women don't conduct.'"
-
9:21 - 9:23But all these years later,
we've made our mark. -
9:23 - 9:26You think, "Well, it'll be different now."
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9:26 - 9:28I'm afraid it's not different now.
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9:28 - 9:32The current head
of the Paris Conservatoire -
9:32 - 9:35said recently, "It takes
great physical strength -
9:35 - 9:37to conduct a symphony,
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9:37 - 9:38and women are too weak."
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9:38 - 9:40(Laughter)
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9:40 - 9:42The artist George Baselitz said,
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9:42 - 9:44"Well, the fact is women can't paint.
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9:44 - 9:46Well -- they can't paint very well."
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9:46 - 9:49The writer V.S. Naipaul
said two years ago, -
9:49 - 9:52"I can read two paragraphs and know
immediately if it's written by a woman, -
9:52 - 9:55and I just stop reading,
because it's not worthy of me." -
9:55 - 9:57Audience: Whoa!
-
9:57 - 9:59And it goes on.
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10:01 - 10:03We have to find a way
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10:03 - 10:06of stopping young girls and women
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10:06 - 10:09feeling not only that
their story doesn't matter, -
10:09 - 10:12but they're not allowed
to be the storyteller. -
10:13 - 10:16Because once you feel
that you can't stand in the central space -
10:16 - 10:19and speak on behalf of the world,
-
10:19 - 10:24you will feel that you can offer
your goods up to a small, select group. -
10:24 - 10:28You will tend to do smaller work
on smaller stages, -
10:28 - 10:30your economic power will be less,
-
10:30 - 10:32your reach of audiences will be less,
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10:32 - 10:37and your credit will be less as an artist.
-
10:38 - 10:43And we do finally give artists
these incredible, prominent spaces -
10:43 - 10:44in the world,
-
10:44 - 10:46because they are our storytellers.
-
10:46 - 10:49Now, why should it matter to you
if you're not an artist? -
10:49 - 10:52Supposing you're an accountant
or an entrepreneur or a medic -
10:52 - 10:53or a scientist:
-
10:53 - 10:56Should you care about women artists?
-
10:56 - 10:58Absolutely, you must,
-
10:58 - 11:02because as you can see
from the cave paintings, -
11:02 - 11:03all civilizations,
-
11:03 - 11:05all of humanity
-
11:06 - 11:10have relied upon artists
to tell the human story, -
11:10 - 11:13and if the human story
is finally told by men, -
11:13 - 11:15take my word for it,
-
11:15 - 11:17it will be about men.
-
11:18 - 11:20So let's make a change.
-
11:20 - 11:23Let's make a change
to all our institutions, -
11:23 - 11:24and not just in the West.
-
11:24 - 11:28Don't forget -- this message
of incapability of women -
11:28 - 11:30to hold creative genius
-
11:30 - 11:35is being told to girls and women
in Nigeria, in China, in Russia, -
11:35 - 11:36in Indonesia.
-
11:37 - 11:39All over the world, girls
and women are being told -
11:39 - 11:44that they can't finally hold the idea
of creative inspiration. -
11:45 - 11:47And I want to ask you:
-
11:47 - 11:49Do you believe that?
-
11:49 - 11:52Do you believe that women
can be a creative genius? -
11:53 - 11:59(Applause and cheers)
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11:59 - 12:01Well then, please go forward,
-
12:01 - 12:03support women artists,
-
12:03 - 12:04buy their work,
-
12:04 - 12:07insist that their voices are heard,
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12:07 - 12:10find platforms on which
their voices will be made. -
12:11 - 12:12And remember this:
-
12:12 - 12:16that in a sense, if we're going
to get past this moment -
12:16 - 12:20of a world where we know
that we are unequal, -
12:20 - 12:23it's artists who have to imagine
a different world. -
12:23 - 12:27And I'm calling on all artists,
women and men, -
12:27 - 12:30to imagine a gender-equal world.
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12:30 - 12:33Let's paint it. Let's draw it.
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12:33 - 12:34Let's write about it. Let's film it.
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12:34 - 12:36And if we could imagine it,
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12:36 - 12:40then we would have the energy
and the stamina -
12:40 - 12:41to work towards it.
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12:42 - 12:44When I see this little girl,
-
12:44 - 12:4611,000 years ago,
-
12:46 - 12:49I want to know that the little girl now
-
12:49 - 12:53can stand there and think
she's entitled to her dreams, -
12:53 - 12:55she's entitled to her destiny
-
12:55 - 12:59and she's entitled to speak
on behalf of the whole world, -
12:59 - 13:01be recognized for it
-
13:01 - 13:03and applauded.
-
13:03 - 13:04Thank you.
-
13:04 - 13:09(Applause)
- Title:
- Why women should tell the stories of humanity
- Speaker:
- Jude Kelly
- Description:
-
For many centuries (and for many reasons) critically acclaimed creative genius has generally come from a male perspective. As theater director Jude Kelly points out in this passionately reasoned talk, that skew affects how we interpret even non-fictional women's stories and rights. She thinks there's a more useful, more inclusive way to look at the world, and she calls on artists -- women and men -- to paint, draw, write about, film and imagine a gender-equal society.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 13:22
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for Why women should tell the stories of humanity |