When Brittany Wenger was a sophomore in high school, her cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer. She saw firsthand how the disease strikes a woman and her family, and she wanted to help. While some of us might offer to bake a casserole or lend a listening ear, Brittany went the extra mile: She created […]
It’s not the norm to see pink balloons, brightly colored dresses and sequined shoes in the halls of the Richmond City Jail. But on March 16, a dozen girls ranging in age from 6 to 16 entered the facility to bring cheer to their incarcerated fathers. The occasion: the second father-daughter dance at the jail, […]
From age 6 through age 11, Shabana Basij-Rasikh risked her life to go to school. The Taliban had banned girls in Afghanistan from studying at universities and other educational institutions and, thus, Basij-Rasikh dressed as a boy, posing as an escort for her older sister. Together, the two would place their books in grocery bags […]
Two years ago, waves of revolution swept through the Middle East. On February 17, 2011 — two months after civil resistance began in Tunisia and less than a month after the people of Egypt rose up in Tahrir Square — revolt began in Libya to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Activist Zahra’ Langhi was part of […]
iO Tillett Wright remembers the moment she decided to start living as a boy — age 6 when the kids at school barked at her that girls weren’t allowed to play basketball. As a teenager and adult, Tillett Wright went on to fall in love with a woman, and then to fall in love with […]
[ted id=1651]Journalist Janine di Giovanni has covered wars in Bosnia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Iraq and most recently in Syria — and, yet, she has noted that they all seem to begin in the same way. “This is how war starts—one day you’re living your ordinary life. You’re planning to go to a party, […]
[ted id=1646]For a teenage girl, few things are more awkward than developing a good relationship with her father. This is something that Angela Patton knows well after years of listening to the girls at Camp Diva, her nonprofit dedicated to empowering African-American girls, talk about their dads. Patton wanted to help her campers find a […]
[ted id=1643 width=560 height=315]Sue Austin’s first ride in a wheelchair was an exhilarating one. “An extended illness had changed the way I could access the world … I’d seen my life slip away and become restricted,” explains Austin in today’s talk, which was given at TEDxWomen in December. “When I started using the wheelchair 16 years ago, […]
Counting down the final hours of the workweek is a Friday afternoon tradition. And today, you have extra incentive to watch the clock — TEDxWomen kicks off at 6pm in Washington, DC. While one session of the event — “Poverty and Plenty,” hosted by Pat Mitchell of The Paley Center for Media — is taking […]
TEDxWomen is just days away—on November 30 and December 1, the conference will take place in Washington, D.C. While it’s sold out, there are still many opportunities to watch. Over the weekend, webcasts will be streamed during more than 140 TEDxWomen events across the globe — from Abuja, Nigeria, to Warsaw, Poland. Head to the […]
Few people see the world in simple black-and-white terms — instead, most of us, women and men alike, experience a wide spectrum of color, a world of differing viewpoints and nuance. This year’s TEDxWomen, themed “The Space Between,” will explores the gradiation of the world around us. The event will feature six sessions: “Poverty and […]