Halla Tómasdóttir 2 : It’s time for women to run for office

                                

TED 2016

Halla Tómasdóttir 2 : It’s time for women to run for office (transcript)

Summary

So you don't necessarily have to reach the top, you just have to go for it with your family, your friends, and everyone. If you do it well, you will grow beyond anything you will experience before. And then to try it again and again and again, it must lead to a high probability of a better result.

The speaker ran for president of Iceland. She couldn't catch its position though the one percent she had was changed to receive a third of the vote.

Challenges that she had to face are about media, muscle, and money. Alter all, there was the gender inequality in the media and politics fields also. It might not have conscious bias but there is unconscious one there. The reason was that she was a woman, it was harder to get access and airtime in media than men. In fact, unfortunately, politics needed money.

However, it is better to be womanly, to have the courage to talk about things that you want to change, to have the ambition to do more even if you don't have financial support, and not to forget why you decided to run. If you are a woman and you have no political experience, it is important to decide to do good, to step up and to continue to run. Women participate in politics, it only leads to being able to attract young women and young men in politics.

This is her message for you. If you are a woman, you don't necessarily have to reach the top, and you just run.

Words in this story

first hand /adj/ (of information or experience) from the original source or personal experience; direct.

compliment /noun/ a polite expression of praise or admiration.

sincerity /noun/ honesty, truthfulness   sincerely /adv/  sincere /adj/ honest