Well, I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation, because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia he doesn’t need a motion in the House of Representatives; he needs a mirror. That is what he needs. Let’s go through the opposition leader’s repulsive double standards when it comes to misogyny and sexism. We are now supposed to take seriously that the Leader of the Opposition is offended by Mr Slipper’s text messages, when this is the Leader of the Opposition who has said,
and this was when he was a minister under the last government—not when he was a student, not when he was in high school, (but) when he was a minister under the last government. He has said, and I quote, in a discussion about women being underrepresented in institutions of power in Australia, the interviewer was a man called Stavros, the Leader of the Opposition said: “If it’s true, Stavros, that men have more power, generally speaking, than women, is that a bad thing?” And then a discussion ensues and another person being interviewed says, “I want my daughter to have as much opportunity as my son,” to which the Leader of the Opposition says: “Yeah, I completely agree, but what if men are, by physiology or temperament, more adapted to exercise authority or to issue command?”
I left India 35 years ago went on to the United States and had tremendous success in that meritocracy. But none of that could have happened if I hadn’t had a wonderful upbringing very much here in India, so I have a lot to thank India for. I joined PepsiCo when she was 18 months old and I lived in the company, I just worked all the time and How did I do it? Huge number of scarifies, huge huge number of scarifies, trade offs and I think through it all I might be a CEO today and I have to remind myself for what I lost. It says, dear mom I love you, please come home please please please come home, I love you but I love you more if you came home. This is my 4 or 5 year old writing these notes.
First, please be a lifelong student, you know when we are kids we ask questions like, why is the sky blue? why is the bird flying so high? But for some reason as we get older, that curiosity goes away. And if we are happy with the knowledge we have, then we are actually gonna access it. So, please remain a life long student. Don’t lose that curiosity. Second, what ever you do, throw yourself into it, throw your head, heart, and hands into it. I look at my job not as a job, I look at it as a calling, as a passion. And I don’t care about the hours, I don’t care about the harsh. So whatever you do,
I was 18 years old when I got married. I belong to a very conservative family, a Baloch family, where good daughters never say no to their parents. My father wanted me to get married, and all I said was, “If that makes you happy, “I will say yes.” And of course, it was never a happy marriage. Just about after two years of getting married, about nine years ago, I made a car accident. Somehow, my husband fell asleep, and the car fell in the ditch. He managed to jump out, saved himself. I’m happy for him. But I stayed inside the car, and I sustained a lot of injuries. The list is a bit long. The radius and ulna of my right arm were fractured, the wrist was fractured, shoulder bone and collar bone were fractured, my whole ribcage got fractured. But that whole injury that changed me and my life completely was the spine injury. Many people came to rescue, that gave me CPR, that dragged me out of the car, and while they were dragging me out, I got the complete transaction of my spinal cord.
I realized, essentially, that I knew the very world that I wanted to work in as one that, statistically, did not include me. And that society, by its own boundaries and perceptions, had created me to be somebody that didn’t fit into the category of what film-makers were generally expected to be. And yet, I felt like a director. I knew that I could craft stories onscreen and connect those stories to audiences. But the figures don’t lie, and the statistics did not tally in my favor. Essentially, my definition of me didn’t match the definition that society had bestowed upon me. And so, who wins? That’s what I want to talk to you about, today. The question of who defines you: society or yourself? Is society’s opinion of who you are, who you can be, what value you have, what you can achieve in life, is that more powerful an opinion and important an opinion than your own? If you say you are a writer, and you have something valuable to contribute to the literary world?
if I took one pathway, it would be rejected, if I took another pathway, that would be rejected. It felt like, in many ways, society was defining me as an outsider. As I say, again, and I’ll keep saying it, this doesn’t have to be solely about race or gender. We’re all at the junction of many worlds. It can be concerning race, it can be concerning class, sexuality; so many different things, today. I don’t think… I am wondering, at least, if there is a person in this room who, at least at some point in their life, hasn’t been identified outside of the realms of that which they have felt that they would see themselves, or at some point at least, hasn’t felt like an outsider. For me, I don’t think it should be about having to pick one pathway over another. I shouldn’t have to pick being British over being Ghanaian, or being Ghanaian over being British, because ultimately, I am a product of both. Both of those cultures reside inside me. It shouldn’t really matter if that’s not normal to society.
If you have to visualize dreams only, there’s no tax on dreams right? That house, that beautiful house, those beautiful drapes beautiful furniture, I thought, even my house would be like that It had walls of mud I still remember, the ceiling was made of hay there was a wire dangling like that with a naked buld There is only 10% that there is of the situation 90% is what we make of the situation Be alive, be happy, live Everything was working perfectly I had a book launch in Vigyan Bhawan,
I was feeling on top of the world People would ask me, what do you pray for Three days later, I tripped I didn’t trip much, just three steps Two days after that, I couldn’t get up I tried everything After seeing MRI reports Would say, ma’am there’s a problem in your spine And this fall has accentuated that problem One said, I give you an year, the other said, I give your 3 years But all of them said, within 2-3 years you will be bedridden ma’am We went everywhere, durgah, mandir’s, we did everything I like wearing heels a lot I was very disturbed to think about it in the beginning What will happen, will I stay on the bed, the kids are young Who has seen the future? Who has foreseen the next life? I have a lifestyle book Whether you have heard about it,
You are worth more than you could ever imagine worth more than the numbers on the scale or the hair product you use or the shoes you wear more than how many girls wish they were you or how many guys wish they had you more than the price tags on your clothes or the percentage at the top of your math test or even the number of followers you have on Twitter. Your worth surpasses all earthly things, because in the eyes of the Lord God, you are loved.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals. If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are—we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves. You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s a good question and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing.
I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights. No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality. These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl.
I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive. Why is the word such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
I would tell my twenty-one year old self the personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement your qualifications your CV are not your life though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two life is difficult and complicated and beyond of anyone’s total control and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes so the question is what do you do you believe that you are worthy of happiness happiness success abundance comfort peace joy love is a part of the birthright is that what you believe Manifest life I’ve always known that no matter what I believe it I’m going to be when you do well people notice when you do your best people notice and so wherever you are always do your best and doing your best put you at the next level it’s about what can you do you just need to run that race as hard as you can you need to give it everything you’ve got all the time for yourself for yourself as is a tail so it’s likely not how long it is but how good it is is what matters what matters is now this moment and your willingness to see this moment for what it is accept it forgive the past take responsibility this is your second chance this is your opportunity to seize this moment and make something in your life you
you are responsible for your life and if you’re sitting around waiting on somebody to save you to fix you to even help you you are wasting your time because only you have the power to take responsibility to move your I had failed on an epic scale an exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded and I was jobless the lone parent and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain without being homeless the fears that my parents had had for me and that I had had for myself had both come to pass and by every usual standard I was the biggest failure I knew now I’m not going to stand here and tell you the failure is fun that period of my life was a dark one and for a long time any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality so why do I talk about the benefits of Vania simply because failure meant us stripping away of the inessential I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me had I really succeeded at anything else
who said weightlifting and strength based competitions were just for men probably a lot of men but they’d be wrong if you think women are weaker than men then you better hope you never get into a fight with one of the ladies on this list while it is true that physically women are weaker than men the women you’re about to see decided to prove the statement wrong through hard work endurance and an incredible amount of determination but today we’ll take a look at some women bodybuilders who took it too far be sure to stay until the end and check out our number one pick because the women in that quotes will definitely inspire you before we move on
When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings. I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive. Why is the word such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country.
I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights. No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality.These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those. And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is important but the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have.
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| women quotes |
