6 Inspiring Ted Talks about gender equality
The universal challenges of female likeability and the authority gap are applicable to many industries, not least whisky. Which is why we’ve handpicked six inspirational Ted Talks that provide different perspectives on the importance of gender equality in the workplace.
Inspirational talks don’t get much better than those produced through TED Talks and the subject of women’s place and experience in the workplace is one that has been explored by brilliant speakers who span specialisms and industries.
From having their knowledge questioned, to being underrepresented in leadership roles, navigating being likeable versus being competent, and advocating for more women in STEM, the issues and dilemmas that women face during their careers are issues that doctors, writers, film-makers and scientists have covered for the TED Talk audience to an inspiring effect.
And all of these issues are things women face in the global whisky industry, as reflected in our 2023 ‘Do you even like whisky?’ report.
So, we’ve handpicked six talks that will give you a new perspective on the importance of gender equality and how their key points apply to women working in the whisky industry.
1. Mary Ann Sieghart: Why are women still taken less seriously than men?
Mary Ann Sieghart is an English author, journalist and radio presenter, as well as being the former assistant editor of The Times. She is no stranger to discussing the issues women face in business and in life, and in 2021 published her book The Authority Gap: Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it.
In her groundbreaking 2024 TED Talk of the same name, she explains why women are often interrupted, underestimated, overlooked and questioned on their abilities compared to men – issues that a lot of women face working in the whisky industry. She also touches on how women are biased towards other women, how the odds are stacked towards men in hiring processes and why more visibility of women in authority matters.
2. Robin Hauser: The likability dilemma for women leaders
Robin Hauser is an award-winning documentary film-maker, spending a lot of her time producing films that cover topics she is passionate about, from the gender pay gap to unconscious bias. She is also an unconscious bias and DE&I keynote speaker, and her TED Talk is one of the most talked about on the subject of women in leadership.
Looking at the dual notions of competence and likeability, Hauser interrogates why the way we perceive women changes when they assert themselves. She discusses the 2003 Heidi/Howard Roizen experiment by Professor Flynn at Columbia Business School, how inquisitiveness is not an ‘attractive’ female trait, and the real-life consequences of the competence/likeability dilemma for women at work.
3. Dr DeRetta Cole Rhodes: From Survive to Thrive: Women of Color in Corporate Leadership
DeRetta Cole Rhodes knows people. She is the EVP/chief people capital officer for the Atlanta Braves baseball teams and a passionate speaker, writer and researcher on women in leadership.
In her 2018 talk, she discusses the issues of dualism as a woman of colour, having to move between the two groups to make others feel more comfortable. She also discusses her drive and perseverance, thriving in the face of inequality, and what her role in an HR position means to her. Some of the stats behind women of colour in leadership are staggering – and they don’t always get the spotlight.
4. Avipsha Thakur: Empowering Women, Escalating Economies, Enriching the World
The start-up expert and entrepreneur Avipsha Thakur begins her TED Talk with a bold statement: “We as women often end up thanking so many people in our lives for things that are very, very basic, as basic as our rights.” Through her work at non-profit Roshni Academy, she presents the sustainable model through which women can be empowered and how that impacts the world at large.
Empowering women to realise their highest potential is what drives Thakur. While her talk focuses mainly on women in India, the takeaway messages are applicable to women all around the world, as well as in whisky. She discusses her framework of ‘21st-century skills for successful women’ and how their success contributes to economic growth, empowering other women in the community too.
5. Nathalia Holt: For the future of women in science, look to The past
Nathalia Holt Ph.D. is a science writer and bestselling author of Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon to Mars, in which she charts the tale of women’s contributions to rocket design, space exploration and the first American satellite.
In her TED Talk, she takes what she learned to discuss why the STEM industry needs to adapt to attract and retrain women for the future. She also uses it to discuss how representation in previous generations could have impacted the landscape of STEM today, and how the internal infrastructure of support that was built by those women in space could be replicated now. When applied to the subject of distilling, it is a comparison we can learn a lot from.
6. Rocío Lorenzo: How diversity makes teams more innovative
Management consultant and diversity researcher Rocio Lorenzo is at the forefront of innnovation in telecommunication and media. She helps companies build their strategies on how to transform their businesses in times of digital disruption.
This led her to discover the power of diversity when it comes to innovation – and her survey of 171 companies gave her the data to prove it. In her TED Talk she takes a deep dive into the research and discusses how businesses can begin to understand how things like gender diversity will actually make them more innovative and, in turn, successful.
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