October 29, 2016
The Council hosted the inaugural TEDxDeiraWomen, an independently organized event. This coincided with the global TEDWomen conference that took place in San Francisco from October 26-28. TEDWomen is a three-day conference that brings together a global community to discuss and celebrate the power of women and girls.
The theme for this year’s event was “It’s About Time” which was only fitting given that it was hosted by the Dubai Business Women Council and held at the Dubai Chamber in the heart of Deira.
TEDxDeiraWomen is a gender-neutral initiative that encourages both female and male participants as in order to have a balanced gender dialogue both men and men need to be present. The motivation behind this initiative was to provide a platform to the men and women who are making positive changes to share their experiences and give the audience an opportunity to learn as well as exchange ideas.
The event kicked off with a keynote speech by Consul Gwendolyn “Wendy” Green from the U.S Consulate General in Dubai. This was then followed by a sequence of thought provoking talks by nine speakers (some coming in from as far as Tokyo, New York and London) that were split up into three sessions. Topics such as battling depression, living up to societal expectations, the impact of role models, changing mental perceptions, male privilege, relationships, healing childhood wounds and risk were explored.
The audience was just as diverse as the speakers themselves ranging from diplomats to students and everything in between. The event was very interactive in nature as in between the breaks the audience members had a chance to exchange ideas and to review the topics that were being explored by the speakers - further adding to the overall discussion.
Watch the video of the event HERE
