TEDxWomen draws global participants to focus on issues ranging from autism to domestic violence
Shabana Basij-Rasikh was only 6 years old when the Taliban made it illegal for girls to go to school in her native Afghanistan. Out of fear, most families pulled their daughters out of the classroom, but her father and mother – both educated before their country fell into civil war – wanted Basij-Rasikh and her sister to go to school.
To thwart Taliban rules, Basij-Rasikh would dress as a boy and escort her older sister to a secret school since women were not allowed out of the house without a male escort. They would use grocery bags to disguise their books so they would look as if they were simply out shopping. Often, school would be cancelled for weeks at a time; both students and teachers feared Taliban reprisal.
“I was lucky to grow up in a family where education was prized and daughters were treasured,” said Basij-Rasikh.
Basij-Raskikh, 22, told her story to hundreds of participants from over 15 countries who attended the third annual TEDxWomen’s conference held this weekend in Washington, D.C. Her tale was just one of many presented to encourage dialogue about women’s issues and to discuss how women are uniquely positioned to solve many of the biggest challenges faced by their communities.
The conference was the third in a series of annual events designed to discuss worldwide efforts to challenge and redefine the traditional rules and gender roles given to women and men, girls and boys.
Basij-Rasikh’s said that fear and frustration often clouded her view of the future, and she would beg to quit school. She credits her father for pushing her to complete her education. She said her father once told her: “ ‘If we have to sell our blood for your school fees, we will.’ ”
Her father’s tenacity paid off: Basij-Rasikh won a scholarship to finish high school in Onalaska, Wis. and she recently graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Middlebury college in Middlebury, Vt. Today she is the managing director for the School of Leadership in Afghanistan, a nonprofit that helps young Afghan women access education worldwide and jobs back home.
“Behind most of us who succeed,” said Basij-Rasikh, “is a father who values his daughter, and who sees her success as his success.”
While the goal of the TEDxWomen’s conference is to challenge traditional gender roles, speakers focused on a broad range of topics – such as poverty, violence against women, and autism – organized under a single theme: “The Space Between.”
“This is a classic TED theme,” said Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based organization building interfaith movement on college campuses. It’s intentionally compelling, to encourage participants to think.
“I view TED as a mind spa,” said Patel, a sentiment echoed by other participants.
“What is most important is the conversation, dialogue, sharing and exploring,” said Tania Carriere, owner of Advivum, a consulting company in Ottawa focusing on leadership issues.
Other conferences want to give you definitive answers, said Carriere, but from this conference, “I leave with questions.” The premise of TEDx conferences is to mix non-related concepts and encourage participants to make links among them.
Among the presenters were philanthropists and entrepreneurs, religious activists and physicists, educators and students, advocates and artists, bloggers and authors.
One of the most impressive speakers was 17-year-old Brittany Wenger of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., who won the 2012 Google Science Fair for her project “Global Neural Network Cloud Service for Breast Cancer.”
Inspired by a young cousin who developed breast cancer, Wenger used her love of computer programming and interest in medical research to create a tool to help doctors diagnose breast cancer. As part of her project, she established Cloud4Cancer, a web site that aggregates data from biopsies and uses the model she developed to determine if a breast mass is malignant or benign.
The TEDxWomen conferences are organized by the Paley Center for Media in conjunction with TEDx. TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a set of conferences owned by the Sapling Foundation, a private nonprofit with the mission to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.”
Elizabeth M. Grieco
American University
November 30, 2012