Analyzing a Ted Talk: Our Century's Greatest Injustice

                Sheryl WuDunn wrote a book, Half the Sky, about women around the world, and the oppression they face. Her Ted Talk given on July 10, 2010, “Our Century’s Greatest Injustice” was given to a smart audience, an audience of potential investors who likely had good intentions but were not necessarily informed on the issue.  Her goal was to persuade them to reach out and help women who live in desperate poverty. Speaking to an audience like the one she addressed must be done with the greatest care. If she spoke too bluntly about the need for change and the patheticness of current help, she could offend the sensitive intellects of a crowd that likely considered itself humane; however, if she watered down her message she risked boring her audience into inaction. Instead, she carefully walked a tightrope, drawing her audience along with her using humor and stories, yet never shocking or scolding enough to push them off the edge.

Sheryl WuDunn gestures in the power sphere during her speech

Sheryl WuDunn’s Ted Talk was about women in poverty, just like many of the women Step-by-Step seeks to aid.  She began by showing a picture of herself in China, looking happy and safe. Then she showed a very different picture: the picture of a thirteen year old girl who could not afford to go to school and who lived in squalor because of this. Yet the story did not end in dismay, but in hope. Generous donations allowed the school to provide scholarships, and she not only finished school but brought prosperity to her family and village. This developed Mrs. WuDunn’s main point: women, when empowered, “move out of a vicious cycle and into a virtuous one”.

She gave more examples. She asked her audience whether they believed more men or women were alive on earth. The audience, being fairly well-educated, guessed that more women were alive, perhaps because women tend to live longer. Sheryl shocked them by explaining that far more men than women are actually alive, then went on to explain why: girls are often fed less or given less care, “discriminated to death”. Then she described some of the worst challenges facing girls. Many of them are sold into sex trafficking – others die in childbirth. Sheryl wove stories of individual women and girls into her talk, showing pictures and explaining how they had risen from vicious cycles to virtuous ones. She concluded by highlighting a few of the practical benefits of aiding women, and by inspiring others to act by saying that we “provide for wild birds so they don’t go hungry”. If we can provide such care for the birds, can we not care for each other?  

If we care for the birds, can we not care for women?

The speech was incredibly effective. When I finished watching it I wanted to rush out and give all my money to help impoverished women! By incorporating mild humor, interesting pictures, and vivid stories, Sheryl captured my attention for a full 18 minutes. She made eye contact frequently with the audience and used gestures to emphasize her points. To make the speech even more effective, she could have made it a bit more memorable. Although the speech was well-organized, there were too many chunks of information for me to remember all of the “main points”. By simplifying the speech even more into even broader areas, then elaborating on those, Mrs. WuDunn could have imprinted her ideas into my mind more firmly. Her speech tied beautifully in to the main goal of Step-by-Step: to empower women by breaking bad cycles and connecting them to the resources that create good cycles instead. Just as women in third-world countries can do incredible things if given the opportunity, women in America, given the right resources, can work miniature miracles.