christine lagarde's speech ends with an emphatic statement-'if you dare the difference,the differences will deliver' what are the'difference' and how can we help our society to overcome those differences? prepare an article
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Answer:
Daring the Difference: The 3 L’s of Women’s Empowerment" By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
May 19, 2014
By Christine Lagarde
Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
National Democratic Institute, Washington DC, May 19, 2014
As prepared for delivery
Good afternoon. It is great to be here today among friends and kindred spirits. The National Democratic Institute is a passionate advocate for the full participation of women in the life of nations. I admire you, I salute you, I am with you.
Let me begin by thanking Madeleine Albright, a great public servant, a great inspiration to us all, and to me personally. I would also like to thank Kenneth Wollack, the president of the Institute, and the talented Claire Shipman.
Let me also recognize the wonderful organization being honored today, Aswat Nisaa, and its president, Ikram Ben Saïd. This group is doing remarkable work in Tunisia in furthering gender equality and women’s leadership—and will set standards, I hope, in neighboring countries and around the world. The world needs more people who do what you do.
I want to begin today with a story—a well-known puzzle. A young boy is involved in a traffic accident, and is immediately rushed to the hospital for urgent surgery.
In the bustle and chaos of the hospital environment, the surgeon strides into the operating room. Think of a quintessential surgeon—brimming with confidence and authority, a true type-A personality, one who knows instinctively how to take charge.
Yet this distinguished surgeon looks down at the boy and gasps, saying: “I can’t operate on this boy… it’s my son”.
Indeed, the boy is the surgeon’s son. Yet the surgeon is not the boy’s father. Who then?
I know that everyone in this room can see the answer immediately. It is simple—the surgeon is a she, she is the boy’s mother.
Yet I also know that plenty of educated and erudite people—even educated and erudite women—do not see this at first blush. They puzzle over it and circle around it; suggesting uncle, grandfather, stepfather—answers that really make little sense.
Unfortunately, this is the rub. When it comes to thinking about women in powerful positions, we are too often blinded by the daggers of the mind, infected by the malignant mind bugs that mire us in the prejudices of the past.
You know this. It is what you fight on a daily basis all over the world. And because we know it hurts the global economy, it is on the radar of the IMF.
My message is simple: we need a 21st century mentality for women’s economic participation. We need to flush away the flotsam of ingrained gender inequality.
We need to, as I like to say, “dare the difference”. To “dare” means to take risks, to step out of our cozy comfort zones, to let hope extinguish fear and courage conquer timidity.
Answer:
By Christine Lagarde
Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
National Democratic Institute, Washington DC, May 19, 2014
As prepared for delivery
Good afternoon. It is great to be here today among friends and kindred spirits. The National Democratic Institute is a passionate advocate for the full participation of women in the life of nations. I admire you, I salute you, I am with you.
Let me begin by thanking Madeleine Albright, a great public servant, a great inspiration to us all, and to me personally. I would also like to thank Kenneth Wollack, the president of the Institute, and the talented Claire Shipman.
Let me also recognize the wonderful organization being honored today, Aswat Nisaa, and its president, Ikram Ben Saïd. This group is doing remarkable work in Tunisia in furthering gender equality and women’s leadership—and will set standards, I hope, in neighboring countries and around the world. The world needs more people who do what you do.
I want to begin today with a story—a well-known puzzle. A young boy is involved in a traffic accident, and is immediately rushed to the hospital for urgent surgery.
In the bustle and chaos of the hospital environment, the surgeon strides into the operating room. Think of a quintessential surgeon—brimming with confidence and authority, a true type-A personality, one who knows instinctively how to take charge.
Yet this distinguished surgeon looks down at the boy and gasps, saying: “I can’t operate on this boy… it’s my son”.
Indeed, the boy is the surgeon’s son. Yet the surgeon is not the boy’s father. Who then?
I know that everyone in this room can see the answer immediately. It is simple—the surgeon is a she, she is the boy’s mother.
Yet I also know that plenty of educated and erudite people—even educated and erudite women—do not see this at first blush. They puzzle over it and circle around it; suggesting uncle, grandfather, stepfather—answers that really make little sense.
Unfortunately, this is the rub. When it comes to thinking about women in powerful positions, we are too often blinded by the daggers of the mind, infected by the malignant mind bugs that mire us in the prejudices of the past.
You know this. It is what you fight on a daily basis all over the world. And because we know it hurts the global economy, it is on the radar of the IMF.
My message is simple: we need a 21st century mentality for women’s economic participation. We need to flush away the flotsam of ingrained gender inequality.
We need to, as I like to say, “dare the difference”. To “dare” means to take risks, to step out of our cozy comfort zones, to let hope extinguish fear and courage conquer timidity.
Ultimately, daring the difference means wedging open the door to the contribution of women—their learning, their labor, and their leadership. The “3 L’s” of women’s empowerment. Let me talk briefly about each of them.
Learning
Let me begin with learning. By this I mean the over-riding importance of women’s education, the foundation upon which everything else must be built.