Novelist Isabel Allende spoke at the TED Conference in March 2007 – the TED website has just posted her talk. Here’s an example of why you should spare the eighteen or so minutes it takes to listen to the whole thing:
“The poorest and most backward societies are always those who put women down. Women working together, linked, informed and educated can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet…
What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power and the power to abuse. I think that the time is right to make fundamental changes in our civilization, but for real change, we need feminine energy in the management of the world. We need a critical number of women in positions of power and we need to nurture the feminine energy in men. I want to make this world good – not better, but to make it good. Why not? It is possible.”