Running head: WOMEN’S STORIES MATTER TOO 1

Women’s Stories Matter Too

Emily Rose Perkins

Brigham Young University-Idaho

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WOMEN’S STORIES MATTER TOO
Abstract

Emily Rose Perkins is a junior studying Organizational Communication and Advocacy at BYU-

Idaho. She is a self-proclaimed feminist and advocate for women’s rights and has been since

2013. Originally studying journalism, Emily Rose found herself as one of few women in the

field. A storyteller in her own way, through both journalism and photography, the author found

comfort in listening to Jude Kelly’s TED Talk about women becoming the storytellers of

humanity, which is something she hopes to do. Emily Rose analyzes Jude Kelly’s Talk and

examines what it means for women of the world. Emily Rose hopes to go into politics after

graduate school, eventually become a city planner or political influence of some sort and

encourage women to be storytellers in their own way.

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Women’s Stories Matter Too

According to Hollywood Reporter, women only make up 7 percent of all directors of the

top 250 grossing films of 2016. Of all directors, writers, producers– executive and otherwise–,

editors, and cinematographers of 2016’s top grossing movies, women only made up 14%

(Kilday, 2017). Tramp Press, an Indie publishing company, conducted an informal study to find

inspiring writers, and found that only 22 percent of the 148 influential leaders were women

(Flood, 2015; Crum, 2015). The World Bank reported that in 2016, 49.558 percent of the world

was female (Population, 2016). If nearly half of the world’s population consists of women, why

aren’t half of the published, released, or even known story tellers in the world women?

This is a question that Jude Kelly, director, commentator, and speaker at 2016’s

TEDWomen conference poses to her audience. In “Why Women Should Tell the Stories of

Humanity,” she beings by asking such a question. “Why do we think that stories by men are

deemed to be of universal importance, and stories by women are thought to be merely about

women” (Kelly, 2016, para. 00.00)?

TEDWomen 2016 took place in San Francisco that October at the Yerba Buena Center

for the Arts. The theme was “It’s About Time.” The mission was to explore how time and

attention shape life. TEDWomen was hosted by curator Pat Mitchell and focused on themes like

“It’s About My Time,” “It’s About Our Time,” “It’s About Equal Time,” “It’s About Time to

Reimagine,” and “It’s About Time to Lead.” Jude Kelly spoke in the fourth session of that years

TED, which had the theme “It’s About Story Time.” The TED event opened with “a global

showcase of artisans and entrepreneurs,” which meant 12 women from every world region

showed the designs and products that changed their communities (“TEDWomen 2016,” n.d.,
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n.p.). The event also included wine tasting, a global artisan market, dinner, a documentary film

premier, stage performances, and a fashion presentation.

The first TEDWomen occurred in 2010 at the International Trade Center and United

States Institute of Peace, located in Washington D.C. It was co-hosted by Pat Mitchell, president

and CEO of The Paley Center for Media, journalist, producer, and first female president of PBS.

The two-day event brought together women from all over the globe to ask questions like, “Who

are the women leading change? What ideas are they championing? How are women reshaping

the future” (“TEDWomen,” n.d., n.p.)? Men and women spoke about how women can be

powerful agents of change, from a girl in the developing world transforming a village, to

hundreds of educated women in the West creating and transforming entire industries.

TEDWomen 2016 was sponsored by companies like The Boston Consulting Group,

Clinique, IBM, UPS, and Philips Sonicare. It was also sponsored by organizations including

#ActuallySheCan, Arup, and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation (“TEDWomen 2016,” n.d.).

TEDWomen is a special TED event. This three-day conference focuses on women and

girls’ ability to create and make changes in the world. It includes six TED Talk sessions, dinners,

workshops, and discussions. An application is required to attend TEDWomen, and tickets are

$2,500, but all attendees receive a TED gift bag. Children under 18, including infants, are not

allowed in the TEDWomen venue, but childcare suggestions are given, and pumping lounges are

provided (TEDWomen conference registration policies, n.d.). Out of the 51 speakers at

TEDWomen 2016, only eight were men (“TEDWomen 2016,” n.d.).

In “Why Women Should Tell the Stories of Humanity,” Kelly goes on to tell stories and

give examples of women needing to reclaim their narrative – in art, literature, theatre, etc.

Kelly’s own grandmother dropped out of school at age 12, and her mother at age 15. Kelly, on
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the other hand, graduated from college and became a theatre director. She was only able to defer

from her families typical womanly path of life because of “people [she’ll] never meet [who]

fought for women to have rights, get the vote, get education…” (Kelly, 2016, para. 00:49).

Jude Kelly, 63, was the artistic director of Southbank Centre, the largest cultural

institution in Britain from 2006 to 2018, and is the recipient of 14 honorary doctorates

(Southbank Centre, 2018). She founded several organizations, including Solent People’s Theatre,

Battersea Arts Centre, and a platform for artist communities called Metal, and she was the

founding director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Kelly received an Order of the British

Empire for her impact in the theatre in 1997, a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the

British Empire award for her service in the arts, and won the inaugural Veuve Clicquot Social

Purpose Award in 2017 (“Order of the British Empire,” 2018).

After directing over 100 theatre and opera productions for companies all over Europe,

Kelly created the Women of the World Festival, or WOW, in 2011, which occurs all over the

world, including at the Southbank Centre. This festival celebrates what women have achieved

and looks to make the world a better place. Artists, writers, politicians, comedians, and activists

have gathered together yearly since 2011 for a program that includes speeches, debates, art and

musical performances, and workshops (Women of the World 2011, n.d.; WOW, n.d.). Today,

Jude Kelly is a commentator on issues about society, the arts, and education, and is on the board

of advisors that make up the MAKERS Global Partner Council Member, all because of those

women she mentioned who fought for her ability to have rights, vote, and receive an education

that provided her opportunity and ability to make these changes (“Jude Kelly, Artistic Director,

Southbank Centre,” 2018).

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One of the stories Kelly tells takes place in Africa, when she was visiting Somaliland for

her Woman of the World Festival. She went and saw these 9,000 year old paintings in the Laas

Geel caves, and when she saw what looked like a little girl painted on the wall, she wanted to

know more about the artists. She asked the cave curator about the men and women who painted

the cave images, and he responded, “Women didn’t paint these pictures… Women don’t do these

things. Men made these marks. Women don’t” (Kelly, 2016, para. 2:10). Kelly then brings up

how mankind has been taught this attitude, that inspired knowledge and creativity come through

masculine sources. She reminds us that these masculine stories are said to apply to and tell the

stories of all mankind, and feminine stories will just be relevant to women. “Unless we’re

prepared to believe that women’s stories really matter, then women’s rights don’t really matter,”

said Kelly, “and then change can’t really come” (Kelly, 2016, para. 3:30). Kelly then applies

what she shared with the audience to two different stories about masculine characters that are

supposed to matter to and affect all mankind.

When her two children were young, they saw the movie E.T. – a story about an extra-

terrestrial alien who is on Earth among a human family and just wants to get back home. After a

series of scary events, E.T.’s young group of friends are able to save the day. As Kelly looked at

her children to see how they reacted to the scene, she noticed that her young son was happy and

involved with the movie. Her young daughter, on the other hand, was crying and asking, “Why

can’t I save E.T.? Why can’t I come” (Kelly, 2016, para. 5:05)? At that moment, Kelly realized

that the group of children saving the day was only made up of her boys, and made the remark

that her daughter, who had invested so much time and energy in E.T. and his troubles, wasn’t

invited along to save the day, and was therefore humiliated and hurt.
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As a good mother who was invested in providing the best for her daughter, Kelly wrote to

the director of E.T., Steven Spielberg, to share what had happened. According to Kelly,

Spielberg said, “I wanted the world to understand that we should love and embrace difference”

(Kelly, 2016, para. 5:59). But she brings up the point that the director didn’t include girls or

women’s difference. Although Spielberg thought he was writing a story about humanity as a

whole, he was marginalizing half of the Earths’ population.

As Kelly reflects on this experience, she tells the audience that men feel as though that

have been given a mantle for communication with humanity. “We have to see that so many of

these stories are written through a male perspective… which is fine,” Kelly poses, “but then

females need to have 50 percent of the rights for the stage, the film, the novel, the place of

creativity” (2016, para. 6:55).

Kelly’s next story touches on what she refers to as “the quintessential example of human

dilemma and human experience” (2016, para. 7:23). Hamlet, a Shakespeare play, is about male

conflict, and although students are told it is a story for all humanity, it only includes two women.

She quotes Margaret Atwood, who says, “When a man writes about doing the dishes, it’s

realism. When a woman writes about doing it, it’s an unfortunate genetic disposition” (2016,

para. 8:37).

When Kelly was young, her teacher made fun of her for wanting to be a director. Many

of her friends, and other women throughout history, have experienced similar situations when

they have tried to follow their dreams. In only 2014, V.S. Naipaul said, “I can read two

paragraphs and know immediately if it’s written by a woman, and I just stop reading, because it’s

not worthy of me.” The audience had a visceral reaction to that shockingly sexist quote (Kelly,

2016, para. 9:59).

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Kelly tells the audience that they need to find a way to help girls and women know that

their story matters, and that they in fact are allowed to be the storyteller of it. No matter the

occupation of women, they need to tell their human story, or it will only ever be about men.

To conclude, Kelly invites the audience to make a change all over the world and support

women artists and give them platforms. She calls on artists of all genders to imagine a gender

equal world, and then have the stamina to create it through all mediums.

Kelly shows the audience a picture of the little girl she saw painted on that cave wall. “I

want to know that the little girl [from 11,000 years ago] now can stand there and think she’s

entitled to her dreams, she’s entitled to her destiny, and she’s entitled to speak on behalf of the

whole world, be recognized for it and applauded” (2016, para. 12:57). The attendees clapped as

Jude Kelly exited the stage, with some women even standing for ovation. She made a strong,

sentimental point, and was able to reach the women in the audience, just the way she wanted to.

In this TED Talk, Kelly shared examples of women getting removed from the storytelling

narrative and pushes the audience to imagine and create a gender-equal world, where not just

men, but women too, are revered and acknowledged as the storytellers of humanity. Many of

Kelly’s sources are her own personal stories and don’t necessarily have written, proven sources,

but the quotes and facts she does share line up. However, some quotes are worded slightly

differently in the talk than sources found online, but Kelly didn’t cite anything in her TED Talk,

so she might have genuinely found a source that says what she shared.

For example, when sharing the story about her daughter and E.T., Kelly mentions an

interview where Steven Spielberg apparently says, “I wanted the world to understand that we

should love and embrace difference” (2016, para 5:59). However, that quote isn’t anywhere

accessible, but a somewhat similar quote is - “It’s all about making kids feel like they can do
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anything. That nothing’s impossible” (Shone, 2016, n.p.). Those two quotes have the same

sentiment, but Kelly uses the first statement against the movie. The second quote wouldn’t have

been as strong in her fight for equality for girls.

Another similar example of a nearly accurate quote is one she mentions from V.S.

Naipaul. Kelly claims Naipaul said, “I can read two paragraphs and know immediately if it’s

written by a woman, and I just stop reading, because it’s not worthy of me” (Kelly, 2016, para.

9:59). However, according to The Guardian, Naipaul actually said, "I read a piece of writing and

within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not. I think [it is] unequal to me"

(Fallon, 2011, n.p.). The two quotes have the exact same meaning, no matter the context they are

used in. Unequal and unworthy are basically the same word, and were used interchangeably in

this sense.

Margaret Atwood did indeed say what Kelly quotes her as, with a few different words

here and there. “When a man writes about things like doing the dishes, it is realism, when a

woman does, it is an unfortunate feminine genetic limitation." Atwood originally wrote this in an

essay titled Paradoxes and Dilemmas, the Woman as Writer in response to critics such as Gilbert

and Gubar, who identified women authors only as housewives, and dismissed anything they

created (Atwood, 1996, p. 105).

Kelly was slightly biased in her TED Talk, as she is a theatre woman in a man’s world.

According to The Guardian, there is a 2:1 ratio of men to women in all aspects of English

theatre, from directors to actors (“Women in Theatre,” 2013). However, she has experienced that

bias and inequality in her life and is fairly qualified to speak on it.

Kelly shared this TED Talk at TEDWomen, a conference meant to uplift and inspire

women, with the intent to encourage women than their voices are indeed needed in the tale of
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humanity. The audience was visibly moved by the Talk and seemed to enjoy it (Kelly, 2016, para

12:08). Many women of the comments section felt the same, as seen in a comment from March

of 2017. “I do believe [a woman] can be a creative genius! And I do hope we will have a gender-

equal world! Thank you so much, Jude, for sharing! Keep inspiring us” (Alexandra, 2017, n.p.)!

A commenter known as “L I” wrote:

As a woman artist this feels really personal to me…. Women do produce a craft that is

different from men’s, and I think so often a women will put her whole soul unto a piece

of [work] and her tender quivering heart produces something softer/more

vulnerable/more raw/more subversive and she has taken a greater risk than to bare it…

Emily Bronte had to use a male pseudonym to have Wuthering Heights published. 200

years later we are still fighting for the same thing. (2017, n.p.)

“L I” also brought up the point that stories about graphic gang rapes, pedophiles, and

wars have received massive amounts of commercial success, whereas descriptions, or even

references, of common womanly situations such as menstrual blood and pain, giving birth, or

breastfeeding are unheard of (L I, 2017). While “L I” is biased as a woman artist, she has

adequate experience in the industry, and sees with a different eye than most, and can easily realte

to Kelly. Another commenter, Victoria Castrejon, loved the Talk. She posed the question, “Why

is it that through history women have always been second to men” (Castrejon, 2017, n.p.)?

A few men posted rude, anti-feminist, anti-woman comments, but most women on the

page were quick to correct and educate them. Isabelle Suttle commented, “It sucks that we have

to have this kind of talk” (Suttle, 2017, n.p.).

And indeed, it does “suck.” Hopefully, the women in the audience and those who have

seen this TED Talk since its release will take Kelly’s words to heart. Perhaps the next generation
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of girls will learn that their stories are important too, and raise their daughters, and sons, to feel

the same way. Maybe someday in the future, college students will not only study Shakespeare

and Homer and Dostoyevsky and Hemingway and… the list goes on. Perhaps, someday soon,

college students will analyze Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters and Agatha Christie, just to start.

The stories of these and other women like them not only deserve to be told, but need to be shared

if humankind wants to continue to progress towards equality they seek, because women’s stories

are just as important for the development of humanity.

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