I was always an unlikely leader
I was quiet very private and introverted
I first considered standing for a
leadership position 21 years ago when I
was doing the first share of my
International Baccalaureate or IB one of
the SRC elections had come round again
and traditionally the SRC was headed by
the IB one class one of my classmates
Pleiku came up to me and asked me if I’d
consider standing for a position and I
said to him of course not
no one’s gonna vote for me and he said
to me that’s a really lousy attitude and
it stung at the time because but I’d
felt completely justified in my opinion
after all elections are essentially a
popularity contest and I did not
consider myself to be popular but that
conversation left a lasting impression
on me 17 years later I decided to
contest it for the position of honorary
secretary of a law Association of Zambia
the law Association of Zambia is the
body that regulates the legal profession
in Zambia it also has a mandate as a
watchdog of a rule of law and
constitutional issues in Zambia I
decided to stand for amongst other
reasons because I am an advocate for
women’s empowerment and I believe that I
should set lead by example but before I
decided to stand I consulted a few of my
friends as to whether it was a good idea
or not and they said to me you should go
ahead but be prepared to fail one of
them gave me a book called dare to fail
by Billy Lim in that book the author
narrates a story of a young lady who
aspired to become a prima ballerina she
practiced hard every day and one day
heard that a famous ballet troupe and
ballet master were coming to town
so she went to the performance and
afterwards went behind stage to see the
ballet master she asked him if she could
dance for him and he said go ahead
so she danced her heart out and
afterwards asked him was that okay and
he said to her no I don’t think you have
what it takes and she went away
devastated crushed that she would no
longer be a ballerina she got married
and had children but many years later
she heard that the same ballet troupe
and valley master were coming to town so
she decided she would see him after the
performance she went to see the ballet
master and said to him you know it’s
troubled me all these years that she
were able to dismiss my talents so
easily how did you know that I didn’t
have what it takes and he said to her I
barely looked at you that’s my standard
response to all ballerinas and she was
incredulous
she said you destroyed my dreams of
becoming a ballerina and he said to her
no if you’d had what it takes you
wouldn’t have listened to a word I said
and spurred on by that lesson I stood
for the position of honorary secretary
and beat my opponent by a ratio of two
just over a year ago I was elected
president of the Law Association of
Zambia I became the first female to head
the Association in the history of the
Association pre or post zambese
independence in 1964 it was a big deal
I received local and international
recognition and the head of state and
the two leaders of the two main
opposition parties congratulated me but
I quickly realized that not much more
was expected of me other than I had
achieved that feat a couple of months
after I was elected I got a call from an
organization that wanted to give me an
award simply for having won the election
they knew nothing of my prior work I
decided that I was going to accept that
award several months later because by
that time I decided I would have earned
it by showing up and being fully engaged
in my work by that time I had earned the
nickname the Iron Lady for the position
that the low association of Zambia had
taken to sue every cabinet minister and
Deputy Minister for failing to leave
office after the dissolution of
but much as I face challenges in my
elections I think the words by Thomas
O’Neill are very true it’s easier to run
for office than it is to run the office
as a female leader in a patriarchal
society your path is fraught with
hurdles and obstacles I remember one day
asking advice from a former loss
association president and as I listened
to his response it became very apparent
that he knew nothing of what it was to
be a strong African female with an
opinion in my position in the digital
age I was a unicorn what I know for sure
about being a female leader is that it’s
considerably harder to be considered a
good leader you have to be fixed in
because you receive more abuse you have
to be excellent because your competence
is often questioned and you have to
accept that your personal life and your
personal appearance will be a
distraction as shown in this picture
this is a picture of British Prime
Minister Theresa May talking to the
Scottish First Minister about Briggs it
and the only thing that made the
headlines were their legs this is a
picture of Katherine Schweitzer which I
keep on my phone she was the first woman
to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 she
did so by disguising the fact that she
was a woman in the picture one of the
organisers is trying to prevent her from
running the race get out of my race and
give me those numbers he said to her
Here I am 50 years later straddling
through male chauvinism vitriolic hate
speech and threats of personal attack
simply because I am a woman according to
the International the
inter-parliamentary Union 40% of female
MPs globally say
that they have received threats of
abduction sexual or physical assault and
that is extended to some of their
children one fifth of female MPs
globally say that they have experienced
at least one act of sexual assault and
eighty percent of female MPs globally
say that they have experienced hostile
behavior that’s led them to fear for
their safety as the former
anti-apartheid activist dr. Mamphela
ramphele said throughout my career I’ve
had to bear the burden of being the only
woman the first woman it’s not something
to be celebrated it’s a serious
commentary on society’s failure to
leverage the talent of women I could not
agree more so often in African society
women are merely seen as an appendage to
men
I remember one female African ambassador
telling me that when she was posted to a
West African country she was advised by
very well-meaning women not to tell
other people that she was divorced
because they didn’t think she’d be
respected in my own work I’m constantly
being told that I’m unwittingly being
influenced by men I’m seen to be
associated with or perceived to be
associated with and I think it’s
incredibly insulting that people don’t
think that women have independent minds
I’m always surprised that people are
surprised that women can be as tough and
as smart as men but perhaps given the
statistics of the number of women in
office it’s hardly surprising that
people think this this is a picture of
President Donald Trump signing an
executive order on women’s health and as
the congresswoman carolyn maloney
remarks when she saw this picture where
are all the women according to Forbes in
2016 only 24% of senior business rolls
globally were taken up by women
according to the inter-parliamentary
Union only 23 point three percent of
parliamentary seats worldwide are taken
up by women in Zambia the number of
parliamentary seats taken up by women
sits at sixteen point seven percent and
this means that there’s a lot of
unoccupied space for women to fill in
Sheryl Sandberg’s book lean in she gives
us a rundown of why there not more women
in positions of influence and to
summarize it it’s essentially sexism and
a lack of self-confidence and in keeping
with the theme of this TEDx conference
here is my five points to get lost is to
find the way here is my five point
Survival Guide for women who do get
there have the courage of your
convictions in my own life my faith
keeps me grounded I live by the words in
Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 I can do
all things through Christ Jesus who
but it applies to anybody of any faith
or persuasion having the courage of your
convictions makes the difference between
losing hope and achieving greatness
sometimes it’ll be all you have before
you see the light at the end of the
tunnel pay it forward it is no neon top
so bring others with you in my own work
I try as much as possible to create
opportunities for other women to step
into positions of influence I think
there’s nothing more destructive to
women than the perception that women are
their own worst enemies we need to build
each other up being a woman in a
position of influence needs to be the
long before never give up the Zambian
music producer tally Malala me once said
the none exceptional rejoice when the
great for because it relieves them from
the burden of believing that they too
can be great
leading requires taking risks and you
will not always be successful but in
those times when you fall you have to
dig dig deep within to discover what
you’re really made of get up if only to
drive the haters crazy and lastly number
five build character the famous
basketball coach John Wooden once said
be more concerned with your character
than your reputation because your
character is what you really are
whereas your reputation is merely what
people think you are and I think that is
extremely important because so often I
hear women say oh I’ll never get into
the political arena because it’s too
dirty and as a result we’re losing out
on the talent of millions of women
globally as Australian former Prime
Minister Julia Gillard said in order to
tackle sexism against women in positions
of influence we need to create a
critical mass of women in leadership now
I’ve been demeaned scorned and
threatened with physical violence and
yet I would do it all again someone
needs to be the first so that no one is
and I’ll put my own twist on a saying in
member dsango a Bokashi loosely
translated it means whatever the storm
women will still be standing two women
out there who want to lead you are
enough yes we can
[Applause] [Music]
I was quiet very private and introverted
I first considered standing for a
leadership position 21 years ago when I
was doing the first share of my
International Baccalaureate or IB one of
the SRC elections had come round again
and traditionally the SRC was headed by
the IB one class one of my classmates
Pleiku came up to me and asked me if I’d
consider standing for a position and I
said to him of course not
no one’s gonna vote for me and he said
to me that’s a really lousy attitude and
it stung at the time because but I’d
felt completely justified in my opinion
after all elections are essentially a
popularity contest and I did not
consider myself to be popular but that
conversation left a lasting impression
on me 17 years later I decided to
contest it for the position of honorary
secretary of a law Association of Zambia
the law Association of Zambia is the
body that regulates the legal profession
in Zambia it also has a mandate as a
watchdog of a rule of law and
constitutional issues in Zambia I
decided to stand for amongst other
reasons because I am an advocate for
women’s empowerment and I believe that I
should set lead by example but before I
decided to stand I consulted a few of my
friends as to whether it was a good idea
or not and they said to me you should go
ahead but be prepared to fail one of
them gave me a book called dare to fail
by Billy Lim in that book the author
narrates a story of a young lady who
aspired to become a prima ballerina she
practiced hard every day and one day
heard that a famous ballet troupe and
ballet master were coming to town
so she went to the performance and
afterwards went behind stage to see the
ballet master she asked him if she could
dance for him and he said go ahead
so she danced her heart out and
afterwards asked him was that okay and
he said to her no I don’t think you have
what it takes and she went away
devastated crushed that she would no
longer be a ballerina she got married
and had children but many years later
she heard that the same ballet troupe
and valley master were coming to town so
she decided she would see him after the
performance she went to see the ballet
master and said to him you know it’s
troubled me all these years that she
were able to dismiss my talents so
easily how did you know that I didn’t
have what it takes and he said to her I
barely looked at you that’s my standard
response to all ballerinas and she was
incredulous
she said you destroyed my dreams of
becoming a ballerina and he said to her
no if you’d had what it takes you
wouldn’t have listened to a word I said
and spurred on by that lesson I stood
for the position of honorary secretary
and beat my opponent by a ratio of two
just over a year ago I was elected
president of the Law Association of
Zambia I became the first female to head
the Association in the history of the
Association pre or post zambese
independence in 1964 it was a big deal
I received local and international
recognition and the head of state and
the two leaders of the two main
opposition parties congratulated me but
I quickly realized that not much more
was expected of me other than I had
achieved that feat a couple of months
after I was elected I got a call from an
organization that wanted to give me an
award simply for having won the election
they knew nothing of my prior work I
decided that I was going to accept that
award several months later because by
that time I decided I would have earned
it by showing up and being fully engaged
in my work by that time I had earned the
nickname the Iron Lady for the position
that the low association of Zambia had
taken to sue every cabinet minister and
Deputy Minister for failing to leave
office after the dissolution of
but much as I face challenges in my
elections I think the words by Thomas
O’Neill are very true it’s easier to run
for office than it is to run the office
as a female leader in a patriarchal
society your path is fraught with
hurdles and obstacles I remember one day
asking advice from a former loss
association president and as I listened
to his response it became very apparent
that he knew nothing of what it was to
be a strong African female with an
opinion in my position in the digital
age I was a unicorn what I know for sure
about being a female leader is that it’s
considerably harder to be considered a
good leader you have to be fixed in
because you receive more abuse you have
to be excellent because your competence
is often questioned and you have to
accept that your personal life and your
personal appearance will be a
distraction as shown in this picture
this is a picture of British Prime
Minister Theresa May talking to the
Scottish First Minister about Briggs it
and the only thing that made the
headlines were their legs this is a
picture of Katherine Schweitzer which I
keep on my phone she was the first woman
to run the Boston Marathon in 1967 she
did so by disguising the fact that she
was a woman in the picture one of the
organisers is trying to prevent her from
running the race get out of my race and
give me those numbers he said to her
Here I am 50 years later straddling
through male chauvinism vitriolic hate
speech and threats of personal attack
simply because I am a woman according to
the International the
inter-parliamentary Union 40% of female
MPs globally say
that they have received threats of
abduction sexual or physical assault and
that is extended to some of their
children one fifth of female MPs
globally say that they have experienced
at least one act of sexual assault and
eighty percent of female MPs globally
say that they have experienced hostile
behavior that’s led them to fear for
their safety as the former
anti-apartheid activist dr. Mamphela
ramphele said throughout my career I’ve
had to bear the burden of being the only
woman the first woman it’s not something
to be celebrated it’s a serious
commentary on society’s failure to
leverage the talent of women I could not
agree more so often in African society
women are merely seen as an appendage to
men
I remember one female African ambassador
telling me that when she was posted to a
West African country she was advised by
very well-meaning women not to tell
other people that she was divorced
because they didn’t think she’d be
respected in my own work I’m constantly
being told that I’m unwittingly being
influenced by men I’m seen to be
associated with or perceived to be
associated with and I think it’s
incredibly insulting that people don’t
think that women have independent minds
I’m always surprised that people are
surprised that women can be as tough and
as smart as men but perhaps given the
statistics of the number of women in
office it’s hardly surprising that
people think this this is a picture of
President Donald Trump signing an
executive order on women’s health and as
the congresswoman carolyn maloney
remarks when she saw this picture where
are all the women according to Forbes in
2016 only 24% of senior business rolls
globally were taken up by women
according to the inter-parliamentary
Union only 23 point three percent of
parliamentary seats worldwide are taken
up by women in Zambia the number of
parliamentary seats taken up by women
sits at sixteen point seven percent and
this means that there’s a lot of
unoccupied space for women to fill in
Sheryl Sandberg’s book lean in she gives
us a rundown of why there not more women
in positions of influence and to
summarize it it’s essentially sexism and
a lack of self-confidence and in keeping
with the theme of this TEDx conference
here is my five points to get lost is to
find the way here is my five point
Survival Guide for women who do get
there have the courage of your
convictions in my own life my faith
keeps me grounded I live by the words in
Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 I can do
all things through Christ Jesus who
but it applies to anybody of any faith
or persuasion having the courage of your
convictions makes the difference between
losing hope and achieving greatness
sometimes it’ll be all you have before
you see the light at the end of the
tunnel pay it forward it is no neon top
so bring others with you in my own work
I try as much as possible to create
opportunities for other women to step
into positions of influence I think
there’s nothing more destructive to
women than the perception that women are
their own worst enemies we need to build
each other up being a woman in a
position of influence needs to be the
long before never give up the Zambian
music producer tally Malala me once said
the none exceptional rejoice when the
great for because it relieves them from
the burden of believing that they too
can be great
leading requires taking risks and you
will not always be successful but in
those times when you fall you have to
dig dig deep within to discover what
you’re really made of get up if only to
drive the haters crazy and lastly number
five build character the famous
basketball coach John Wooden once said
be more concerned with your character
than your reputation because your
character is what you really are
whereas your reputation is merely what
people think you are and I think that is
extremely important because so often I
hear women say oh I’ll never get into
the political arena because it’s too
dirty and as a result we’re losing out
on the talent of millions of women
globally as Australian former Prime
Minister Julia Gillard said in order to
tackle sexism against women in positions
of influence we need to create a
critical mass of women in leadership now
I’ve been demeaned scorned and
threatened with physical violence and
yet I would do it all again someone
needs to be the first so that no one is
and I’ll put my own twist on a saying in
member dsango a Bokashi loosely
translated it means whatever the storm
women will still be standing two women
out there who want to lead you are
enough yes we can
[Applause] [Music]
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