"A seat at the table" isn't the solution for gender equity | Lilly Singh

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 March 2022

⏱️ 20 minutes

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Summary

Women and girls are conditioned to believe success is "a seat at the table." Creator, actress and author Lilly Singh thinks we need to build a better table. In this hilarious, incisive talk, Singh traces the arc of her career from up-and-coming YouTuber to history-making late-night talk show host, offering four ways to build a more inclusive society where girls are encouraged and empowered to do great things.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Elise Hugh. You're listening to TED Talks Daily. Finding a way in, despite being told there's no space for you, is something actress and creator Lily Singh has had to do her whole life. In her talk from TED Women in 2021, she uses her trademark wit and spunk to unpack what it really means to have a
0:23.0	seat at the table after she learned the lessons the hard way. So when I was born on September
0:31.5	26, 1988, my grandparents and great grandparents back in India didn't find out for two weeks.
0:38.1	And it's not because the phone lines were down or because they weren't. my grandparents and great-grandparents back in India didn't find out for two weeks.
0:40.9	And it's not because the phone lines were down
0:42.7	or because they weren't available,
0:45.8	it's because there was a complication with my birth.
0:49.4	And that complication was being assigned female at birth.
0:52.4	You see, because my mom had been told
0:55.0	that if she gave birth to a daughter, it wasn't worth phoning home about. After all, she'd already given birth to my older sister, and this time
0:59.5	everyone had high hopes that she would do right and have a son. But she didn't. She had me.
1:07.4	And so there were no congratulations or Indian sweets sent our way.
1:12.1	Just the reality that from the moment I came into this world,
1:15.7	I was already a disappointment to so many people.
1:19.5	It's as if they had a time machine
1:21.0	and already knew the trajectory of my entire career and life
1:24.0	and decided that I had less to offer.
1:27.3	And it sucked.
1:29.5	So why am I telling you this heavy story?
1:31.5	After I'm supposed to be a funny person,
1:33.1	I have the nerve to come out here and hit you right in the fields.
1:35.5	How dare I?
	...

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