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We all live in a society that [affects]
the way we think, the way we act,
the way we interact with each other.
It affects all kinds of people,
young, old, men, women,
people from different races,
cultures and backgrounds.
So, as I was reading a book about social psychology,
I read an interesting fact,
that everything affects the way you think.
For example, you wake up in the morning,
you open a paper, you read something in that news,
For example, a news about a certain performer.
You hear something about him,
you subconsciously judge him.
You're saying: "What's that crazy man doing?"
"Why is he doing that?"
without even knowing the person, you judge him.
For example, you read about a mugging
happening in a certain area.
Subconsciously, you're not going to take that route,
because you're gonna think:
"Maybe something is gonna happen to me"
The reaction of the audience right now to what I'm saying
is actually gonna affect the way I'm gonna speak.
So, if minor things like these affect the way you think,
the way you interact with people, the way you act,
how can big things like, the rules [and] regulations of society.
Things that are engraved in your brains since you were small kids.
So, this brings me to my topic,
which is the effect of society on the motivation of women.
What brought me to this idea --
You may ask what is motivation?
Motivation is the force that drives you to achieve your goals.
So, our lecturer asked us:
"What is your vision? What is your goal?"
He thought that young people
in the Sudanese society weren't motivated.
So, he asked us: "What is your vision?"
So, he asked 3 females and 1 male,
because in architecture we have more females than males.
And the guy, he answered: "I want to be a millionaire,
I wanna be in Forbes magazine,"
Although I think he stole the words from [the lyrics] of another song.
And he also said: "I want to be a well-known architect."
When asked the girls, they're answers were vague:
"I wanna have a career." "In what?", he asked them. "I'm not sure."
"I'm not sure where," "My ultimate [goal], I don't know."
So, I asked a couple of people 3 questions.
The 1st question: "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?"
"Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"
"What is your ultimate goal?"
I asked females and males.
The males' answers were decisive.
I wanna be in America,
I want to have my own firm in 10 years.
The girls' answers were: "I wanna have a career in 5 years,"
"And then in 10 years I wanna get married,"
and it was switched, either I wanna be married
in 5 years, or I wanna have a career in 10 years.
You ask them in what? Also, vague.
And then, their ultimate goal: "Not so sure."
Why not? "I don't know, I'm not sure,
maybe something is gonna happen on the way."
So, I think this is based --
Although I asked these questions to young females,
college students, people who got into university.
And if you've realized, in the past 20 years,
more girls have been able to get into college,
to be able to get a degree,
so that shows, academically, they can achieve that.
They can actually reach university level.
But then when you go to the workforce,
you find that there are less girls.
Because even when you go to get the job,
[in] some certain workplace, they say: "We don't want females, we want males."
And I thought why don't people want to achieve their dreams?
What is the problem? And there [were] two factors.
And I think one, in my opinion is "the formula."
You might ask me what "the formula" is?
The formula is -- People in Sudan here is the thing --
For example, the woman, she stays at home,
the man, he goes to work,
and the kids of course go study [at] school or whatever.
But that doesn't have to be the case.
We had our neighbours in England.
The man he had a job in Computer Science, so he stayed at home.
The female, she had a job,
and then the kids of course went to school.
So, that's not the scenario that has to always be there.
But a person should keep an open mind for different scenarios.
And then other thing,
have anyone of you [seen] the video "Aleris Aleris,"
made by a young artist, Amin Bihari,
a very good artist. (Applause)
And the thing is, if you haven't seen it
"Aleris Aleris," means "Marriage Marriage" --
If you haven't seen it, it's about [a] young girl
who wants to achieve things.
So, every time she goes and she tries to do something,
for example, become a businesswoman.
Her mother says: "Aleris Aleris,"
she goes to another thing,
her mother says: "Aleris Aleris."
Even when she gets married,
her mother says: "Alwilada Alwilada." (Giving birth)
So, even whatever she wants to she can't actually achieve her goal.
So, that brings me to another case study.
There was a study that said that
educated women could not bear children.
That was in the 1980s in America,
not "will not bear children," "cannot bear children,"
like physically they can't, and then suddenly one day
an educated woman was able to bear a child,
I think that was very awkward for them at that moment.
But the thing is, this shows us that
things around you tell you that
you cannot do anything,
you cannot achieve your dreams --
There are a lot of examples of women
who were able to do a lot.
The pictures aren't shown here,
very sorry, something happened.
But one of them is Helen Keller,
she was blind, she could not hear,
she wrote one of the major novels.
There is another example, Bessie Coleman,
she was the first aviator in the 1930s I guess or 40s,
she was black, she was a female,
when things were against her,
she was able to achieve that.
There is also one, who was -- (Applause)
Wilma Rudolph, she had polio, she was paralyzed
until she was the age of 10, and she fought it,
and she became the first female
to win a triple gold medal in [the] Olympics. (Applause)
Why do we go to foreign examples,
there are local examples.
Fatima Mohamed Ibrahim was the first woman
to get into parliament by election.
Khalda Zahir, was the first woman
to be able to become a medical student and [get] into university.
And people who were able to achieve so much more.
So, my point is, if you have a dream,
if you wanna achieve it, you being a female
does not stop you, work for your dream,
even if the society is against you,
even if people tell you you can't do it,
you can achieve whatever you want to do.
And thank you.
(Applause)