Yassmin Abdel-Magied: What does my headscarf mean to you?
Yassmin Abdel-Magied wears many hats, including a hijab. She's a mechanical engineer, writer and activist who campaigns for tolerance and diversity. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
walks past you in the street.
to wear this outfit?
in the exact same outfit
and the way I'm treated
of this piece of cloth.
another monologue about the hijab
are so much more than the piece of cloth
to wrap their head in.
I was a race car engineer,
and I ran my university's race team,
trained as a boxer for five years,
associated with it
called unconscious bias,
ridiculously detrimental
from the outset:
as conscious discrimination.
there's a secret sexist or racist
waiting to get out.
we see the world around us.
has to be identified,
education, disability.
against what's different,
to live in a world
has a role to play
does not determine our lives.
in the space of unconscious bias
in the 1970s and 1980s.
were made up mostly of dudes,
men played it differently,
you would have to play behind a screen.
to take their shoes off
of the heels
increased chance
the preliminary stage.
their chances of getting in.
men actually didn't play differently,
that they did.
determining their outcome.
is identifying and acknowledging
a horrible car accident.
is rushed to hospital.
when they arrive and is like,
the surgeon was a guy?
that unconscious bias exists,
to acknowledge that it's there
that we can move past it
is the topic of quotas.
that's often brought up.
is this idea of merit.
because I'm a chick,
I have merit,
among female engineers
in an experiment done in 2012 by Yale,
for a lab technician,
be deemed less competent,
how we can move past it.
it's called the merit paradox.
and this is kind of ironic --
being their primary value-driver
and more likely to pay the guys more
is a masculine quality.
a good read on me,
and being like,
This is how it's done."
that's my day job.
that it's pretty entertaining.
isn't even comment-worthy.
to learn how to surf."
know how you can surf
with a brilliant idea,
that organization
for Muslim chicks in beaches.
Youth Without Boardshorts."
telling me that
I was going to get around there.
lack of diversity in our workforce,
did an experiment
4,000 identical applications
as someone with an Anglo-Saxon name,
to send out 68 percent more applications.
Abdel-Magied --
you're pretty lucky,
it's not that much better.
some diversity results
and nine, a bunch of blacks, Hispanics,
is not that much better
what they're doing about it.
of the FTSE 100 companies
at their board level,
don't have an executive
that are at that sort of level
What can I do about it?"
and that's due to unconscious bias.
there thinking,
to do with me?"
we're looking for an ideal.
of your birth don't matter,
of the lab resume experiment
the successful women together,
heard that before,
to mentor someone different.
who kind of is familiar,
who's got a bit of attitude,
who went to the same school,
going to want to help that person out.
who has no shared experiences with you
to find that connection.
different to mentor,
from the same background as you,
for people who couldn't even get
the world is not just.
with equal opportunity.
cities in the world, Khartoum.
that is pretty suspicious of us
that I was born with privilege.
of migrating to Australia.
with amazing mentors
that I didn't even know were there.
so that I can share it with people."
belong on an Australian rig,
in my communities
helped out by mentors.
of so many other young people.
when she came to Australia,
of the Year Award in 2008.
in the abaya at the beginning.
if you had seen me
of who I am?
the opposite end of your spectrum
those kinds of opportunities,
diversity has nothing to do with you,
where to find someone different,
private high school tutoring,
local refugee tutoring center.
totally out of place --
because we're not victims,
you have access to doors
they didn't have.
with lack of opportunity,
has the potential to change that.
of challenges today,
and think about it a little differently,
your initial perceptions
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Yassmin Abdel-Magied - Mechanical engineer, social advocateYassmin Abdel-Magied wears many hats, including a hijab. She's a mechanical engineer, writer and activist who campaigns for tolerance and diversity.
Why you should listen
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is on a mission to promote diversity throughout society, however and wherever she can. Born in Sudan, she moved to Australia when she was two years old, and trained as a mechanical engineer. She now spends her time both working as an engineering specialist on oil and gas rigs -- and heading up Youth Without Borders, the organization she founded to enable young people to work for positive change in their communities.
Named the 2015 Queensland Young Australian of the Year, Yassmin advocates for the empowerment of youth, women and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. In 2007, she was named Young Australian Muslim of the Year. She also really like motorsports.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied | Speaker | TED.com