The Power of Vulnerability

I recently came across this amazing TED Talk (also below) with Brené Brown, an American social scientist who took to the painstaking task of studying vulnerability in human emotions; specifically, what separates people who are able to love wholeheartedly from those who claim they cannot. Her study was brave in that it became a personal exploration that she was able to then relate to big picture issues facing the world around her.

What Brown discovers is that those who have more confidence and are more open to loving relationships also make themselves very vulnerable in life, as in, they take on more risks. She also observed that people in America numb themselves to vulnerability, and this can be evidenced by the fact that we are "The most in debt, obese, addicted and medicated adult cohort in U.S. history."

What do her findings mean for society at large? I'm not entirely sure, but I think the notion that we as a people need to confront vulnerability and embrace it can be a powerful goal, to start.

BIG IDEAS: Macro Solutions

Microfinance has been lauded as a potential solution for global poverty and a way to empower marginalized women. But in this essay for Economica Zainab Salbi says we can't settle for micro solutions:

"Around the world, women's work is unrewarding work: it means low pay and long hours. Women farmers don't own the land they cultivate. Women factory workers are paid less and often intimidated, sexually harassed or exploited. Female domestic workers are not unionized and face a high risk of trafficking and other exploitation, particularly if they are undocumented members of the "grey" economy.

...Women must be empowered as economic players across the spectrum--as laborers, managers, entrepreneurs and investors.

So what does this mean? What would it take to integrate women across the economic spectrum? It's certainly a tall order. We must reframe the way we think about economics, asking at every turn 'Where are the women?'"

What do you think? Is microfinance good enough? What are some other ways that women can be empowered to work as true change-agents in the global economy? Is it a matter of changing our mindset, or are there other hurdles to overcome, too?

Women Need Macro Solutions, Too [Economica: Women and the Global Economy]