What would Bertha do

women belong in all places

where decisions are being made the

famous quote from the late justice

ruth bader ginsburg a fearless visionary

in gender equality and a true driving

force for change

now today i’d like to tell you a story

about another remarkable woman in

history

who was also driving change and her name

was bertha benz

she was a pioneer and inventor who

transformed the motor industry

she was an inspiring woman who

fearlessly challenged the status quo of

her era

and in doing so challenged the world to

think a little differently

the bertha ringer was born in 1849 in

southern germany to a wealthy family

and went on to marry engineer carl benz

once married as the law dictated at that

time

bertha ceded control of her money to her

husband but karl was a good man

and with her ambition and vision and his

engineering expertise

together they developed a prototype of

the world’s first automobile

now initially carl was concerned that it

wouldn’t be a success

people had deemed the design a horseless

carriage something ghostly and sinister

so in the early hours of the 5th of

august in 1988

frustrated with the lack of progress

bertha decided to take her two sons aged

13

and 15 years old at the time and sat out

on a 66 mile journey to her parents home

she had it off behind her husband’s back

and despite the uncertainty of their

community

she took this unique device that had

never been tested in this way before

that could easily have broken down or

exploded at any time and they hit the

road but for every problem that she

encountered

she found a solution with classic female

ingenuity

when a spark plug wouldn’t ignite she

used her girder to create insulation

she used her hair pin to declug the fuel

line and the brakes started to fail

she stopped at a cobbler asked him to

apply leather thus creating the first

ever brake pad

and then when she got low on fuel she

visited a pharmacist and requested lid

grind solvent

establishing what is now the world’s

first ever fuel station

now along that journey she was laughed

at and mocked but she persevered because

her goal was clear

her goal was to prove her vision of

success for her and carl’s invention

her journey took around 12 hours and was

talked about far and wide

now this may seem a small journey for us

now but it was one historic leap

for both women and mankind bertha benz

is an example of a woman

literally generating power she drove

more than a car she drove an industry

because she believed in herself

now it’s incredible to think that around

the same time

and only a few generations ago women had

no authority to vote

no authority to hold their own money to

own property or even in some cases of

custodial control

over their own children our mothers

grandmothers and great-grandmothers

were being controlled with unjust and

unforgiving laws and traditions

that actively pushed them into getting

positions

against them getting into positions of

power it is these great women

that have gone before us and stood up to

the inequalities they faced we boldly

challenged the societal norms

blazing a trail of empowerment for us

all

they demonstrated fearlessness

confidence

and an inspiring willingness to act but

people will say now

but we’re in 2020 surely all these

things are different we’re all equal now

this whole equality stuff is sorted out

it’s done and dusted ancient history

but let’s look at the facts because the

facts speak for themselves

out of the 193 countries in the world

only 21 of them

have a woman as their leader only seven

percent of the fortune 500 companies are

female-led

and of the millions of people who are

illiterate across the world two-thirds

of them are women

and this hasn’t changed in the last 20

years these are shocking statistics

so the big question is this what is the

next step

well i think that our guiding

inspiration should be birth events

she was a woman ahead of her time so

let’s ask herself

what would bertha do i believe

that it is the behaviors and cultures in

society that are holding us back

so we need to challenge them we need to

change them and we need to play our part

in this movement

the way i see it there are two places

that we can spark this change

number one is within the home because as

parents and guardians

we can inspire the minds of our next

generation and secondly within the

workplace where we can create an

environment

where we can empower and allow us all to

thrive

firstly it starts within the home

because home is where the heart is

home is where the foundations of our

behaviors attitudes beliefs and values

are built

now i grew up on a farm and for mana

with ferns

that i now look back and see were very

forward thinking of their time when

social attitudes were very traditional

they treated the girls and the boys

equally they were focused on education

and us all having equal opportunity but

no matter how evolved in terms of

equality they were

i still needed to challenge change from

time to time so let me tell you a little

story about how i did just that so way

back then

one night many years ago i brought my

boyfriend home

and on that particular evening a

neighbor with very traditional views had

also called to visit

now the idea was way back then was that

man sat around and chatted whilst the

women waited on them hands and

hand and foot serving up a steady stream

of tea and biscuits

but that night we decided to shake it up

a little bit so i asked my boyfriend to

take the lead

with the kitchen duties well i went off

and sat next to my outraged neighbor

with my feet up for added effect as he

watched in disbelief

now i know bertha bends but from a very

early age i was aware of the

inequalities that women faced and i

wanted to challenge for change and i

certainly did

now in hindsight you might say that this

was something of a test

unfortunately he passed with flying

colours because we’ve now been married

for 30 years

we have seven children aged 29 to our

five-year-old twins

and we worked out the other day that by

the time our youngest have grown up

we’ll have been doing the school run for

over 40 years

far more driving than bertha benz could

ever have imagined

now with our own children

we continue to challenge these

traditional ways and we have raised them

all

as equals we are a team and we hope that

this sense of equality

at home in our actions and our behaviors

empowers our children as they step into

their own futures

i remember one night in particular we

were watching moana

my daughter who was five at the time was

singing along to all the songs

and one of the lines was i am the

daughter of the village chief and i

jokingly asked her

is daddy the village chief to which she

replied no mommy you’re the village

chief

so we’re certainly challenging some

stereotypes in our house

now the second place where we need to be

challenging behaviors and cultures

is the workplace my business has been

built on the founding principles of

flexibility

and freedom i believe as a leader that

you attract like-minded people into

positions of trust

who share your value values and your

vision now just recently

i was really thrilled when one of my

incredible leadership team come up to me

and told me that because i have created

a culture of empowerment within our

organization

it has given her the opportunity for

both personal and career growth that she

doesn’t

feel she could have achieved in any

other organization now that was a real

trade delight for me to hear a lot of

organizations however

due to the unrelenting and rigid

workplace structures it’s women with

children who often have to make those

tough choices

go part-time and too many cases have to

leave the workplace all together

now let’s be realistic how many men out

there are thinking to themselves when

they’re entering the workplace

workplace when i have a child when i go

part time

how will i manage to balance at all not

very many i suspect

but it it is difficult to balance and as

i’m sure my fellow mothers out there

will agree

there’s an ongoing notion in society

that you’re damned if you do and you’re

damned if you don’t

we’re criticized for working full-time

for prioritizing careers and allegedly

neglecting our families

or we’re given no value at all if we

choose not to work

society places less value on our

essential role as a mother and we end up

becoming financially dependent

and losing our career opportunities it’s

a no-win situation

i think about this the working week

as we know it today does it still work

for us it was of course

developed by a man and that man was

henry ford

he created the 40-hour working week in

1926 and introduced the concept of

weekends as a race period

whilst it was a significant improvement

at that time because people were

expected

to work as much as 100 hours a week

which definitely wasn’t good but it was

launched for men

working in factories and it hasn’t

changed in nearly 100 years

nowadays we have a more diverse

workforce

with new and exciting industries and a

continually changing evolving

professional mindset lifestyle

however we’re still stuck in the 1920s

and it’s time for us to challenge this

rigid routine

let’s create a more flexible working

environment based on productivity and

trust

people should have the ability to mold

their working day around when they’re

being most productive and around their

families were possible

and these ideas alone would open up a

whole new realm of possibilities giving

power back

especially to women to dictate their own

work week and therefore their life path

allowing them to raise their families

while building a career and still get

into all the places

where the decisions are being made

when we truly start to change culture

and behavior within the home and in the

workplace

that is when we will have real impact

the women that have gone before us

have fought for the law to be on our

side and it’s because of the struggles

of our four mothers

that we can now vote a financial

independence own businesses

and properties while still raising our

families let’s celebrate the strides

that we have made

but equally appreciate that our journey

is not over

for the next part of this journey i

believe that it’s critical that men and

women

now join forces to drive change the

research has shown time and time again

that an equal society is good for the

home and it’s good for business

according to the united nations gender

equality is not

only a fundamental human right but a

necessary foundation for a peaceful

prosperous and sustainable world

my birth is husband carl benz he

recognized the value of his wife’s

ambition and support

as critical to their collective success

in his

memoirs he said only one person

stood by me during those times when i

was heading towards the abyss

and that was my wife it was her courage

that enabled me to find new hope i

believe

that it’s when men and women begin to be

viewed as equals

act as equals and work together as

equals in all aspects of life

appreciating each other’s worth and

contribution

that is when we will have real power so

let’s all

be the change we want to see so i invite

you

both male and female to ask yourselves

what is the one thing that you can do

each day

whether that’s in your kitchen or your

boardroom to challenge the culture and

behaviors

to ensure that women will always be in

the places where the decisions are being

made

let’s drive that change as bertha did we

might get mucky along the way

we might even get some abuse but if we

use our garters or her pins our talent

and our determination

i’ve got no doubt that we can get there

and boy will it be worth it you