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| TEDWomen | |
|---|---|
| Name | TEDWomen |
| Genre | Conferences |
| First | 2010 |
| Founder | Chris Anderson (curator) |
| Organized by | TED Conferences |
| Frequency | Annual (varies) |
| Location | Palm Springs, California, New York City, San Francisco, Vancouver, Berlin |
TEDWomen TEDWomen is an annual conference series that focuses on women’s leadership, ideas, and creativity within public life. Launched by TED Conferences to spotlight diverse voices, the series convenes speakers from fields including film, science, technology, politics, literature, art, medicine, business, and activism. TEDWomen programs have been staged alongside the broader TED ecosystem of events such as TEDGlobal and TEDx, drawing participants from institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and United Nations bodies.
TEDWomen began as an initiative within TED Conferences under the leadership of Chris Anderson (curator) and executive producers associated with TED Prize programming. The inaugural conference in 2010 built on TED’s earlier thematic gatherings like TEDGlobal 2009 and drew inspiration from women-centered forums such as Women in the World Summit and Davos Women in the World. Early editions featured speakers from organizations including Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch and intersected with movements represented by figures who had participated in Women’s March (2017)-era activism and global policy debates at United Nations General Assembly sessions. Over subsequent years the series expanded formats, incorporating panel discussions, performances, and film premieres similar to events at Sundance Film Festival and SXSW (conference).
Programming at TEDWomen typically addresses topics spanning leadership, innovation, equity, and creativity, featuring sessions on areas such as climate change policy debates linked to COP conferences, public health discussions resonant with World Health Organization initiatives, and storytelling practices comparable to those at Pulitzer Prize-winning institutions. The series has showcased intersections of technology with social change through speakers affiliated with Google, Microsoft, Apple Inc., and IBM. Arts and culture offerings have included collaborators from The New York Times, The Guardian, National Public Radio, and BBC. Curatorial themes have ranged from resilience and belonging to futurism and design thinking, echoing conceptual frameworks used by TEDx licensees and academic symposia at Royal Academy of Arts and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
TEDWomen has hosted a wide array of prominent figures and rising leaders, including speakers associated with Malala Yousafzai, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sheryl Sandberg, Ava DuVernay, Brené Brown, Samantha Power, Melinda French Gates, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sylvia Earle, Jane Goodall, Arianna Huffington, Esther Duflo, Angela Merkel, Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, Naomi Klein, Frida Kahlo-related curators, and Yoko Ono-adjacent projects. Talks have run the gamut from research-driven presentations linked to National Academy of Sciences findings to narrative essays comparable to works published by Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Memorable presentations have influenced media coverage in outlets such as The New Yorker, Time (magazine), Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.
The TEDWomen series has contributed to shaping public conversations by amplifying voices that later appeared in policy settings like United Nations Women briefings and legislative forums including European Parliament debates. Critics and commentators in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Los Angeles Times have both praised the series for platforming innovative female leaders and questioned the commercial gatekeeping associated with TED Conferences ticketing and curation. Scholarly analysis published in journals connected to Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and Oxford University Press has examined TEDWomen’s role in discourse formation, comparing its influence to that of cultural events such as Edinburgh Festival Fringe and summit models like Clinton Global Initiative.
Production of TEDWomen is managed by teams within TED Conferences under the oversight of curators and executive producers who coordinate logistics with partners including production companies that work on Primetime Emmy-level broadcasts and streaming distribution. Staging involves collaboration with technical vendors experienced with large-scale events common to Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and corporate forums organized by Salesforce. The program often secures sponsorship and institutional partnerships with foundations like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, corporations such as Intel Corporation, and media partners including PBS and Netflix for select filmed content. Volunteer-driven models similar to TEDx support local programming and speaker coaching draws on networks tied to Peabody Awards juries and festival curators.
TEDWomen events have been held in varied venues across North America and Europe, including Palm Springs, California, where conferences benefited from conference infrastructure used by Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival attendees; urban stages in New York City and San Francisco with ties to institutions like Lincoln Center and Moscone Center; and international settings in Vancouver and Berlin that align with cultural calendars featuring Vancouver International Film Festival and Berlinale. Satellite programming and local editions have taken place at university campuses such as Harvard University and University of California, Los Angeles as well as cultural institutions including The Smithsonian Institution and Brooklyn Academy of Music.