One third of the speakers on the TED 2014 main stage will be women. An additional 16 will participate in the "All Star" sessions, which again represents about one third of the sessions' speakers.

I believe stages everywhere (including those at TED and TEDx conferences) should reflect the ratio of women to men in the world's population (i.e. about 50:50).

Muriel “Mickie” Siebert, (born February 11, 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio), and known as "The First Woman of Finance", was the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and the first woman to head one of its member firms.

Her struggle to obtain that seat – and join the 1,365 male members of the exchange – culminated successfully on December 28, 1967. Siebert has been a vocal advocate for women in finance and industry throughout her career.

Susan notes: I invite men everywhere to join women in making this world a safer, better, more peaceful place to be.

1.    Approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.

Susan notes: this post is as timely now as when I wrote it in early 2010. I love the logic in the post below, AND I love knowing that women don't talk any more than men at all.