Women rock! And they are doing a fantastic job at making the world a better place for all. TED provides several videos on the actions being taken by some of the most inspirational Women of this generation. Let me introduce you to four of these women.

1) Jill Farrant – How we can make crops survive without water

With both the population and climate change increasing, we have to ask how we can feed more people with less arable land. In her Ted talk, Jill Farrant is leading the development of drought-tolerant crops in response to this problem.

Don’t worry – we aren’t all going to be snacking on cactus anytime soon! Jill’s research focuses on the relatively unknown world of “resurrection plants”; plants which appear to “die” in major droughts but are “brought back to life” when they next receive moisture or are irrigated.

2) Myriam Sidibe – The simple power of hand washing

As a child, you must remember being nagged by parents and teachers to wash your hands with soap several times a day. Unfortunately, this norm has not yet been embedded across the developing world. In the Ted talk about “The simple power of hand washing”, Myriam Sidibe explains this simple act can reduce the risk of diseases and, if implemented globally, hand-washing with soap could save the lives of 600,000 children a year!

Although the concept of hand washing is not new, Myriam’s innovative approach is to get large soap-selling companies to heavily advertise the concept of hand washing instead of relying on underfunded governments to spread the word. The benefits for the companies involved are obvious – more people washing hands means more people buying soap, driving profits up.

The real beauty of Myriam’s idea is its simplicity. She demonstrates that we don’t always need to invent new, ground-breaking technology to make the world a better place. Sometimes we just need to utilize what we already have.

3) Chieko Asakawa – How new technology helps blind people explore the world

Blinded at the age of 14, Chieko Asakawa has devoted her career to making the world more accessible for blind people.

Chieko is developing a smartphone app that can perform a whole range of tasks to enable blind people to gain independence. One feature of this app is a navigator that allows the blind to walk with audio guidance, similar to an in-car GPS. The app also aims to incorporate facial recognition software that reads the expressions and emotions of those the user is interacting with, in order to enhance social situations.

This app is still a work in progress but with Chieko’s determination, I have full faith that such technology will be available in the foreseeable future.

4) Ziauddin Yousafazi – My Daughter Malala

In this TED Talk, Ziauddin Yousafazi speaks proudly of his daughter, Malala Yousafazi, famously known as “the girl who was shot by the Taliban”. Although I may have been guilty of grumbling about going to school as a child, there is no denying the importance of our fundamental right to education. A right which we should not take for granted.

Malala campaigns endlessly for the right of all young girls to have an education so everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. Read more about Malala’s story here in our latest article.

Feeling inspired? Browse the TED talks site or this series of powerful videos on Better World International website to check out even more ways in which women (and men too!) are making a positive impact on the world.  You could also take a look at Katt Gu’s article on Ted Talks (insert hyperlink when available) to find out more.

It’s time for you to have your say! Share your thoughts in the comment section about what you think of the “future world”.

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