Power is the ability to define the way one wishes to be in the world according to one’s own knowledge and experience and not in obedience to the standards others set. If so, what impact does today’s self-help, consumer-based, entertainment-focused culture have on women’s ability to claim such power for themselves?

Women have come a long way, but there’s a long way to go; yet the messaging and spectacle of popular culture seems to be that women have reached their destination or that if they only fixed themselves, women would have no trouble fulfilling their potential. The quest, however, is not only to acquire power; it’s to transform society. To bring about change, women must continue to challenge current dominant ideologies and be wary of cultural distractions which obscure the obstacles they face in the struggle to become full and equal civic contributors.


A life-long learner, Ms. Faris successfully defended her MA in Graduate Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in 2015. She has worked as a Teaching Assistant in the Humanities, History, and English departments at SFU and is pursuing her studies there now as a PhD candidate with the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS). Before following her passion as an academic, Reema served as a one-term Trustee for the West Vancouver Board of Education and enjoyed a multi-decade career as a communications professional with a variety of public and private sector organizations. She is also a mother who is trying her best to guide a teenage artist through life as well as Grade 10. In addition to being a member of Vancouver Opera’s Board of Directors, Reema is an avid traveller, a chocolate enthusiast, and often dreams of Paris.


This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx