Jenny Nordberg
About Jenny Nordberg
“What a great experience working with Jenny Nordberg! She attracted an audience of 400 students, faculty, and community members, in spite of the bitterly cold night. Some were familiar with her articles and book on Afghanistan, and others were not. All listened intently as she described the complex, intriguing and often disturbing situation for girls and women in Afghanistan. Then she patiently answered questions from the audience, and continued the discussion through the book signing and reception. Even though the subject was difficult, she handled everything with a great deal of humanity and humor, explaining clearly her own struggles understanding this subject. And she was definitely a favorite with the students – answering questions over dinner and at the reception about her career path and graduate school experience, what it would be like for them to study abroad, and her own experience working in NYC and traveling to places like Afghanistan for her work. They really enjoyed the group photo session, and that she made sure everyone got a picture with her. All of the students would all agree with the community member who said as he walked out of the book signing ‘You have a real winner with this one!”
Speech topics
One of the Boys: What Women Do to Get Access from Afghanistan to Wall Street
Many women throughout history who wanted to get an education, become doctors, or just to escape forced marriages have done so in pants and a short haircut – in impossible societies, some women have chosen to become men. Jenny Nordberg will discuss how strict gender norms for women, in dress, behavior and speech have pervaded throughout our own history, as they still do in Afghanistan today. As a consequence, women who want to break in to traditionally “male” fields, such as finance, the military and law, often still choose to adopt a more masculine persona even in the Western world, in order to be respected and to be taken more seriously. The raw roots of patriarchy, as seen in countries like Afghanistan, can still be traced into our boardrooms and even in college culture, where women are required to “pass” as one of the boys in order to be listened to. Drawing on her own experience as a war correspondent, Jenny Nordberg will pose thought-provoking but empowering questions on how far we’ve come, and what we have yet to do in the struggle for equality, in hopes of a future where women will not need to become one of the boys to get access to all areas of life.
Speaking videos
Books by Jenny Nordberg
“The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan” (2014)
FAQs on booking Jenny Nordberg
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