[Music]
people often say that our generation
complains too much that we get you
offended that no one can joke about
anything anymore we often call
generation mimimi well I'm here to say
that yeah we do complain a lot about
injustice we do get very offended when
we see someone hurt and we really do not
like racist sexist general with jokes
and we are really concerned about our
future well we are the ones who'll be
here to deal with the mess I was born in
1993 and at that point computers were
the utmost technology and it was
something that only a few people would
have access here in Brazil at my first
school years my researches were all made
through encyclopedias the physical ones
I remember the first video I saw on
YouTube and I remember the day I
discovered something really innovative
Google Translator I remember the world
without internet but I'm also connected
to it pretty much every minute of my
day-to-day social media is part of my
relationships my brain was born in one
society but has developed in a
completely different one I was taught at
school that we are destroying our planet
I was taught about solidarity empathy
Union every day of my childhood today I
can connect to any friend in Bangladesh
Morocco Sweden El Salvador at any moment
I was born in 1993 five years after the
new Brazilian Constitution was approved
this constitution would be the first one
to state that men and women have the
same civil and political rights in
Brazil
it was 1988 my generation was born in a
transitional world the end of the Cold
War the Berlin Wall had fallen the end
of the most military dictatorships in
Latin America we were born in a new
world we saw it's possible to change why
would we just accept this new version
without trying to make it better I'm
here to tell you a little about my story
I'm here to tell you about how I think
power is changing and I'm here to tell
you that power is no longer what we used
to believe it was many young people here
might be thinking ok so how on earth I'm
crazy I'm changing this crazy system
we're in I'm here to tell you how from
my perspective and to make my points I
will tell you this all of this in 5
lessons that I've have learned as being
a gender activist for some for some
years in 2015 I came back from an
exchange program in the UK I was 22 and
things in Brazil were a little bit
different from when they were when I
traveled away there was something new
in here I felt that people were more but
more mobilised than before more critical
than before at that time the count
members of the Congress were trying to
pass a bill that would prohibit abortion
even in cases of rape in Brazil I was
not yet connected to any women's rights
movements at that point but this project
feds felt so cruel for those abused
woman that I decided to join the marches
against those maneuvers that would
affect women's rights in Brazil that was
the first moment that I truly understood
the concepts of feminism and I would
call myself a feminist many ideas around
the term were were and are still very
misinterpreted here in Brazil that
moment I discovered a passion and a
purpose address women
rights and that is my first lesson you
have to find your own passion in your
own purpose but I never thought fighting
gender inequality would become a career
somehow in 2016 I had to present my
undergrad final projects at university
and I wanted to connect urbanistic urban
planning with gender inequality but I
didn't know exactly how so I realized
that the question I wanted to answer was
just outside my door I would never walk
to university even the distance being a
10-minute walking distance
because I was totally scared of the
streets and I realized this feeling was
shared by my female friends
the boys would walk alone even at night
at first many people discourage me this
project is a master project not an
undergrad one you won't find enough
information you have too much trouble
researching that ok so the research is
fine but how will you design something
based on that and I basically did not
know the answer of any of those
questions I just found strength in my
purpose I really wanted to do that so I
started my research and I could not
really find any data or information
related to gender or your gender and
your been in security in Brazil I
thought maybe they were right it was too
much trouble indeed but I'm a little
stubborn and I would never admit losing
the fight so I would I decided to
collect the data I need it in one month
I designed the methodology created a
survey and was expecting around 30
answers that that's what I needed to
prove my point at that level of academic
titles but in 15 days I had 560 answers
to the survey people were sharing it
getting interested in the problem so
second lesson
stubborn with the things you really
believe in I wanted to prove that we
were an equal even on how we use our
public spaces to make it short some of
the conclusions of the research were one
women are more afraid than men of using
our cities to men's fears were related
to have something stolen from them while
women's fears are more physical related
to a panic of being harassed or raped
while walking the streets three when in
well-designed urban spaces woman and men
feel equally secure but while in poorly
designed urban spaces woman would feel
around 40% more insecure than men and
for some urban features would trigger
off more fear in women than they do in
men with men like walls fences narrow
sidewalks empty land poorly maintained
vegetation so in conclusion safer cities
for women are safer cities fro duty due
to this research I got selected as one
of the 16 young leaders for the European
development days 2018 program by the
European Union to represent the topic
women in urban spaces I was the only
Brazilian and the only Latin American
woman at the program all the event at
the event all of us were invited to take
part in relevant panels related to our
topics of activism with along with
important personalities of relevant
institutions around the world along with
me at the panel I took part was miss my
Munna Sharif executive director of the
UN habitat a role model for me she is
also an urban planner and she's the
woman who runs the most important UN
agency related to urban settlements at
that event I also match two queens and
one princess something that did not
happen every day right so third lesson
we cannot predict the paths that live
for leaders and how surprising this path
can be so try not to be anxious about
your path I know it's hard but try
when I came back to Brazil I decided I
would have to take even more action on
my purpose many ideas came up to my head
but I knew based on the conversations I
had with different woman's different
women from different contexts around the
world that our biggest problem now was
that we are experiencing huge
difficulties of connection and what we
mean by that in Latin America and in
Brazil we still do not have a strong
culture of debate or advocacy I realized
that there were many people working or
that would like to work on solving
women's urban insecurity however these
people were having trouble to connect or
they do not know each other at all I
realized that to create a bigger impact
we would have to act as a reference a
center for connection a network and that
was when in cities was born we are a
network for inclusive cities that aim
the range to connect and support support
connect and articulate initiatives in
favor of more inclusive cities for women
and in consequence for all we act on
raising awareness for gender and urban
insecurity support in creating projects
supporting researchers and researchers
and acting on advocacy and public
policies related to urban inclusion in
cities was found was founded officially
in March this year 8 months ago today we
are more than 130 volunteers around 36
cities in Brazil we reached more than
one thousand and five hundred people
on-site with projects and more than
20000 people with online campaigns and
we have even more goals to reach and
obstacles to overcome we will become a
reference for safer and more inclusive
cities in Latin America by 2021
so first lesson every goal designed with
good planning and purpose is possible
your age does not matter what matters is
what you want to achieve your
connections and the people you have with
you however the fifth
biggest lesson I have learned through
those recent years is that we will never
change things in a long-term basis if we
are under represented what makes the
biggest difference in terms of equality
and right for the city is bringing
diversity to the table we usually
discuss nowadays the concepts of smart
cities of innovation innovation is to
make things differently than they were
before if we are failing at connecting
let's create new solutions for
connection but a true smart city is not
about technology it's not about those
computers it is about people we will
only be innovative when we make sure
that everyone has a seat at the table
that everyone is secured to live through
our cities that our cities are not
obstacles that we bring different people
to the table I'm here to tell other
generations that the future is young you
not have to eight-way to your 50s to
become a leader anymore and I'm here to
tell you that this young future is
female and why is that because we are
the ones who are not allowed to be there
we're not we're the ones who are not
allowed to get there we're not the we're
the ones we're not allowed to make the
call before this is not about technology
this is not about computers it is about
ideas about solutions about making it
fresh about making it different new
solutions will only be brought to the
table by those who are enough who are
never there before those are the ones
who be innovative because they are the
ones who face our biggest problems if we
keep everything the same we will keep
having the same issues so young people
here do what we do best
complain about today to create new
tomorrow's some say we have to take our
seats at the table I believe that now we
have the power to change where the table
is
its color and its face thank you
[Applause]