It’s Up to the Women

11/21/24 • 28 min

New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast

Zubaida Bai discusses how bold systemic change can make gender equality achievable

In 2015 the nations of the world—with much fanfare—agreed to achieve gender equality by 2030 as one of the U.N.’s “Sustainable Development Goals.” With the approach of the 10-year anniversary of that declaration, it’s obvious to even the UN statisticians that there is no possibility the goal will be realized. Indeed, if you want to be depressed (or, perhaps, angered) Google “gender inequality” and you will learn that the World Economic Forum has run the numbers and decided that “gender parity is 131 years away.”
Nonetheless, there is good news: gender gaps in some countries are being closed faster than ever, especially in Europe and North America. The bad news: there has been much less—if any—progress in most of the Global South, although there are important exceptions in countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, and Chile.
That should be unsurprising to anyone who wanders the world with eyes open, not shut. If so, then it’s probably also not surprising that new approaches are necessary to realize the full human potential of billions of women around the world. That almost certainly means a complete reframing of how to think about the issue as well as about possible solutions.
That is why we invited Zubaida Bai, CEO of the Grameen Foundation to join us on New Thinking for a New World. She believes that gender equality is not only essential but possible—and that it requires significant systems change to happen.
Please tell us what you think here.

Zubaida Bai discusses how bold systemic change can make gender equality achievable

Previous Episode

Africa’s Mental Health Emergency

Dr. Olayinka Omigbodun addresses Africa’s urgent youth mental health crisis amid economic and social challenges.

It is trite, but true that youth are our future. Unfortunately, what is also true is that in most countries the mental health of young people has been declining over the past two decades, a decline that seems to have accelerated during and after COVID. Globally, one in seven 10 to 19-year-olds reportedly experience mental disorders. In turn, depression, anxiety, and behavioral issues are among the leading causes of illness, disability, and even suicide among adolescents.
What’s true globally is even more the case in Africa where 60% of people are under 24, and too many are victims of a witch's brew of climate shock, inflation, economic mismanagement, war, gang violence, epidemics, and other disasters. The resulting high incidence of youth with serious and enduring mental health disorders not only mortgages their own futures, but their countries' futures as well.
What can be done? Are there adequate resources, medical professionals, hospitals, and targeted programs focused on the challenges of youth mental health? Is there a real urgency among policymakers to address the problems?
Dr. Olayinka Omigbodun founded the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria where today she is Provost of the College of Medicine, the first woman to hold that position. She has devoted her life to trying to answer those and other questions about adolescent mental health.

Next Episode

Doctor, Doctor Give Me the News

Join Dr. Kristian Olson as he discusses how innovative, human-centered design is transforming global healthcare.

Healthcare is intensely personal. Even when national statistics show improvement—which has been the case for most countries over recent decades—what matters is whether my baby in rural Uganda is having trouble breathing or whether my aging father in New York who went into the hospital with a broken hip will now die from the MERS he contracted there or whether why my wife in Buenos Aries can access the drugs she needs to survive cancer.
In our hi-tech age, it seems like much of what ails us and our loved ones should be erasable using innovative technology.
Dr. Kristian Olson agrees. He's an American internist and pediatrician, based at Harvard, who practices globally, as well as a designer who helped create the Center for Affordable Medical Technology. CAMTech designs solutions—high-tech and not-so-high-tech—that produce better, affordable health outcomes.
Dr. Olson is also a winner of the 2024 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize recognized by the jury for his unwavering commitment to transforming healthcare especially in low and middle-income countries through human-centered design, pioneering solutions that improve lives across diverse communities.
Tell us what you think: Can smart use of technology make us—all of us—healthier?