00:00It's my first time in Dubai and I'm so excited and it's one of the cities that I've always
00:04wanted to visit. It's just been an honor that I've been asked to be here and I've only been
00:07a couple of days so I haven't really made a good assessment but I was at a university this morning
00:12just having a conversation with some of the students I realized that even though UAE and
00:17Iceland are so far apart and our landscapes and our weather are very different we see many of
00:23the similarities you know I think to draw big generalizations but right away I see this emphasis
00:29on you know close family bonds and and cultures and a love of storytelling and a love of literature
00:36that I think we we both share so maybe that's even all the better reason to be here for a
00:40literature festival to talk about sharing sharing these different stories so I'm really really
00:45excited to be here and to be talking about the non-fiction book that I wrote a couple of years
00:49ago. Sprakkar is a word it's an Icelandic word that means extraordinary women and at least in
00:55English I can't think of any words that we have that describe only women in a really positive
01:01way. We have lots of words that are kind of positive but when you think about them
01:06they somehow demean women in some way and I love the fact even though in Iceland it's a really
01:10obscure word and I had to kind of search it up and the book is really it's it I call it a love
01:17letter to Iceland through the lens of its women. Iceland is the closest country in the world to
01:22closing the gender gap between men and women and I wanted to explore that a little bit but I didn't
01:28want to write like a really dry kind of boring book on feminism I wanted to write an inspirational
01:34book with interesting stories about interesting people so that you learn about this country and
01:38then you learn about all these different women in the country from different backgrounds and
01:42walks of life and you both learn something new and then you think wait a minute that's the same
01:48for me as that fishing captain in Iceland what how strange and we it kind of helps us bring about
01:54our similarities a little bit I think so so I hope the book is kind of fun and interesting and casual
01:59and really just inspires all of us to know that working towards greater equality is something
02:05that is good for everybody it's not a like a women's issue specifically and it's got nothing
02:10to do with taking something from another group but really making life more equal for everybody
02:16and also inspiring people to know that we can all make a difference that we are all role models and
02:21we all have voices that we can be using I do have my own story in it because it's a strange story
02:26because I'm from another country and I grew up on a farm and and my husband had never run for
02:31public office before he became president so we were kind of thrust into the spotlight
02:37literally in a matter of six weeks and so I hope it kind of makes other people think wait what
02:43would I do if I had this unexpected opportunity so I want to share my own story but my story isn't
02:49the right story or the only story or my experience my experience as a mom in Iceland as an immigrant
02:55in Iceland as an entrepreneur is maybe different from somebody else's and so that's why it was
03:01important for me to have people who are different stories it just shows you a different perspective
03:06and different viewpoints from me I've always considered myself a feminist and I like saying
03:11that but people don't have to say that and I think that that's important you know to to show
03:15to people that we all have different kind of perspectives and viewpoints but that we all are
03:21different role models in different ways as I get older I also think it's so much more important
03:25that we see that we see that not just in our political leaders but on television in social
03:30media in films and sports and all of that that we see that diversity statistics which aren't that
03:37fun to talk about you know but they back it up the the countries that are more diverse and equal
03:41are more peaceful and happier and longer living and companies are more successful but I just think
03:46that the more diversity we have of approaches and ideas the more important it is and and that kind
03:51of links links a little bit to my role as first lady because it's not really a role in any sense
03:57right it was my husband who ran for election it was him who won a position that is defined in the
04:03constitution as what you do there isn't a role for the spouse and yet there kind of is there's
04:08these expectations there's these ideas of what you should do and how you should behave I consider
04:13it such a privilege and an honor to serve in this role but I also wanted a little bit to
04:20kind of confound the expectations I thought just because I'm a woman whose husband's leader doesn't
04:25mean that I necessarily fit into a certain role of my interest or what I'm going to do and my
04:32whole existence isn't to prop up his genius I'm very very proud of him and I'm very proud of what
04:39he's done but I wouldn't say being his wife is my main characteristic as a human and so I hope
04:43that the message there comes through as well to remind people that we all have our own unique
04:47voices and and we can kind of use these opportunities we have in life or we can swander them
04:53I probably um it's that I accept that I can't do everything perfectly that one I can't do everything
05:00and two I can't do it all perfect I can't really do anything perfectly I can do as well as I can
05:05but I think that to broadly generalize maybe especially as women there's a lot of pressure
05:10from society to be perfect at everything to be successful at our very challenging very busy jobs
05:18to look gorgeous all the time to have children who never have runny noses and are perfectly
05:24pressed and never complain and are never on their devices to you know have a six-pack to have a home
05:29that is perfectly tidy and home make food all and no one can do that what I don't want to do is
05:34spend more time regretting why I couldn't manage all of these other things because I think that
05:38emotional energy that we spend is is not a good use of our time so that's what I try to remember
05:45is not to have regrets and to feel comfortable with the decisions that I have made and also
05:50try to say that it's not you know on social media we we paint such a portrait you know I
05:59again I post all these things that I'm doing on social media too but I don't post I'm so tired
06:04this morning and here I am in my sweatsuit and you know we have to remember that we all have
06:09kind of multi-faceted lives you know what we see online all the time we kind of have to put
06:15we put too much pressure on ourselves for some of these things you know we have to
06:19you know I'm going to go to an event next week I'll probably be wearing the same outfit and
06:22that's just how that goes because regular people re-wear their clothes for things you know
06:26so that's how it is
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