Good evening. I want to start today by talking about Taylor Swift. Don’t worry, I’m not going to sing. She is a global phenomenon. If you haven’t heard of her, please check your pulse.
I have a teenage daughter, so by default, I am a Swiftie. I had the pleasure of attending her concert at Wembley this summer.
What I saw there was an outpouring of female energy—90,000 fans, mostly women. Singing along, in tune or out of tune, strangers with arms linked, sharing friendship bracelets with women half their age.
It was a throbbing, vibrant, inclusive spirit that you couldn’t help but become a part of. Girl power at its sparkly best. It wasn’t just a concert; it felt like we had become part of something greater—a movement.
I believe she is the living embodiment of the power of being both vulnerable and successful. Of winning in a man’s world by a woman’s rules.
We’ve often had to act more like men to climb the corporate ladder or succeed in any field. Over the years, we’ve built a society that is systemically supportive of men’s success in the workplace. It just didn’t plan for women to succeed.
This is changing, slowly but surely. Now, men are trying to be more like women. They’re teaching EQ courses in business schools. Men are asking for paternity leave and even acknowledging the productivity of a good cry.
Here’s a message to men: Good work, but you still have a long way to go. Keep trying.
The Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards are symbolic of this shift in attitudes. For 157 years, Bazaar has been a champion for women. In its own way, it has been working to transform a culture rooted in patriarchy into one more conducive to the true talent and strength of women.
The 18 awards today were hotly debated by our passionate editors and jurists, and everyone had their favourites. By recognising women for their amazing achievements, we are not typecasting or restricting them to a “women’s category” only, because the women here are extraordinary individuals who would be recognised in any environment, even those not defined by gender.
This is a special call-out to all women, the 18 women on stage and the many off it, that we hear you. We’ve got you. We will see you through.
So today, we are introducing a new way of doing awards by starting a human chain of inspiration—where one award winner links to the next by celebrating another woman’s achievement on stage. We hope this chain of empowerment will continue far beyond this evening.
Thank you.