In this beautiful TED Talk, Kavita Ramdas explores — through some personal stories of women — the amazing paradox in the contrast between the brutal treatment of women throughout the world and their abundant energy and drive for recreating cultures everywhere.

She tells the stories of some women who combine radicalism and the use of tradition in surprising ways.

She asks:

“Why is it that women are, on the one hand, viciously oppressed by cultural practices, and yet, at the same time, are the preservers of cultures in most societies? Is the hijab or the headscarf a symbol of submission or resistance? When so many women and girls are beaten, raped, maimed, on a daily basis, in the name of all kinds of causes, honor, religion, nationality, what allows women to replant trees, to rebuild societies, to lead radical, non-violent movements for social change? Is it different women who are doing the preserving and the radicalizing? Or are they one and the same?”