WHO KILLED THE CRONE?
Jennifer Jefferies | TEDx Sydney
A call for midlife women to reclaim wisdom, voice, and cultural authority.
If this conversation stirred something in you, download the extended guide.
The silence we inherited.
Imagine Italy with no Nonna.
Greece with no Yia-yia.
Australia with no Aboriginal Elders.
Listen to the silence.
Now ask yourself this:
What did we lose when we erased the elder woman?
Not with fire.
But with Botox.
With invisibility.
With menopause jokes and cultural dismissal.
“Crone” once meant wise woman. Truth-teller. Elder.
Somewhere along the way, it became insult.
This talk is not nostalgia.
It’s restoration.
Because when wise women are woven back in, families steady.
Leadership shifts.
Communities regulate.
And humanity rebalances.
Watch the full TEDx talk above
Then ask yourself:
Where have I been shrinking?
Where have I been waiting?
What would it look like to stand inside my years?
Something in you recognised this.
When people watch a talk like this, the reaction is rarely intellectual.
It’s quieter than that.
Something in you might have softened.
Or tightened.
You might have found yourself thinking:
- Yes… that’s exactly it.
- No one has ever said that out loud before.
- I’ve felt this for years.
That moment of recognition matters.
Because the disappearance of elder women’s wisdom didn’t just happen culturally.
It happened personally, inside many of us.
If you’d like to sit with what this talk stirred in you, I created a short reflection guide to go with it.
It expands on the ideas behind the talk and offers a few questions to help you explore what this moment might be asking of you.
Download the extended TEDx reflection guide
Inside the guide you’ll find:
- The deeper story behind the talk
- The science of why elder women stabilise communities
- Cultural context that didn’t make the stage
- Reflection questions to explore your own Wise Woman path
Be the Wise Woman in Residence.
The final line of the talk wasn’t metaphor.
It was invitation.
Wise Woman in Residence is where this conversation becomes lived reality.
A 12-week container for women ready to:
- Stop apologising for aging
- Step into grounded authority
- Lead from presence, not performance
- Become the calm in the room
This is not about influence.
It’s about influence without noise.
If you feel called to embody the message, explore it here:
Soft alignment. Not a hard pitch.
About Jennifer Jefferies
Jennifer Jefferies is a naturopath, author, speaker and founder of the Present Day Wise Woman Movement™.
With more than three decades working with midlife and elder women, Jen blends lived experience, health science, cultural insight and unapologetic truth.
She is:
- Creator of Wise Woman in Residence
- Founder of the Rise Strong Method
- Host of the Present Day Wise Woman podcast
- Featured speaker across Australia and internationally
Her TEDx talk challenges one of the most overlooked cultural losses of our time: the disappearance of the elder woman’s voice.
For media and speaking enquiries:
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If this talk stirred something in you, start here.
Download the extended TEDx reflection guide and explore the deeper stories behind the talk.
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