--- title: TIME Women of the Year Gala 2023: Cate Blanchett Toast description: TIME Woman of the Year honoree Cate Blanchett paid tribute to honorees who "deeply inspire" her canonical: https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/6261268/cate-blanchett-women-of-the-year/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-09T12:14:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-11T07:46:26.918Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Cate Blanchett calls for 'hope' in times of uncertainty at TIME Women of the Year gala og:description: TIME Woman of the Year honoree Cate Blanchett paid tribute to honorees who "deeply inspire" her og:url: https://time.com/collections/women-of-the-year/6261268/cate-blanchett-women-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b511b2d0f503df/698a3af8457a523550d67615/Women-of-the-year-cate-blanchett.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cate Blanchett calls for 'hope' in times of uncertainty at TIME Women of the Year gala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cate Blanchett calls for 'hope' in times of uncertainty at TIME Women of the Year gala twitter:description: TIME Woman of the Year honoree Cate Blanchett paid tribute to honorees who "deeply inspire" her twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt91b511b2d0f503df/698a3af8457a523550d67615/Women-of-the-year-cate-blanchett.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Mar 09, 2023 # Cate Blanchett Calls for Hope in Times of Uncertainty at TIME Women of the Year Gala > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: Cate Blanchett's Toast At The 2023 Time Women Of The Year Gala [Watch (HLS stream): Cate Blanchett's Toast At The 2023 Time Women Of The Year Gala](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MXbfpD21.m3u8) (9:27)  _Published 2023-03-09. Cate Blanchett dazzled at TIME’s second annual Women of the Year event, held in Los Angeles on Tuesday to honor a range of women who have made deep impacts in their work._ by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME.  US-Australian actress Cate Blanchett arrives for the Time Magazine 2nd annual Women of the Year Gala in Los Angeles US-Australian actress Cate Blanchett arrives for the Time Magazine 2nd annual Women of the Year Gala in Los Angeles Michael Tran—AFP/Getty Images Cate Blanchett dazzled at TIME’s second annual Women of the Year event, held in Los Angeles on Wednesday to honor a range of women who have made deep impacts in their work. The actor, who is up for the Best Actress Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards for her performance in Todd Field’s _Tár_, said she was “completely and utterly humbled and overwhelmed” to be at the event which included honorees working toward climate justice, equal pay, and better representation onscreen, among a multitude of fields. “I’m so stressed I even took off my bra,” Blanchett joked as she took the mic. But quickly, she turned to talking about weightier topics facing women, reflecting on what she learned from the chorus of other voices in the room. “As one gets older you feel less in control. As women we often feel like do we need to be in control of everything. Often need to be in control of things individually,” she said. “What has really rung home for me tonight is the only way forward is to try and let go of control.”  Cate Blanchett speaks during the TIME Women of the Year evnt at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on March 08. Stefanie Keenan—Getty Images for TIME **Read More:** [_Cate Blanchett’s Greatest Gift Is Her Humanity_](https://time.com/6259177/cate-blanchett/) She made her toast to “not only the women in this room right now but to the millions and millions of women who should be standing at this mic, who should be in this room.” She stressed the importance of listening and said that is something the honorees are doing. “If we really listen to the things that are not being said, I think we are going to get somewhere really profound.” Blanchett said that one of the strongest skill actors can present is a quality of listening well to others. “To be a good storyteller you need to listen to the stories that have not been told,” she said. She said the honorees “inspire her” and use their platforms to elevate and have stories heard. A U.N. Goodwill Ambassador, Blanchett has, for about seven years, worked to raise awareness of the challenges faced by refugees throughout the world. Attending the event with her was Mary Maker, also a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador and a refugee from South Sudan who she mentioned in her toast. Citing the writer Rebecca Solnit, Blanchett talked about the power of hope in the dark. “The greatest act of courage is to be hopeful.” She referenced the work of women from previous generations and said “we have a responsibility to work on our shoulders, not just our individual shoulders but our collective shoulders so that more women can stand on our shoulders in generations to come.” It is important not to turn to negativity she said given the uncertainty in the world at the moment “that can breed a pessimism that creates a misguided certainty of what will happen next.” “I choose to turn that fear into excitement. There’s an enormous possibility in this fearful space.” To close she once again paid tribute to the other honorees in the room. “I think change is in this room and it’s alive. It is happening. Women are good at gathering We know how to listen.” TIME Women of the Year Gala 2023: Cate Blanchett Toast ## Transcript Oh, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I must admit. I am completely and utterly humbled and overwhelmed to be in this room with you all. This very hard to be in a room with so many Heroes heroin. I'm so stressed, I even took off my bra. What you? I wish I could I wish I could say it was an act of defiance but it was actually an active Panic. My mother-in-law used to do it whenever she got bored or a little bit stressed on a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, here I am. I am I mean with this asking to to talk about, you know, give a toast to things are important or things. That inspire me. I mean, we started the the evening with with Jessica simply saying that she was a woman in control of time is a Time Magazine. She said she's a woman in control of time which I find incredibly inspiring because as H passing day goes by I was one gets older and older and older you feel you're in control and I think as women we often feel that we really do need to be in control of everything and open. We need to be in control of things individually. And what I really, really, really has run home for me tonight is the only way forward is to try and be let go of control of Peter Brooke has his wonderful expression that you hold on. You hold on tightly and you let go lightly and you let go lightly knowing that the generations behind. You are going to pick that up that that we were with women. I think we have dog, whistle is the week. We are tuned to things that are on said and so, part of the toast that I would like to make is not only to the people in this room right now, but the millions and millions of women, who should be standing in this Mike who should be in this room. And I just wanted to say that I am in awe of what are the nominees tonight have done and continue to do, but all the women in the room because achievement is not just big and loud, it's small and quiet. And I don't know about you, but there's a lot of talk in the world and I think at the moment, in this particular moment, I'm 53 years old, but did I? I feel I want to focus more on doing and on this evening and then when people ask me as an act of, you know, what is the biggest skill saw, and it's a quality of listening. And I think that with all tonight's on a raised, there is a profound. They got their ear to the ground and they're hearing those mitochondrial, connective tissues. That might we might be geographically apart. We might be racially culturally apart. A language groups might be different. We might be generational. How do you know, if a gender assignment might be different but we if we really listen to the things that I'm not being said, I think we're going to get somewhere really profound and I wanted to really applaud everyone in this room because I think that you work on the immense. Pressure and under immense scrutiny and I actually bumped into an acquaintance today who said she spent five days with her mother and her aunt. And she did say it like that. It's five days in a row. And I said, how was it? And she went and then she said, but you know what? It was precious but presha produces diamonds and I think this room is full of diamonds and I just want to raise a toast to all of your Brilliance. You inspire me deeply, you know you different Generations locations and how I know and this fuel specific focus is but somehow Actress. So I may be a not-so-fun, a pejorative term, I made them an actor. I want to be an active because of macta is active that I feel connected to you. And I feel that in a way my job sometimes, but my job really is as a Storyteller and to be a good Storyteller, you really need to listen to the stories that I'm not being told and all your stories are so important. And the people that you you and in your communities that you bring up and you elevate the stories, you use your platforms to have those stories and my hot date tonight. Merrymaker, Who's in the Goodwill Ambassador just this week, you know, you her story was talking about with Mary when I'm on the way here, but I've been reading a book by wonderful, Rebecca solnit, and she wrote this book, talking about hope. I should talk about how you been. I think that's really important, go hoping the dock and it was written in 2004. I think it was, but I think what she says is, it's still it's still really relevant because it talks about how it's the greatest acts of courage, is to be hurtful. And it often we forget the achievements that we have already made. I mean Talk about an achiever. And then we can give into. And I know I do on a daily basis, believe me, I just spent the last two days at Disneyland, with my eight year old. I was in the midst of this back. That's why the Braza we forget that we stand on the shoulders of the women before us, and we have a responsibility to work on our shoulders, not the individual shoulders, but I collected shoulders so that more women can stand on our shoulders in generations to come. You know what I do think that a lot, you know, with with my eight year old and a wonderful thing that said Rebecca solnit writes about it. She says that it's really important to have this back in 2004 and I never said, I think it's still really relative is that even though we live in a world of deep deep uncertainty that can breed a pessimism that has a misguided certainty of what will happen next. And the truth is we do not know what will happen next. We do not know what is going to happen next and in this state of not knowing and I know this isn't acts as a minute before you go onstage. Even though you know your lines, you know, let me know what cost you meant to be wearing and hopefully, you know, we're in the Backwoods you stepping on but you still don't know exactly what's going to happen. That is a fearful moment. But I always choose to tell them that fear into excitement and I know that I'm working with an ensemble of actors and we here are on Amazing active Ensemble of women and men who support women and men, who understand that women acting powerfully across many, many different spheres, all of us because it allows us to think more imaginatively out of the mouth, allows us to imagine a different more inclusive future. And so I think that there's an enormous possibility in Seemingly fearful spice and I think that, that allows us to think of different solutions. And when I look around this room as terrifying, and I think, language of change is very free, a fearful and it's very it makes people very angry, which is obviously a result of fear as well. And anger, isn't important. Transitional tool, don't get me wrong. I think there's a lot to be angry, you know about, but I can feel like changes a long way away and tonight, listening to everyone's speak and listening to everyone, listen. I think changes in this room and I think change is alive and it's a foot and his kicking that foot in rooms like this around the world. They may not have his nice wallpapers, this one but that is happening. It is happening because one thing women are good at is gathering. We have profound deep, songlines we know how to listen, we know when to lean in, when we know. But we know when we know when to step back we know when to step back and we know when to listen and that is my kind of resolution is I really want to listen and thank you. I feel so privileged to be here tonight. Thank you. For allowing me to listen tonight. 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