Summary

Abby Wambach begins her commencement address “Make Failure Your Fuel” by greeting the Barnard College officials and congratulating the graduates.

Wambach compares graduating from college with her experience of retiring as a soccer player, because these are both times of transition which involve ceremonies. She recalls receiving an honor award from ESPN along with two fellow male athletes and feeling grateful. However, she soon realized that her male counterparts retired with more money than her. She reflects on the gender pay gap in the US and on how she missed her opportunity to demand equal pay while she was still a soccer player. Wambach encourages the women graduating to not only be grateful, but to also demand what they deserve. She recalls being taught to be grateful and obedient like Little Red Riding Hood, and not to challenge the wolf. Her experience has now taught her that women are actually the wolves.

Wambach criticizes traditional ways of thinking about gender roles and argues in favor of women uniting - like a team, or a pack of wolves. She then presents the rules that helped her guid...