"I encourage women to create companies, employee people, give lectures, involve yourselves in STEM research, make mistakes and learn in the IT world, become an engineer, study math, embrace your femininity, worship fact that we can think both effectively and emotionally, we are intellectual AND sensual, promote love, travel, get to know other cultures, endorse your philanthropic work, study philosophy, and most importantly, TEACH children that men and women are equal, in different ways, but equal."
Flashback to March 9, 2017
I have to say, I really like the title to this post. I'm seriously considering to use it for a book in the future.
This post is in honor to all the beautiful girls, ladies, and women out there in the world. Yesterday was International Women's day and it was just so great to see the women posting on all social media accounts about inspiring, iconic, fundamental women in history.
A couple of days ago I was discussing the subject with a friend. She was writing an article and asked me why it is that I do not like the word FEMINIST. As a woman that stands for women’s rights and equality, it is hard to answer that question without sounding hypocritical. It would be absurd to not be a feminist if you are woman. I would like to clarify that it is not the ideology that I disagree with, but the negative connotation the term brings to my mind.
Now imagine, if I am a woman and that’s the impression I have of so called feminists, what must men think?!
A feminist is someone who supports feminism. Feminism is the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. It is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goals and that is to: define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal and social rights for women.
Granted, sometimes force and confrontation is needed when peace cannot achieve a result, but why does it seem to me like we are going about this the wrong way? They key is all in the approach we use to attack a problem. There are many that will most likely disagree with me, but why does it seem like we are just trying to make a point to get our way, but not actually proving our worth?
Are women coming together? While there is proof that women have come a long way, unfortunately there is also proof that we have not released our full potential, and it is not only because men haven’t allowed us to do so. I cannot imagine living in the time when women were not allowed to vote, work, receive an educational, publicly announce their opinions, own property, hold public office, etc. For that reason I am eternally grateful for the women who were brave and strong enough to stand up not only for themselves but all for all those other women who were afraid to speak up. I am also grateful for those women who continue to pave the way for us and sacrifice their sanity and make tremendous amounts of efforts to represent all of us and fight for our rights.
However, I told my friend that I do not truly believe women were coming together and she quickly jumped to pointing the women’s march that took place a couple of weeks ago. Yes my darlings, we see you in those marches and yes you go to riots, but what else do you do on a daily or weekly basis? You know, the events that people do not see. The ones that will eventually prepare you to win your battle.
Now do yourself a favor and reflect for a moment. How many conferences and speeches that are held by leading women have you been to or even taken time to find out about? Do you support women causes which are not extensively publicized on national TV? Do you encourage your lady friends to go out there and prove their value? Follow their dreams? Enhance their knowledge and skills? Do your daily actions and activities motivate and inspire little girls? Have you ever donated for girls all over the world to get an education? And if you do not have enough money, have you taken the liberty to donate time to inspire a little girl? Do you write children’s books or tales to make girls feel equally powerful to boys? If you are the only girl in an engineering firm or class, do you advocate for other women to join you, or do you glorify yourself for being the only one or one of the few? Do you engage in fun activities? Remember that moods and thoughts are contagious. You want to do fun things, and have a positive mindset in order to attract other’s genuine attention.
If the answer to any of those is yes, FABULOUS! If most of them are no’s, then you know what to do. But not only women, men too! Do it for your sisters, daughters, mothers, best friends. We have to remember that there are only two species in our direct realm. Let’s not turn our backs on men. This is not a war against them. We need men in our lives and I think it safe to say we all love men. We love our dads, our sons, our brothers, boyfriends and husbands. We just need to mold their minds into believing in our skills and comprehending that we are equal. We cannot only teach our little girls to stand up for themselves and go after their dreams. We also have to teach our boys, that although women should be treated delicately, it does not mean they are the lesser beings. They too have to stand up for us and support our causes. Treat your daughters with the same respect and admiration you treat your sons. Let both know that they can both achieve anything they want with the help of each other. We are meant to work together as a team. Whatever men can’t do, women can do, and vice versa. Whatever we can both do, then we both pursue as a team.
We must be resilient! We as women must continue to strive for greatness and demonstrate that we are qualified to do what men can do, but we cannot focus on a battle with men. After all we experience it day after day in our daily lives, the way they see things is different than the way we do. It would be more beneficial and less time consuming to study men and mimic the way they would go about a problem. If one approach does not we need to try a different one until the message is finally acknowledged.
I encourage women to create companies, employee people, give lectures, involve yourselves in STEM research, make mistakes and learn in the IT world, become an engineer, study math, embrace your femininity, worship fact that we can think both effectively and emotionally, we are intellectual AND sensual, promote love, travel, get to know other cultures, endorse your philanthropic work, study philosophy, and most importantly, TEACH children that men and women are equal, in different ways, but equal.
I’ll leave you with this. Learn that nobody gives you power, you just have to take it! Be a daredevil, follow your instincts, sharpen your leading skills, be a PIONEER and pave the way for those behind you. Now go out there and don't try to convince men about our qualifications, let them know we are exceedingly gifted and qualified.
And for the men out there that think women are less, always keep in mind that 1 + 4 = 5 but so does 2+3. Women will never be as strong as men because it is physically impossible, but the mind is everything. We probably cannot solve a problem the same way men can, but I can assure you there are different ways to still attain the same result. Give us credit for what we can do and put yourself in our position. Alone we cannot prevail, we need your support. Together we can reduce hostility and make the world a better place. One must always keep in mind, the bigger picture is for all of us to come together. Attack real issues like hunger, homelessness, and no education around the world. We are wasting our efforts fighting against each other as women and men.
- Alexa (Intellect Chick)