As International Women’s Day approaches and I am asked to write about women that have inspired me, I can’t help but notice how mixed my feelings are towards this celebration. On the one hand, being a feminist, I certainly want to let the world know about the amazing women in my life but on the other hand, being a feminist, I have to acknowledge that this day for me is more about embracing and celebrating feminine leadership in all of us.
The definition of feminism is ‘the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’ which is a fantastic purpose to have when it comes with the realisation that gender stereo typing and inequality has been in our culture for generations because the primary caregivers in society (predominantly women) are propagating it.
We are the ones allowing our children to believe that they are different based on their gender. We are the ones who are still using terms like ‘don’t be bossy’ (to girls) and ‘throw like a girl’ (to boys). In general our expectation of contribution to the household is different depending on sex and we encourage our boys to be masculine and through a high pressure to ‘succeed’ to take that masculinity into the world.
The feminine leadership which is caring, nurturing and collaboration has largely been reserved for women and this is why we have had to fight for equality and now need to find inclusive ways to bring our society into balance.
For this reason on International Women’s Day, I will be celebrating all the ordinary people who are doing extraordinary things through feminine leadership. Women and men. Boys and girls.
To those in my eco-system and beyond who have stepped away from careers to focus on bringing up beautiful families, to those that have taken the plunge and left a masculine dominated organisation or industry to create their own businesses balanced with feminine, to those that find the time to care for and support their friends, families and those they don’t know and to the people that have started to teach our future generations that empowerment is about taking responsibility and being authentically you regardless of gender, I salute you.
International Women’s Day for me is about surrounding yourself with people and stories that embrace and celebrate the feminine every single day in ordinary and extraordinary ways.
#InternationalWomensDay #feminism #Feminineleadership
Originally published at medium.com