We are excited to recognize the progress the world has made – shout out to VP and neighbour, Kamala Harris!! – because we really have made incredible strides! The International Women’s Day 2021 theme is #ChooseToChallenge, because “a challenged world is an alert world.” So, let’s take a quick moment to recognize some of the lingering ideologies that still weigh on our modern women and how we can challenge them – because the more you know, the more we grow!

She Can Do It All

Women are climbing to the top of corporate ladders, shattering societal ceilings and some are deciding they want families as well! But even when women work 55+ hours per week, they are still performing 7x more household and child-rearing responsibilities in a week – and not the most fun ones either. Though this doesn’t apply to every household dynamic, we need to be cognizant in the ones it does. How can we help women succeed? We can encourage women in dual earning partnerships to continue achieving major financial progress and have our support in the home when they are over extended. Equality starts in the home and is as essential as opportunity in the office. Housework and raising children are not gendered responsibilities, but rather opportunities to make meaningful impact in important peoples lives! Share all those compassionate moments.

One Size Fits All

Why is the knee jerk description bossy, sassy, high maintenance or worse when a woman is unapologetic about her feelings, or dare we say it, opinionated? Where does a female that has incredible ideas, but is considered just ‘too timid’, find her voice in this noisy world? The stigma women often face is that they are either being too much or not enough in their public or personal lives. This stems from dated and unrealistic beauty, career and familial expectations. This can be very heavy and lonely. It is important to realize and celebrate that there is no one way to be a woman and each body type, personality, voice, and dream has a place in this world! Deactivate our expectations on what a woman ‘should be’ and honour all the women that ARE perfectly themselves.

“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up.”

~  Gloria Steinem ~

 

 

 

 

 

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She Can Have It All

Filed under: IWD2021