I want to share an email I recently received from a woman who has been working for 15 years with an industrial company, and is currently the Maintenance Manager for her unit.
Here goes:
Dear Rekindle,
Thank you for your thought-provoking insights. I feel like you really get the challenges working women go through. But I fundamentally disagree with your solution.
You talk about women helping themselves. About women not holding themselves back.
But do you realize the bigger problem out there? Do you realize the amount of bias women have to put up with? No matter what we do, the system will still do everything it can to hold us back.
The solution needs to come from management, not from us. Use your influence to fix the system. That’s when you’ll truly help our situation.
Regards,
Amy
Dear Amy,
Thank you for your honest email. And kudos to you for speaking up!
I know exactly where you’re coming from. I used to get just as angry with the way things are in the world (sometimes I still do).
The physical aggression. The microaggressions. The biases. Every day. Multiple times a day. At work. At home. It’s all too draining.
It shouldn’t be like this. It shouldn’t be so difficult. It shouldn’t be so unfair.
But think about this. Who’s in the ‘system’? Who do we need to ‘fix’?
Society? The men in our society? The men and women who raised these men? The women who judge other women? The kids who disrespect their moms but respect their dads?
The thing is… the list doesn’t end. Soon it’ll include everyone in our world. Why? Because we’re all part of the same social system. We’re all products of social conditioning. We’re conditioned from our birth into conforming to the status quo.
So there is no ‘it’ or ‘them’ to fix. The entire system needs to change. And studies show that it’s going to take another 250 years before that can happen.
That’s not going to help us in our lifetimes. So what do we do in the meantime? Give up and wait?
I think we have more power than that! I think you and I have the power to make a much bigger impact than we give ourselves credit for.
Imagine if each of us stood up for ourselves. If each of us showed up as the confident women we are. If each of us defied the stereotypes that hold us back. And if each of us gave ourselves permission to be our whole, powerful selves.
If we all push the boundaries in our lives just a little bit each day, together we can make massive changes happen!
Let’s not wait for another 250 years before we can show the world our awesomeness.
Let’s focus on what we can do. Now.
Get on the Rekindle train and let’s together take small steps now to make a difference. Push the boundaries in your life just a little bit each day, so that collectively we can make huge progress. And then, the system will have no chance. Bring it on, women!
Wish you the very best!
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