As a woman, I’m here to tell you that you can have it all. If you feel like you have too many passions, too many aspirations, or as if you simply can’t live the life that you want because you’re too preoccupied living the life that you need… if any of these describe you, then I’m here to tell you that you are wrong!
Lemonade + Adventure is a place of empowerment for women to reclaim their lives and their time. You can live the life that you’ve always dreamed about; you just being here, supporting us, is helping me to live mine. Now we’re going to help you live yours.
So thank you for your support. Now let’s get to work! 🙂
International Women’s Day is March 8, 2021, and the theme this year is Choose to Challenge.
According to the IWD website, this year’s theme is a “commitment to … challenge inequality, call out bias, question stereotypes, and help forge an inclusive world.”
The importance of achieving these aspirations can’t be understated, not just for me and you, as women, but for the future generation of girls who’ll one day rule the world. Personally, I believe that International Women’s Day should be important to everyone and celebrated by everyone, so I wanted to write a little something-something to help start the conversation on how we can each help to move forward in each one of the categories that IWD is focusing on this year.
Challenge Inequality
First off, I’d like to say: Happy International Women’s Day to all of you!
This year, challenging inequality is at the forefront of IWD 2021. If you’re wondering about ways that you can help women level the playing field for all, here are a few suggestions on how to get started.
Checking your language can be an easy way to challenge inequality.
Know the phrase, “boys will be boys?” I’m sure you all do. Well, how about we get rid of that specific phrase from our vocabulary and teach our boys the exact same things that we teach our girls in terms of how to behave themselves?
After all, behavior isn’t inherently gendered, it’s taught.
Just in general, try to be more precise when you’re speaking. Stop diminishing women (or anyone) with your offhand comments.
Embrace and teach diversity wherever possible.
Diversity is a tricky sort of word in our day and age, but in layman’s terms, it’s about affording those who aren’t in your immediate circle the consideration and diligence they deserve, and in recognizing that they have something to teach you and others around you, without feeling like it’s forced.
For example, in most months in the United States, there is a month dedicated to a specific heritage of people. February is Black History Month, September into October is Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month, just to name a few.
The aim is to showcase cultures that have contributed to American society and to put their values and achievements on display, so they can be recognized and appreciated. In recognizing an overlooked society, we also recognize overlooked women who have been the backbone of that society’s progress.
Did you know Irish-American Heritage Month is this coming March? It isn’t just St Patrick’s Day, but the entire month is meant to celebrate the challenges, triumphs, and contributions of the Irish that came to America, and that’s pretty cool if you ask me.
Try to be accepting and tolerant of those different from yourself.
This can be difficult, but recognize that it isn’t meant to be an exclusionary recognition – appreciating Asian-Pacific Heritage Month in May isn’t supposed to be an insult to anyone else. It’s simply a time to acknowledge a huge group of Americans in our collective conversation because they’ve been historically left out of it.
When in doubt, ask the people around you who you want to be better for. Be an ally for them, and ask, “How can I be of help to you?”
And don’t fall into the trap of making it about yourself. Take the opportunity to learn.
Call Out Bias
Fun fact from those that study this sort of thing: there are more than 5 types of bias that people experience.
Most people have heard of confirmation bias and selection bias, but there are many others. I want to briefly talk about unconscious bias.
To be a better ally to women, we’ve all got to call out bias when we see it, and we need to understand that sometimes this bias isn’t a conscious act on the part of the person responsible. Be ready to explain and educate people about how you think they’re jumping to conclusions. If well done, this can go a long way at helping someone realize a preconceived bias they had, and that’s how we change the culture.
You don’t want to shame the person, however, because no one responds well to that. The person will likely push back and get defensive, and all that does is give them the mistaken idea that this attempt at progress is somehow against them.
One particularly important area to call out bias against women is the workplace. A report done by McKinsey & Company shows that an increased calling out biases in the workplace correlates with women succeeding professionally in positions that were traditionally reserved for men.
Lastly, and this might be the hardest part: examine your own bias, especially your unconscious bias. Women can do that job that you never imagined them doing. We’re a lot stronger than you give us credit for.
Question Stereotypes
You’re probably wondering how do we question stereotypes, especially when it concerns women.
Well, the Merriam-Webster definition tells us that a stereotype is “something conforming to a fixed or general pattern, especially: a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.”
Gender stereotypes are rampant in society. Heard of gender roles? Yep, that’s it.
There’s the idea that women only belong in certain spaces and shouldn’t go outside of those said spaces. According to the Harvard Business School, “[women] lack confidence in their ability to compete in fields that men are stereotypically believed to perform more strongly in, such as science, math, and technology.”
As a non-traditional female pre-med student who knows that women only make up 28% of the STEM work field, I can tell you that sometimes even the most driven among us can fall into the trap of thinking those fictional barriers can hold us back. That we just can’t do it.
But we can. And your self-doubt will make you think that the glass ceiling is made out of iron. But realizing that all the power society has over you to tell you what you can and cannot do, that empowerment can make you realize that your knuckles are made out of steel.
So punch, claw, kick, and scream through those barriers. Encourage other women, especially our daughters, to do exactly the same. If a woman wants to be a stay-at-home mom, more power to her. If she wants to be a scientist or an engineer, heck yeah! She can do that too.
Break those trends. Shatter the stereotypes. Question every time they ever tell you no. You can absolutely do this.
Check out AAUW for more information on the STEM Gap.
Help Forge an Inclusive World
We talked a bit about questioning stereotypes, calling out bias, and challenging inequality.
Combine that and you create inclusivity. However, there are moments when it’s hard to be inclusive than others. I’ve found this to come up especially when someone in a group we want to support goes up against someone from another group.
For example, we’re talking about women now, and the field I’ve always wanted to go into, cardiothoracic (heart and lungs) surgery, is rife with men. It is so hard for women to be taken seriously as surgeons, but we forge on ahead, as we should.
The struggle is, however: what happens when you see a woman, for example, going up against a man of color for a surgery job? Even if you want to support the woman, you don’t exactly want to discourage an aspiring minority doctor from following their dreams just because they’re a man. Even if it were a white man going for the position, the point of supporting and striving to be an ally isn’t to exclude anyone. Supporting women doesn’t mean being against anyone.
Aside from being an ally to women and calling out bias whenever you can, and to questioning stereotypes and challenging inequality, remember that we need to be inclusive to everyone who wants to enter whatever space there is. Accessibility means the women, minorities, the disabled – everyone.
Inclusivity in ads, leadership, politics, entertainment, business, and so on ensures that people are both seen and heard, and that includes women.
Proud of You Already
Now, depending on who you are, where you come from, and what your politics are, you might have been clapping along the entire way, or this might have been a pretty uncomfortable read. I just want to take the last moment to say – it’s OK if this article made you feel some type of way. When we’re uncomfortable like this, we can either become defensive, or we can take a step back and try to learn from the experience.
So what will you decide to do?
I hope you all celebrate World Women’s Day, and I hope this article does something to remind you that you can do anything you set your mind and your heart to.
So go find the women in your life that inspire you and give them a great big hug.
Choose to challenge.
See you soon.