Consider what you felt like when you were five years old. Was the world full of wonder and possibilities? Did you believe anything could stop you from achieving your dreams? How important is it how your little girl saw herself? What took her determination away?
Imagine if you could go back in time and visit your five-year-old self. The purpose would be to give her one piece of advice to take with her on her life journey. What advice would you give her?
I’ve posed this question to several hundred women during my career, and almost all responded with the same answer – They would give their little girl self-belief. But since we cannot go back in time, well, at least that’s what they tell us, it’s still possible to change the future. You change the future, powerful women that you are.
Women’s Future In The Workplace
Whether I’m working with postgraduate students, new employees, first-time managers, or experienced executives, I repeatedly heard the same self-doubting voice. Hundreds of women respond, “I want to.. but deep down, I don’t believe I’m good enough, and I ought to….”
These observations are not limited to my own. For years, research papers and books have emphasized just how far-reaching this problem is. We live in a progressive world, yet we have generations of women from widely different cultures, all with the same underlying, self-limiting beliefs. We’re looking for women’s future, a place where we feel equal.
Are you one of them?
Do You Find Yourself In Any Of These Scenarios?
- You want to pursue your career goal, but your family is a priority.
- You know you are good at your job, but you don’t raise your voice or push for a promotion because you’re worried about coming across as too pushy or aggressive.
- You want to start a business, but you don’t feel you have either the time or the energy between caring for your children and your aging parents.
- You never voice your opinions without gauging the emotions of the room.
- You want to pursue a goal but worry that other mothers will judge you.
- You want to start a business, but you don’t know where to start and fear that people will think badly of you if you fail.
- You feel too old to go for the dream you always wanted.
Is It Possible To Change The Future?
It is not you who is limited, but the small box of norms and attitudes which make us believe we need to stay within to be accepted as a good woman. At She Can, we believe a woman’s future lies in her autonomy and uniqueness. You do not need to live through others to be a woman. Nor do you need to be any size, shape, or demonstrate any behavior to be a woman.
Whether you’re male, female, or pan-gender, we all face many challenges related to gender inequality in today’s society. As women should not be defined as a carer to be women, we have many hopes for inclusivity across all genders. But we cannot wait for attitudes, norms, and the institutional landscape to change.
How Would You Like To Change The Future?
Women have made us great in the past and make us great in the present. How many women have lifted us to stand on their shoulders and guide us while achieving our dreams? For women, what is the workplace of the future?
There is a place for you and all you have become, even if you haven’t developed a career or have experienced many years of turmoil. Your experience, insight, and knowledge have an immense value that can be transferred to benefit yourself and others.
Success is not only found in corporations and enterprises but in our personal lives too. This is seen in Future women’s network and communities. Women already have the resilience, strength, and skill to achieve life-defining and game-changing goals and help others achieve theirs. Women impact the future too.
Simply, A Leader!
In the future, we see, there will be no female leaders. There will be just leaders. No matter the background, gender, education, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, health, age, relationship, or financial status, we can each make our positive change and stand alongside others to make theirs.
Are we limited because we aren’t good enough, or is it because we felt we had to lock our five-year-old spirit away to ‘fit in’ with what we were told was good? Is that spirit just bursting to get out and show the world who she really is? Will she be making a positive impact on the future?
As I said before, you may not change what’s happened before, but you can change the future for women. We deserve it. For our happiness, for our health, and women’s rights in the future.