What do you call a group of strong, amazing and determined women? I’m not exactly sure there is a collective noun suitable for the force of Mother Nature that this group of extra-ordinary can be defined. But the true show of women’s strength comes not from women coming together to make something happen, it’s when they come together to right a wrong, to lift the veil of injustice and to carry one another through the fire, this is when women rise when their strength and instinct have no boundaries.
Women are finding their voice, the younger generation, our daughters are more eloquent and ready to call out injustices just look at the testimonies from http://www.eveyonesinvited.com a website exposing rape culture in schools, colleges and universities, it was started with one woman, Soma Sara. She intends to eradicate rape culture, to change the normalising of sexual violence, abuse, rape jokes, sexual harassment, misogyny and sexual coercion. Soma not only suffered at the hands of rape culture, she talked to her friends, shared her experiences on social media until overwhelmingly there were over 54,000 testimonies from women and men who have now been given a space to share their truths. This is a woman who got angry, who became pro-active and would not keep quiet at injustice.
A few weeks ago I sat and watched the unfolding of a fantastic group of women the cause of which was dilution of leadership when men with ego’s and naivety came to the table, I say naivety because they did not realise the ripples they made impacted so greatly on the women, and women talk I honestly do not understand why men are so ignorant to this when the patriarchy in ancient times registered this fact and passed this information down through the generations. At the time this made me really sad and fearful of how a strong group with a common aim could possibly move forward but I need not have worried by the very next day my phone was ringing, messages were being sent, coffees drunk and solutions were being bought to the table but more than anything else, everyone listened to everyone’s point of view, there was no ego, no agenda, the capacity of these women came into their own to re-build, re-form and bring something from the ashes to move forward and to make it shine again. The imbalance from one very small and almost insignificant catalyst bought women together to bring calm from the chaos and build a better more efficient objective. If one group of women can achieve this maybe the lesson we should take is to always leave ego at the door? We all need a piece of ego, something to drive us forward but ego needs to be regulated, to not make us the victim, to not allow it to affect our decision making, to not seek attention and look for other’s imperfections, to not live in the past and the future but to bring yourself into the present.
When women are together fighting a cause and fighting for each other there is balance, big egos are left at the door, the need to heal and mend is in place, the strength to fight injustices prevails and equilibrium is once again restored. Next time you’re sat in a meeting, look around at the men and women at the table, look for the ego it’ll be quite easy to spot! Pick peace over drama and if you fall there will be a tribe of women who will help you rise.
Wild About Red 