Who Empowers a WOMAN?

“Women Empowerment” is the buzzword of today’s corporate world. Gender Diversity is one of the most important KPIs that the leadership has to set eyes on for taking their organizations on a growth journey with a gender-balanced team. Recently concluded Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 had “Women Empowerment” at its core with the theme “Women first, prosperity for all”. The entire ecosystem and environment are being equipped to enable and empower women to march ahead towards progress and to take up leadership roles at the top, however that’s not showing the impact as expected!

 

The big question then is – what is it that will work and move the needle significantly in a positive direction?

 

In my perspective, the answer is very straightforward – the change must be “INSIDE OUT” and not “OUTSIDE IN”. A self-empowered woman, who realizes her potential and abilities, who accepts herself and her true worth in being who she is, who is ready to challenge her conditioning and conditions will be more open to garner support from the environment around her to achieve her goals in life.

 

The successful women that we see around, are the ones who have faced innumerable challenges in their lives, however, they have survived and thrived despite the setbacks, failures, external pressures, and trying circumstances. They have empowered themselves FIRST and had the grit, passion, commitment, and vision to stay aligned to their growth and purpose in life.

 

If this is so straightforward – why is it so difficult? Why is a woman so often disempowered?

 

As a patriarchal society, we must take some part of that blame. We want empowered women in offices, but how many of us empower the woman at home. It could be our wives, our sisters, our daughters, a cousin, or for that matter any girl around us?

 

The women of today have become the prisoners of their self-imposed and self-destructive beliefs, thoughts, constraints, limitations, biases – like how they are supposed to be and not be, what can they do or not do, to what extent can they dream, expectations from society, family, extended family and their roles in fulfilling all those and many more that they have been exposed to and have picked up as part of their upbringing at homes and in the society.

 

Fortunately, there are more women who are now breaking such barriers and questioning these unconscious biases and beliefs to explore their potential – but the number is still very meager.

 

So, what can each one of us do about it?

 

Start early, it is imperative to empower the young girls in our families who are in the stage of forming their beliefs, values, self-image that will, in turn, form the foundation of their life. Make them feel involved and empowered to participate in the decision-making for themselves and at home.

 

Give them the freedom of choice, freedom to question decisions and ask for answers, freedom of thought and to voice their opinions, freedom to participate as key stakeholders of the family and stand by them while they experiment with their choices.

 

Teach them that Dreaming Big is not a sin and it is definitely fine to be a little selfish in deciding what makes them “Happy”. Teach them that each person is responsible for his/her own happiness or misery and they don’t have to be responsible and accountable to make everyone in their ecosystem happy. Teach them that “Getting Married” can not be the only goal of their lives. Teach them that it is ok to say “NO” and to take a stand. Teach them to fight for their rights. Teach them to seek and ask for what they deserve. Teach them to be proud of the unique qualities that they possess. Teach them to build their unique identity and to create a unique script for themselves!

 

These small steps will transform a small girl into an aspirational self-empowered woman who will then utilize her eco-system to march forward.

 

Men have a very vital role to play in contributing towards the empowerment of a woman. During the growing up years of young boys when they are forming their beliefs, value systems, attitudes, and behaviors, it is important to make them understand that they need to respect girls and participate in their growth as equal partners while appreciating, contributing, and celebrating their success. The concept of equal opportunity has to be embedded as a strong belief during their growing up years.

 

Unfortunately, the probability of a woman who has never been allowed to be herself and expresses herself in her growing up years suddenly breaking all barriers and feeling empowered is very low. Such a woman will compromise and drop out very early with minimal pressure from external circumstances. Being a woman and having worked with women extensively and now raising a girl child, what I have mentioned above are in my opinion baby steps but very crucial steps towards a future that all of us dream of!

We all need to take accountability for raising such women who can celebrate “Womanhood” and the joy of being a “Woman” and in turn, be the role models for other women around them!