You’d have to be living under a rock to not know what’s got America up in arms at the moment. The overturning of the Roe v. Wade ruling has hit a nerve for a very good reason. Any type of autonomy for women has been hard-fought. Body autonomy has been and continues to be especially so.
So, let’s be clear….
What happened in America last week is NOT OK.
Women’s bodies belong to no one but themselves. Women are smart, savvy fully evolved beings who are capable of making the right decision for themselves and their families.
Telling women they can still roller coaster in white shorts or more recently be a cheerleader when they have their period is NOT OK.
It’s a time for rest and reflection. It’s not a time to push through and pretend and or medicate her way to someone else’s version of “normal”. It’s an important time in a woman’s natural hormonal cycle that is critical for her mental and physical wellbeing.
Telling a woman there is nothing physically wrong with her and it's all in head when she feels physical pain is NOT OK.
Even if there is no physical evidence to convince a professional who seeks evidence over personal experience. Women know their bodies best and deserve to be heard.
Excluding women from promotions or a pay rise because they are pregnant or likely to become pregnant is NOT OK.
They are still as capable, reliable, ambitious, and experienced as their peers. There is nothing wrong or sick about them. In fact, they develop even more skills as they “project manage” such a large, life changing “change agenda.”
Shutting women down because they are older and seen as irrelevant and a “has been” is NOT OK.
Mature women are wise and have a lot to offer and contribute. They are an important demographic and have a unique lived experience that affords them a voice AND an audience.
Do I need to go on? Or do you get my drift here?
In short ENOUGH IS ENOUGH (and yes I am shouting!)
While we are not in America dealing with the fallout of the recent Supreme Court decision, we are dealing with the social pillars that allow such a thing to happen.
This idea, this belief, this notion that runs deeply through the vein of society that at the end of it all women are still considered lesser than. The weaker sex. The ones who don’t really know what they want. The ones that are too emotional to be able make their own decisions about what is best for themselves, their families, and their communities.
And, even if you think this doesn’t reflect you or the world you live in then you’re either extremely lucky or what you’ve been hoodwinked by the bullsh*t propaganda that is served up to us all – the stuff about what it means to be a woman. The stuff that keeps us small, compliant, “good girls”.
As women we make up half the population, but no one is coming to save us. We must do this for ourselves. One woman at a time in her own way, in her own time. We saw in the recent federal election what a small group of passionate women can achieve.
So, in turn, imagine the future a large group of passionate women can create.
We don’t have to run for politics, protest on the streets or write impassioned letters to the editor (am I showing my age here?) or on social media each and every day.
You certainly can but you don’t have to do any of those things if you don’t want to.
But, what you DO have to do is carry that passion in your heart. You must remind yourself that you are part of the collective creating the future – the future for your children, grandchildren and their children. That you are not powerless.
It is time for us to wake up to what’s going on around us.
To question and ask ourselves how the hell we got here?
To know that EVERY time you choose to be brave and do something differently you are creating a ripple – no matter how small it may be. Whether it’s acknowledging the existence of another person, speaking up for what is right or having hard conversations with your kids.
We choose the legacy we are going to leave behind.
What's happening is a call to arms - to wake up, decide who we are going to be in this world and start shining the light into the dark corners so the shadows of the past can no longer linger.
What impact are you going to have? What future are you going to help create? What legacy are planning on leaving?
PS. Read this important post on Elizabeth Lessers idea of innervism - how to be a conscious activist so you don't turn into that which you are trying to defeat.
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