Empowered Women Empower Humanity

I have been wanting to write about feminism for a really long time, but I always had trouble putting words on paper without thinking I was falling into a clichés of what women should do or not in order to empower themselves or a list of situation in which women are penalized for just being women.

For years we’ve seen society demanding more equality in every field, illustrious spokespeople have raised the issue and sparked the conversation about where we stand in terms of gender equality in terms of policies put in place by governments and businesses to raise women participation. The contribution these people have given to the conversation is important, because little by little they have changed the image society had when hearing the word feminist and with their courage they have brought the spotlight on the issue again. Malala, Emma Watson and Sheryl Sandberg are just a few names that have given huge contribution in the last couple of years.
During the World Economic Forum held in Davos this year Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encouraged both women and men to call themselves so. It is 2016 and everybody should understand that gender equality is an issue that cannot be ignored anymore and that it will bring benefits to us all. Empowering women will empower humanity.

Recently I have read “Lean in” by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO. The book was enlightening, because she is bringing the discussion back to where it belongs. It is not only a task for government and business to create a more favorable environment for women, but it has to start from us: as women we need to free ourselves from thoughts thousands of years of history put in our minds and we need to help other women to do so as well, by encouraging them and become each other supporters. In this way we will be able to overcome the imaginary barrier put between ourselves and our goals and all the lies we tell ourselves on why we are not exploiting our full potential.
This book is amazing and I really recommend it to everyone, especially young girls. “Lean In” gives us a catalog of situation in which we all recognize ourselves at some point in our lives and I bet we could feel it with many more situations.

Gender equality is one of the Global Challenges outlined in Davos. The conversation is live more than ever and everybody needs to take part in it and educate themselves on where we stand and how we can improve.
The change starts from us: from the way we perceive ourselves in the first place and then from the way we approach others and what we teach to younger generations. Social change takes time, but I believe our generation has more power than ever to reach out to an incredible number of people and impact them.

I’m wondering now what made it so hard to write this article. It is probably the same reason why it was so hard for me to define myself as a feminist for such a long time. We don’t want to be perceived as people who are angry at the world and like to complain or even worst as people who hate men. No, being a feminist is more synonym with being a humanist, who believes in equality for everyone. We don’t have to be afraid of this definition or of freeing ourselves of the barriers we have in our minds. Empowering women has a greater impact than only changing the composition of Board of Directors, or more women as head of states. Empowering women empowers humanity because it develops and fosters systems that uncover amazing talents that were left behind thus far. More talent translates in more progress and innovations, plus a World that is more tolerant and were empowered mothers will empower their children.

Learn more about the Global Gender Gap Report 2015.

Keep the conversation going!
Lean In Organization
Malala Fund
He for She