It is said that little girls with dreams become women with vision. It is quite true. And I have experienced it first hand. Ever since I was a teenager, I dreamt of becoming successful and independent in all the definitions of that term. At age 14-15, I already had drafted my home design and changed my mind about becoming a firefighter or a jet plane pilot to wishing to become an architect. It made my family a bit nervous but they always stood by me and supported my career and life decisions. Life had its saying and even if I did not pursue an engineering career, I did bloom in different fields, business being one of them. I am hence forever grateful to my parents and siblings for the constant encouragement, even when at times I was venturing in risky, muddy waters.
We have been living in patriarchal systems for centuries now and luckily, this has driven many women to thrive for more and to express their entrepreneurial spirit. Once dubbed witches for being empathetic and mastering the arts of healing with herbs or natural remedies, women participate nowadays in almost every aspect of our modern lives. And it is not about removing men from their positions or taking their place. For the real feminist will have understood that being a woman is so sublime, that it is a privilege being one! Therefore, more and more of us are embracing our womanhood in the biblical feminine depiction and feeling less anxious and/or alienated. Because we are the vessels who share the light in any spiritual realm.
To get back to the business world, high five to all women, who work hard, chase their dreams and remain their gracious, divine selves. Don’t get me wrong. A woman can dream of creating a home and having a family. This aspiration is of no less value than the one to succeed at launching a company or becoming a scientist. Not everyone is cut to be an entrepreneur, whether male or female, and each one of us contributes our way. While it is tough to compete with male counterparts and go beyond gender-based stereotypes, it is equally complex to manage and run a household. Women are leaders in ideating, leading, and bringing change to the world because they aspire to do something they love. That’s how they have always made the world go round, from giving life to educating or fomenting revolutions in their salons!
What makes women successful in business? They are honest and value relationships. They welcome creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, prefer direct communication, and since they are emotionally aware/intelligent beings, they tend to negotiate fairly. They suffer less from ego blindness and usually tend to take more realistic risks than the men on the job. This is partly because they are still afraid of the faux-pas they might take and also due to them considering the big picture more often than not. This is not to say that women are more fit than men, or that men have innate talents at running businesses whereas women lack these traits. In a general approach, women have shown they possess a set of skills that are very handy in the entrepreneurial world. They are re-discovering themselves and their strengths and putting them to use in their endeavors. We still need to reach equal pay for the same work provided and for women to be less apprehensive to join the leadership “club”, sometimes because they choose to start a family of their own and sacrifice their careers, whereas men do not usually have to worry about such matters.
Finally, a beautiful writing that I came across today, to end this post with an ode to women, no matter who they choose to be:
