I’ve been meaning to pick up my blog for a while now and begin writing on a consistent basis but I have been unsure of what to write. Until this morning. I was given an article that is meant to empower women but is more like the 1950s article “Tips to look after your Husband”! #patronising
To give you a brief backstory; I am at the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey involving the development of an app, a Shopify store and more. I am signed up for lots of entrepreneurial groups, websites etc.
This morning I got an email from IEMP (Irish Executive Mentoring Programme) kindly offering a free online professional development group for women. I obliged and opened the google doc and the first part was an article called” Power of Pause”
“I found the article to be bland and above all quite patronising to women. There are 5 steps:
Step 1. is ‘Decide who you are’
Extract: “One value we do see more often with
women is the desire to feel appreciated
and respected. It’s important to them that their tough-it-out mentality be recognized: Hey, can’t you see the sacrifices
I’m making here—appreciate me!”
Pleassssee any strong, independent, intelligent woman does not need constant praise. Women are not children who need recognition for doing their homework. Get real!
2nd Extract from step 1.
“In much of our work, the
stereotypes prove true—women have a
harder time articulating their specific
skills (not just “I’m good with people”) ”
Are you kidding? Any woman who has gone through the ranks of work or college or life, in general, will know exactly who they are and what their skills are. Not buying.
Step 2. “How Others See You”
Again I think any self-aware woman knows exactly how others see them since her playground days. C’mon.
Extract –
“To know the opinion of others
requires feedback. And, while women
are generally eager for feedback, it’s not
uncommon to see them ruminate on it.
In fact, one of us is still talking about
feedback we received from a boss in
2005. It was accurate feedback—about
pouting in a meeting”
FEEDBACK!!?? That’s most certainly not feedback lol. That is just proving my point. Nuff said. Next…
Step 3. “Recognise and Accept Change”
Women are the main creatures of all to see change coming a mile off… Who are they trying to pull the wool over?
Step 4. “Stay Open To All Options”
Correct me if I’m wrong but I reckon that is called a career…
Extract: “we find that women aren’t
as upward-focused as men” \0/
Step 5 ” Design a Plan” Again its called a career path…
Overall, in essence, the two articles are not that dissimilar. The whole point in empowering women is to assume equality and not to differentiate. You would never come across an article in a men’s magazine, online or in a newspaper that gives men a guided step by step instruction on ‘how to be a man in the workforce” so why do women think its normal, natural and even a positive thing to put women down and pretend you are offering a hand up? Giving basic bullshit advise that was clearly written form the top of someone’s head as its easy to write simple articles about women as the topic of women entrepreneurs is so new writers think they can spew anything someone will clap and say “how empowering’. I call crap #bullshit.
I would be interested to hear your opinion. Please leave your comments.
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