The Achievements of Women
Today I am celebrating the former and future achievements of women worldwide in their battle for equality and respect, and against bias.
Is this just for woman? Of course not. In the contrary, there is an important role in this for men.
If you ever attended one of my trainings you will remember: a battle for the rights of a minority is more likely to have a positive outcome when the majority fights for it. And yes, men are actually still a minority in the Netherlands, by numbers. (in 2018 the Netherlands counted 8,527610 men and 8,654043 women according to CBS, worldwide there are actually more men than women according to Human Development Report of United Nations). So you can’t lean back and relax. International women’s day is your business too, or of your partner or your son or your male leader’s.
One of the positive examples that I know is Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. Another example is the company Gillette with their advertisement campaign for razors where they chose to make a clear statement about the attitude and position that is taught to and about boys. Yes, it is an advertisement by a company and still, they did not have to make a critical social statement but they chose to. Just like the company Nike with their new add about crazy dreams of women. Have a look at the Gillette ad here and the Nike ad here
I would like to hear from you about your good examples!
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day in the Netherlands is “heroine”
Prominent, invisible, dead and alive, great and small. We all know them because in each town and in every village there are and were heroines. Heroines who have been fighting for equal rights for women and their fellow human beings in a special way.
You can remember, honour, congratulate, salute, encourage them or give them a voice.
One of my heroines is Jane Elliott, the founder of the workshop Brown Eyed Blue Eyed. During our conversation last week, she told me that she is nowhere near being ready with her fight against discrimination.
She received the honorary doctorate from the University of Northern Iowa in December last year for a lifetime of determination to make a change in people’s ideology. She finds it disturbing. According to her, it is not a great achievement for a University to give another white, privileged person an honorary doctorate. How seldom does this happen? She sees greater importance in honouring the efforts of so many people of colour for their achievements and efforts. For this reason, she is now thinking about refusing the next doctorate which is going to be offered later this year from another University.
My other heroine is my mother. She taught me to take myself seriously as a woman and to believe in my power. As a single mother she raised two children in a warm and safe home. This was in surroundings that were neither friendly for migrants or for a divorced woman either. She offered one of the first intercultural sewing and cooking classes for mixed groups of women. It was a way to provide dialogue between them and to get to know each other’s culture and language. She did this on top of her fulltime job in a factory. Even today she is my rock, making my work possible by being there with my family while I am out here, working with you.
Who is your heroine? I would be excited to hear about her!
And which heroines do you share and tell others about? I found a book with some great examples to read to (grand)kids, to to use in class, give as a gift to nephews and nieces, or, just to read for yourself:
2017, Elena Favilli, Particular Books
Women in leadership
There is something about women in leadership positions. I have been asked repeatedly if I have a programme for this issue. In the last couple of months I have been working for a couple of clients who kept landing on the same question over and over again: how can we learn from female leadership instead of teaching women to adjust. The outcomes were special and very successful. I am converting them in to a new training course right now. I’ll keep you updated about it in my next mail. And no, the training is not ‘women only’!
Author – Şeydâ Buurman-Kutsal
Supervising | Training | Advisor
Contant – Mobile phone; +31-6 27 40 66 61
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