The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Can you imagine if the most important class in business school was “Self Empowerment 101?” Being empowered is a key part of being successful in business — but no one tells you that when you’re graduating from school.
Self-empowerment affects your confidence levels, and confidence is incredibly important whether you’re running your own business or looking to get ahead in your career.
Jezebel recently released a story “The War On Women By the Ridiculous Numbers” stating the average American woman can expect to be “stiffed out of $431,360 during the duration of her working career.”
We need to empower ourselves so this doesn’t continue to happen. I want to spark a discussion around self-empowerment — and get women talking about what makes them feel empowered. I’d like to see more how-to information for women around being empowered. Let’s share stories among each other about what women are doing spiritually to get to the next level. When you feel powerful, you believe you are capable of anything – and you push yourself farther. You ask for the opportunities you feel you deserve.
You ask for a better salary and you don’t put up with treatment in the workplace (and in your personal lives) that leaves you feeling disrespected.
I’m talking to you. You who don’t speak up in meetings, you who believe you aren’t paid ad much as your male counterparts, you who mitigate your words by couching them as questions, you who hide your statements by including like, um, you know. I have been there too. Empowerment has to start inside. It’s a pure, raw and unshakable belief in oneself. But the journey to self-empowerment is easier said than done, particularly with the traps that are set up for women along the way — the war on women is everywhere. The media at every turn tells us we aren’t good enough. We are bred to be insecure.
Sometimes it’s hard to acknowledge the fact that being a nice girl is completely counterproductive to doing what is best for you. The truth is you will excel in your career when you are an empowered woman, and to be an empowered woman you need to get to know yourself.
To help you do that, I’ve put together a workshop in San Francisco with renown Bay Area career coach Dr. Barbara Mark to provide an engaging and fun workshop designed for working girls like you. We’re hosting the “Get Your Groove Back Workshop” taking place June 30, 2012 from 1pm to 4pm. This workshop provides an experience that gives you the tools to bring clarity and possibility together, and positions you to take your big next steps in your life, in your relationships and your career.
Even if we don’t see you at the workshop, this month try to take some steps to get to know yourself on a deeper level. Because self-empowerment is rooted in self-awareness, and when you are empowered, girlfriend there is no stopping you.
This is a very good idea, colleges should do more along this line for their women students. I hope you spend a little time on what to wear to work. Media always has women dressed for sex which doesn’t reflect the real business world and I am often speechless at what young women will wear to a job interview. In contrast men have no nonsense business attire and apparently don’t feel they need to make a sexual sale at a job interview.
Empower is right. You go, girlfriend!
Why on earth would a professional trying to sell a an empowerment seminar to women use the term “working girl”?
Hi Bes
Thanks for your comments. I agree that having courses on self empowerment would be an important and helpful addition to the course-load. With regard to your mention of clothes, there were days as a young person my shoes were way too high for the office. I just didn’t know, and that was what was in fashion.
We need to send the message loud and clear that the key is to gain your coworkers respect, and you do that by respecting yourself–part of this is how you present yourself. Wearing scantily clad clothing is an easy way to get attention, and a lot of girls do it. I wish more women knew that dressing more like a young Hillary Clinton and less like Britney Spears at the office was the way to go.
Thanks for reading Bes!
Blake
Hi Jean
Thanks for reading and for your comments. When I say “working girl,” I say this tongue-in-cheek. I feel these terms aren’t as loaded when we re-appropriate them [and have a sense of humor about it]. I understand why you might take this the wrong way. The good news is we have sign-ups so people are willing to look beyond the name of the workshop and consider the value they will get from doing some much needed self-reflection.
Respectfully,
Blake
Helping women and especially young women be aware that they have many kinds of power is worthy mission. Media and the Fashion/Beauty industry hammers them non stop with messages that their only power is sexual power and that they need male approval and a lot of purchased product to have that. Women need to know that they don’t need to overtly display themselves to own their sexual power, they are born with it they don’t need to purchase it. They also have political power, spiritual power, professional power, mother power, etc. Somehow young men seem to get this message. Imagine how many followers a magazine or other media venue who encouraged women’s natural powers would have. But you will never see it because “women’s” magazines and TV are nothing but advertising venues calculated to make women feel bad so they will purchase unneeded corrective product.
I thought/hoped feminists would publish woman positive media, but they seem to go with the extreme outrage stories to bring on emotional extremes in their readers. No one has figured out how to monetize positive media for women. Even media that capitalized on women’s fantasies rather than trying to sell women their part in a male fantasy would be an improvement.
Blake, has your boss or a co-worker every addressed you as a “girl” while trying to diminish your professional opinion or contribution? If not, it’s because women like me spent decades being accused of having “no sense of humor” when we objected, over and over again, to their use of demeaning language. For you to use the same tactic to avoid taking responsibility for such a rank error on your part is sad.
The whole idea that women using offensive language to one another “re-appropriates” that word is beyond silly. Women who call each other “bitches” and “sluts” are demeaning one another. Black rappers have been calling each other “nigga” for decades but the word has just as much power when used by a white person as it did in the 1960′s. Slut and bitch will always be derogatory terms when used by men and women will, rightfully, object to such usage.
I have to say that I’m even more disappointed by your response to my comment than I was to the original use of the term “working girl”.
Jean Louise, I completely agree with you here, being myself someone who was accused of lacking humor.
we need clarity what these terms mean to those, who use them against us. there is no re-aproppriation. I think trying to do this is confusing a serious matter.
This is kind of a not seeing the forest for the trees issue. Individual words are the trees and sure they are important, but the forest is images of women planted by Corporate Media that limit women’s power and the forest is huge and it is everywhere. Not only do the Media plant distorted images of females and female power they gate keep authentic female voices out of the culture. Any course that teaches women and girls how to hear their own strength and honor it in the face of the non stop media degradation of femaleness is a good thing to me. I am sure I am not the target demo but I wouldn’t mind taking the seminar and I think it is an unusual and valuable voice that needs to be heard.
How is calling one another “working girls” or “bitches” describing authentic female voices? In his twitter about the SCOTUS decision on the ACA, Obama’s close aid, Patric Gaspard tweeted “It’s constitutional. Bitches” Yeah, we’ve really taken back that name when a gay, religious, black male aide to POTUS uses the word to slam his male opponents.
Of course, I think he should be fired but Obama doesn’t fire anyone for sexual discriminarion or harassment.