Women: Inequalities Require Empowerment

With all the talks in the news about women and inequalities, I have been pondering what is the cause that creates this effect. Being a woman who has worked in a corporate environment, I can tell you that gender pay gap and false perceptions about women do exist, but the talk should not be that it does exist, but why does it exist.

So why is it that if more women are getting educated than men how does inequality still exist? I want to challenge you with thought provoking ideas today on these issues. I will outline what I see as the reall underlying causes:

1. Women do not ask for help or leverage like men do.

a. In most cases, this is true. Even when I started out in the workforce, I fell victim to feeling like I had something to prove. This is the most detrimental problem women face in closing the equality gap. Lose the chip off your shoulder and showcase your value add without the attitude. Asking for help does not equate to failure so seek help from others on your team swiftly, reach out to the subject matter experts when needed, and learn to delegate fast and furiously.

1. The culture of submissiveness in the home transfers to the workplace.

a. Biblically the topic of a woman’s role in a home and marriage are well laid out in Proverbs 31 and Ephesians 5. There is a submissive expectation and pattern laid out in the Bible when it comes to being a wife and running a home and this sometimes bleeds over into the workplace. You are on an equal playing field in the workplace so get comfortable with it.

b. Most women are not good negotiators. Negotiation skills need to be obtained via training and immulating.

1. The stigma of EQ versus IQ.

a. Most of society still thinks women are too emotional and do not make as sound decisions as men do. This is a stigma that has to be overcome. We have examples from Biblical days to prove this to not be true. Last night, we studied 1 Samuel 25 and there was a woman named, Abigail who was intelligent meaning emotionally sound and could make rational decisions. Reality is that regardless of gender that it does not matter how educated you are if you do not have emotional intelliegence to responsive versus reactive. Live in the solution and work on yourself to learn to be unoffendable. Agape love is emotionless.

b. Presently, 60% of all college attendees are women. The days of men being more educated than women are gone. Stats are proving that women are willing to bear children at older ages as to pursue an education or career first.

1. The stigma of women are not as present as men.

a. Women play dual roles and most of society accepts that women are great multi-taskers. Men are accepted as bread winners and that they get a pass at the dual role…not so if they are christian men, however, the stigma of women wearing multiple hats have employers still believing that men are more present and are less tired. Learn to divide and conquer tasks at home, delegate to your children, hire a maid, meal prep on weekends, get organized, and never give your boss a reason to believe this is true.

I know this list is not exhaustive and I could have written a book, however I truly feel that these are the top four reasons these issues still exist. Pay close attention that I identified the issue and provided solutions to each. I truly believe that it is up to us women to correct the issue by taking the approprate actions and personal accountability. One of the best things we can do is empower each other. There is strength in numbers and times have changed and equality is attainable if we are willing to show up. We get what we tolerate and we have blamed men and society and have competed with each other for way too long. Time to stop blaming and start empowering women and these issue will vanish!