Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women. – Maya Angelou
In the past, I’ve brought forward the importance of being a visible role model. How each of us standing up and being seen, can help make it easier for others around us to do the same.
I’d like to add a few more thoughts on how we can all #StandUp.
I believe it’s important to celebrate progress of others. Every time we see progress for women, wherever that progress might come — corporate, nonprofit or individual, society benefits.
I also, believe we should all lend our voice of dissent to important social, human and legal events that happen around us. From the scourge of rape culture, to the embarrassment of sexism in Olympic coverage, not being a silent bystander, is a critical part of standing up. We are the authors of our lives and a positive example for others.
Lately I’ve been thinking more deeply about the most difficult barrier that remains for women — power. In the boardrooms, executive suites, and in our representative democracy, women are a stubbornly stuck minority.
I want to give a shout out to Cindy Gallop for connecting an important point to this topic for me. The reason #EqualPay is important, is not just about you getting what is fair. In a work context, equal pay makes sure you are compared properly against the rightful peer group.
If you allow yourself to be paid less than your male counterparts, you not only hold back your own earning potential, you diminish your overall perceived value [against the scorecard measured in US dollars]. When you overlay this against the behavioral economic principle of relativity you begin to see how this can become a recursive problem.
All respect to Archie’s “Rib Theory,” I think a compelling case can be made that we all need to do our part. I’m not suggesting that we need to all be motivated exclusively by money or power but, we must not allow ourselves to give permission to others to diminish the value of our work. We must do our part to find and fix this for others when we are in a situation where we can.
Happy #WomensEqualityDay with sincere gratitude for all that you do, to stand up for all women.
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