Empower women
“If you want to lift up humanity, empower women. It is the most comprehensive, high-leveraging investment you can make in human beings. As women gain rights, families flourish, and so do societies.” ~ Melinda Gates.
Some roads you know well – the ones that you tread everyday, while others that you seldom encounter may be unfamiliar. But what about the paths that you don’t even know about?
These were my thoughts as I returned from volunteering for an event for the Singapore chapter of an international charity with a deceptively simple name “Inspiring Girls”.
Circles of power
“A circle has no hierarchy”, says Mathilde, the organizer of monthly full moon night meetups. It is where a motley group of expat women like myself gather around to imbibe the power of being close to nature, to each other, and to feel a sisterhood that crosses borders and barriers of race, language, and nationality. Perhaps it is the encompassing nature of the circle that makes it so attractive. A circle has no end, and therein lies its power. Circles can also intersect, and when they do, like the five rings that symbolize the Olympics, they become emblems of aspiration, cooperation, and excellence.
Mathilde also happens to be a co-founder of Inspiring Girls. When she asked if I would be interested in volunteering with the charity, I immediately said yes. Empowering women has always been a cause close to my heart.
Despite the gender equality within my home, I felt a sense of unease when I saw boys given special benefits while girls were excluded. I tried to do what I could. One summer, I spent a few hours each day trying to teach alphabets and basic literacy to a teenage girl of similar age who worked at a construction site across from my family’s home in Mumbai. Although I don’t know if that innocent act of generosity made an impact on that girl, it felt right to me.
Why girls fall behind
Inspiring Girls reveals shocking yet believable statistics. Did you know that 67% of young girls globally believe they do not have the same professional chances as men? Or, that girls’ confidence drops when they are between 10 – 15 years old, an age when they are making pivotal decisions about their education options and career interests. Not surprisingly, this negatively impacts their self-esteem which carries on to adulthood, setting limitations to pursuing goals, thereby decreasing the number of women putting themselves forward for leadership roles.
Inspiring Girls connects young girls with female role models to help them build confidence and resilience. By acting at the local level, they ensure young girls get to know about a wide range of careers and options in life so that they can be inspired to aim high.
For those of us who are privileged enough to have wide social networks through our families and have access to people who are successful in a variety of careers, this may seem like a trivial exercise. But girls whose worlds are circumscribed by poverty and lack, are unaware of the possibility of a life beyond what they see on a daily basis. When a girl plays small or constricts her potential, it is not just she who loses, the larger world loses too.
Breaking stereotypes, crushing barriers
In our hyperconnected world, you may argue that the internet has expanded access to everyone with a wifi connection. We know a lot about famous people, and celebrities in far corners of the world and are captivated by influencers who wield great power. But the realities of everyday life trump the possibilities presented by the virtual world.
Melinda Gates’ book, The Moment of Lift – How Empowering Women Changes The World contains horrifying statistics about the unimaginable struggles of women in the margins of society. It is not just women in rural India or Africa who are left out but also those in inner cities of developed nations.
From laws that exclude women, and religious and cultural practices that keep women at the periphery to practical issues linked with the biology of female bodies, there are many ways in which women are shoved aside and their rights denied. It behooves women to lift others up. As Gates observes wryly, “Sometimes all that’s needed to lift women up is to stop pulling them down.”
What being a feminist means to me
Although I didn’t have insight into the term ‘feminist’ as a child, when I look back at my life, I know I have always been one. Being a feminist means not only believing in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes but using my agency to extend this belief to all women. My definition of feminism connects words with action.
What can one person do when there is always much to be done? Just look back at history. Protests are made up of rising solitary voices, movements arise from the collective actions of individuals rallying around a common cause and change occurs when the momentum of the wave overrides the inertia of the status quo.
Instead of feeling discouraged about the violence against women, the gender pay gap, and inequities within the home, I follow one simple rule. When I come across a situation, a request, or an opportunity to contribute in some way, I almost always say yes. From giving a monetary donation to providing glowing references, or showing up for an honest chat over coffee with someone looking for guidance, I do what I can in the moment.
During my time with the teenage girls at a school in Singapore, I saw their demeanor change within a few hours of being introduced to concepts about our changing world and participating in small groups where they interacted directly with female role models. Not celebrities. Not influencers. Just regular women going about their everyday lives, quietly making their mark in the world, right in their city. The girls with stooped shoulders and sullen expressions sat up straight, made eye contact, asked questions, laughed, and cheered. At the end of the session, they were energized, and so was I.
The moment of lift doesn’t happen when an airplane reaches its highest altitude, it’s at the moment when the aircraft rises against the forces that are trying to keep it tethered to the ground. Playing my small part as a facilitator in that workshop and watching that moment of lift for those girls was a source of joy for me. Because my version of feminism means taking that small step which begins with saying yes.