I Want Women To Be Personally, Professionally + Financially Empowered

There is tremendous inequity in our world related to the immense responsiblity + expectation that is placed on women's shoulders without acknowledgement, appreciation or financial reward. We are wives, mothers, employees, business owners + caregivers ... the list goes on and on. These roles are minimizing labels that reduce our value to only what we do for others. We are not inherently valued for who we are. And the responsibilities + expectations that come with those labels place us in a position of having to make hard choices. Every. Minute. Of. Every. Single. Day. We are also bombarded, consciously + unconsciously, by social conditioning + media messages telling us our value is solely determined by our bodies ... how we look + how we function as wives + mothers. And it's never enough. You're never enough. We've been conditioned to think external validation is the only kind that exists. So, already at a disadvantage, we cannot afford to minimize ourselves. it is even more important for us to define our own value, communicate with meaning + negotiate from a powerful position to create personal, professional + financial empowerment.

Speaking from my experience in the U.S. ... women earn less money than a man in the same job. There are more women in the workforce than ever before and yet, we still have primary responsibility for family care, child care + caregiving. Pregnancy, + the subsequent time we take off from work to give birth, reduces our probability of getting hired or promoted. Without a legal requirement in the U.S. to provide paid maternity leave, new mothers have to choose between caring for their newborns or earning an income. And during their unpaid leave, women aren't contributing to their retirement accounts, which is a major reason why women have a lower earning potential over their lifetime. And with longer life spans, women can't rely on their husbands or partners (if they have one) to adequately provide for them until death, as tradition wants us to believe. And in the case of divorce, professional women who earn more than their husbands pay child support, even with 50/50 physical custody, + even though we've had to work a whole lot harder for the same buck. Priority-juggling. Sacrifice. Hard choices. As women, we can't be it all or do it all. And yet, when our many roles + responsibilities conflict with each other, what happens? Guilt. Shame. Judgment.

It's a zero-sum game until we individually + collectively reject external labels and define our value for ourselves. I want you to show up, stand out, play by your own rules + make bank. This is how we support each other in owning our power and claiming our rights. This is why I do what I do.