International Women’s day is a day which champions females all across the globe for their various personal and professional achievements.
Despite the many setbacks women face in their career – there are still a great number who break the glass ceiling and empower other women along the way.
One thing is for sure – you have to be willing and have the self belief it takes to withstand criticism when following your passion. Even if society and people you love are against you. This is the resilience of woman hood that International Women’s day celebrates.
Whether you’re a woman of color or a professional working woman, cultural context will impact on what you can and can’t do. As a tribute to all the amazing female leaders, it is also important to understand their cultural and very human struggles.
The challenges that women face differ because gender roles are different in each society and country. In different parts of the world women are championed for motherhood and domesticity rather than careers. This relates to their social and cultural norms and values. In other parts of the world, patriarchal structures of politics, civic society and education means that some women cannot access education or are persuaded to take up other occupations.
This isn’t to demonise certain countries as being unprogressive but about discussing what womanhood means around the world so we don’t impose a one size fits all ideology to female success.
In the West for example some minority ethnic women may not thrive because they may feel marginalised. Some women migrate back to their home country so they can have clear defined gender roles and that is positive for them
So success is different for each woman. We can not create a culture of exclusive ideology.
So if we want to understand women’s achievements we have to understand the culture and society is which they operate in.
Some things about women is:
-Women are less likely to vocalise or brag about their achievements
-Women are also more likely to attribute success to a team rather than themselves; this humility can sometimes work against them
-Women have many roles in life: motherhood, friend, colleague and to juggle these is emotionally taxing
-Often the conjugal roles are not equal as many females tend to take responsibility for the domestic domain as well as work. To truly celebrate women is to accept the various roles we can do and choose to do not out of inferiority, compulsion or force but sometimes our own will and desire. For example being a housewife to some women is what they really want.