It’s why mansplaining grates on you.
Why being expected to carry the entire emotional and domestic load makes you furious.
Why being dismissed because you’re getting older can make you want to hit someone with your car.
I don’t mean power over other people but power in your own life. Agency. Authority. Influence. Knowing YOU get to decide what happens next.
And you’re not alone. Around 50% of the time I do a Values session with a woman, she will end up with power as one of her top values. Most likely, she started the session thinking it was going to be kindness. Or empathy. But it’s power.
If you feel disconnected, resentful, uninspired, unmotivated and afraid right now then maybe it’s one of your top values too. And maybe it needs some attention. Because it’s not just a nice to have.
If you’re a woman, you need to feel powerful.
Caption: Alice Walker the novelist said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
I’d add “or by believing power is not for them.” Which is what almost every woman I have ever met was taught.
Being nice, accommodating and liked? Yes you can have those.
Powerful, assertive and respected? The patriarchy says, not for you.
But you’re a woman, you need to feel powerful. Have I said it enough times yet? It’s not something I plan to shut up about.
