Your morning news shows video from a women’s’ rally. Your newspaper discusses closing the pay gap. On your morning drive to work you are bombarded with radio programs and people in heated discussions regarding equal rights for women and assault survivors. We are in, possibly the largest women’s’ movement of our lifetime and in the midst of all of this positivity and support, shockingly, I still find women acting poorly to other women. My brain cannot reconcile the voices of support and positivity I hear and see in the media, and the reality in which I live.
This reminds me of the high school article I wrote for the paper-“Girls are mean; boys are stupid.”
Man, did I take some heat for that article! It spoke of the interesting social cues; the situations, verbal, and nonverbal communication within the fish bowl of a typical high school social arena. And it really pissed off my social circle!
Fast forward several years and I now find myself experiencing women behaving poorly to other women-being mean girls. Yes I consistently miss the memo “On Wednesdays we wear pink.” How can we expect others to “get it”; to treat us fairly, with respect, and with kindness – if we can’t even do it for each other on a consistent basis?
It has to start with our own interactions with one another – on an individual level; person to person, woman to woman. It starts with the base knowledge that every human has the right to be respected, and if you take a moment and seize the opportunity, you can find something in common with just about anyone.
We all need to have open and honest communication and not just point fingers at men. We are also doing it to ourselves. We need to take responsibility for our actions in this and figure out a way to uplift each other.
The world is hard enough to navigate. Let’s be our best self. Let’s encourage others to be their best selves.