Let’s Celebrate women! The chorus of this sentiment will ring out loudly this week and peak on Sunday 8 March.
I want to call my fellow sisters to ‘arms’. I want to throw down the challenge to women to do more than simply turn up at another International Women’s Day event to fly the flag. I want to see women actually walk their talk this International Women’s Day and (to be really blunt), stop complaining about other women behind their backs!
Let’s be honest, oftentimes, a woman’s biggest critic is actually other women, and I’d like to see this stop.
Yes, girls, it’s time to don those Big Girl Panties and get really honest with each other!
This International Women’s Day, let’s challenge ourselves to stay out of stories that aren’t ours, to leave our assumptions to one side and take the time to listen….really listen to other women so we may learn what it’s like to walk in their shoes and truly offer non-judgemental support.
We all crave support and understanding but what most of us give out is quite the opposite, even when it comes to ourselves (who else has brutal ‘self-talk’? Be honest…..).
Some time back, I left my marriage of 30 plus years, and predictably and somewhat sadly, more women were keen to make up their own version of what they believed happened, what I should or should not have done, or how I should have or shouldn’t have behaved. There were more people invested in their own stories about what happened inside my marriage than there were available to support me. And I’ve seen this play out across many years with many women.
But this call to arms isn’t about me. It’s about US – all women and I want to take the time this International Women’s Day to remind all women of a great charter for life. Imagine what the ‘sisterhood’ could achieve if we all really committed to this acronym?
Think!
Now, if we look at the example of a woman leaving a marriage. This isn’t about me, it’s about the 50% of women who leave their marriage, and face a myriad of judgement along the way.
Judgements like why a woman might leave ‘a perfectly good marriage’? Or ‘he was always so lovely’, or ‘they seemed so happy’.
My beautiful mum used to say, “It generally has to be pretty bad for a woman to leave the family home” and generally this is true.
It’s worth taking a moment to consider what it must have taken for a woman to leave the comforts of her home for the unknown, both in terms of financial, family and friendship support.
Most women finally jump after years of building up the courage and generally being pushed to their final leap knowing that they will likely have few people who will support them and knowing that they will be judged cruelly by many. And yet they leap!
That takes an enormous amount of courage and faith!
I take my hat off to all those women, they deserve our respect and support.
And most of all, they deserve to have us leave our judgement at the International Women’s Day function where we all talked of being supportive of the sisterhood.
It’s time to walk that talk ladies!
The Carousel would like to thank Jacinta Callaghan for her article.
