Why are women still trying to prove themselves?
At the risk of being lost in the myriad posts & posters about women’s day panel discussions, speaker series, diversity stats & charts, celebrations, felicitations etc; I am trying to figure out something very basic her…
Why is it so important to "prove" ourselves?
Why do we want to show that we’re capable of doing things otherwise believed to be beyond our abilities? And that’s how we end up doing things we never wanted to do, while chasing goals we never set for ourselves.
Why?
Only to prove that we can?
Why do we have such a skewed definition of SUCCESS?
Why do conventional capitalistic achievements overshadow other far more difficult to achieve & surely more indispensable ones for a fulfilling life? Like emotional resilience, empathy, morality, compassion etc?
Yes, agreed, these are all very difficult to measure, but why are they almost completely absent from the entire framework?
We, in fact, spend years unlearning these defaults to qualify for becoming "successful"...
Why? Because otherwise we might come across as "weak".
Because emotional repression, social indifference & a fragile value system, are all tools to ace this fundamentally flawed game of irresponsible production and mindless consumption, having goals of achieving superficial growth & success. Sigh.
Why don’t we question oftener?
Why is “slowing down” frowned upon, and considered enemy of “growth"? Why don’t we stop to reflect on our choices? Why do we actually believe we don’t have much of a choice at all?
Why is first principle thinking so tough?
Why can’t we enable each other to identify and define what "success" means to each one of us & then collectively work towards achieving that version of success?
Wouldn’t that be a liberating feeling? Wouldn’t that be true empowerment?
Hmm.
Let me know if you can add more to this volley of questions…
Until then, ciao.
PS: Happy International Women’s Day 2021
