Are strong women different than strong men? How do women view power differently? Do they wield power differently? I think it is hard to know because we live in a world defined by male power structures and most of the time when women get to wield power in a broad way, they had to earn that privilege by moving up through a male system that rewarded them for exhibiting traits valued by men. How would women run things if the systems that granted power were defined by women? We really can not know what a fair and balanced world would look like until there is gender equity in government and business and honestly that will never happen. We might eventually have half the CEO’s and elected officials be female. But true parity would only happen if women ran EVERYTHING for a few hundred years like men did. Then we could all share power and see what that looked like.
Here are my thoughts on strong women in the current climate. In no particular order.
1. Strong women do not worry overly much about outside evaluations because they have a trusted internal compass.
2. Strong women lead from a place of wisdom and courage.
3. Strong women both nurture with compassion and command with authority because they do not limit themselves to a single form of power.
4. Strong women understand that self care is what keeps them strong.
5. Strong women know that humility and humor are equally essential to a resilient spirit.
6. Strong women are proud of their strength, but never allow pride to blind them. They are never afraid to admit failure and correct course as needed.
7. Strong women have no time for titillation or manipulation or exploitation.
8. Strong women own their strengths and their weaknesses without shame. They embrace their humanity fully.
9. Strong women live in comfortable nests.
10. Strong women cultivate joy.
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I am a strong woman and I am proud of myself for the work I have done to become this person. I like who I am. The path that brought me here was not always fun, but I did not have a say in that. I did, however, get to decide how those experiences manifested in my future. I decided they were the basis for a comedy instead of a tragedy. I decided my story would be one of transformation and triumph, not one of succumbing. It is a daily battle to keep my story on track, but today at least, I am up to the task.
How do you define strong women?