Women’s Day
Who created women’s day?
A woman by the name of Clara Zetkin who was leader of the ‘Women’s Office’ for the Social Democratic Party in Germany invented the idea way back in 1910. The motivation was to press forward with their demands for women’s rights and to achieve universal suffrage for women. At this time women fought hard for their right to vote, hold public office, equal pay, reproductive rights, to be free from sexual violence, to have equal rights in family law, to own property, to education and to bodily integrity and autonomy. These human rights were based on a traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls in favour of men and boys and it has in the most part, been successful.
To be honest I am tired of being reminded to celebrate women. The more we celebrate the differences between men and women the bigger the divide and more the competitive confusion reigns. Well over a century ago brave women set the foundations for the liberation of women and achieved an enormous amount, but in our struggle and anxiety to push forward as being independent from men, we have forgotten to honour and embrace our femininity – our feminine principle. Women have adopted masculine qualities to compete in an apparently male dominated world losing touch with their very powerful feminine qualities. We’ve ended up in a world overwhelmed with masculinity. Ironic.
It’s become almost infra dig to be a stay-at-home mother and more important to earn academic qualifications and powerful positions in corporations or be able to say, “I am a business owner”. Of course, you can be both career woman and mother but at what cost? To be an excellent mother you need to fully focus internally on the emotional development of yourself and family, to feed and nurture partner and family whilst not having to focus on material provision. To be an excellent career woman you must fully focus externally on earning, achieving, and providing which implies leaving emotional health behind. To achieve both equally is exceptionally difficult and that’s why in the traditional family there are two roles to play by two separate individuals where neither is greater or lesser than the other with far less chance of imbalance occurring. The real key is to be aware that both these roles live within you. There is masculine behaviour and there is feminine behaviour, and we all have access to both left brain (yang, masculine) & right brain (yin, feminine) qualities. A balance between the two is essential to create & co-create and to be whole individuals. No division necessary.
“When my client has learned to answer their own questions, my job is done”.
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