I guess I never gave t much thought. In fact, I never even believed most of it when I heard people talk about it. It could be that people talked about it in a way I did not relate to and now I do. So did people change, or did I change?
I want to find out, because the block on believing in gender inequality over the last 30 years was a good and a bad thing. It was a good thing because I believed I had no limits, and it really did not matter - I excelled at school, I excelled at my work, I was given all the opportunities, by my parents, my employers, my professors. Believing you have no limits is on its on, the first step not to be limited. But then I recognise it was also a bad thing, because I failed to notice whether around me other people felt differently, I failed to stop myself for being even stricter at interviewing women, I failed to dedicated more time at recruiting women.
And then it hit me, just like a cliche. Maybe it is like those self help books people talk about, where someone loves it and others can't go through page 10, because it is just not the right time in life and suddenly another one of those exact same books resonates and drives one to be different. Maybe that is what happened to me when I read #leanin. My sister said "you can't be an ambitious women in a high profile job without reading this book". As a good younger sister that I always was, I did as I was told, and I read the book. As I read through it I could not believe my eyes as they filled with examples of things I clearly had done because I was a girl, and not because it made sense. Like changing jobs to #leanin, risking going into a less interesting role, as long as that would allow me to maybe 3 years later, have kids. I was lucky, the job turned out amazing and much more challenging than my previous one. Pure luck.
So now I follow #leanin and I try to not dismiss women stories like "feminist tales". So today, I went for #banbossy, and I downloaded the tips for parents. I am sure I am going to find a lot of mistakes I already do there, but I have time, C is only 11 months old. I got her a ball and I am banning pink princesses as long as she does not ask for it. She wears pink, blue, brown, yellow, any colour really as she looks cute on any anyway. And I let her do what any child, girl or boy will do, even if she gets all bruised.
I used to think parents discriminated girls in #mozambique only by making them fetch water 2 hours away and not allowing them into school. But there is so much more than that
I want to find out, because the block on believing in gender inequality over the last 30 years was a good and a bad thing. It was a good thing because I believed I had no limits, and it really did not matter - I excelled at school, I excelled at my work, I was given all the opportunities, by my parents, my employers, my professors. Believing you have no limits is on its on, the first step not to be limited. But then I recognise it was also a bad thing, because I failed to notice whether around me other people felt differently, I failed to stop myself for being even stricter at interviewing women, I failed to dedicated more time at recruiting women.
And then it hit me, just like a cliche. Maybe it is like those self help books people talk about, where someone loves it and others can't go through page 10, because it is just not the right time in life and suddenly another one of those exact same books resonates and drives one to be different. Maybe that is what happened to me when I read #leanin. My sister said "you can't be an ambitious women in a high profile job without reading this book". As a good younger sister that I always was, I did as I was told, and I read the book. As I read through it I could not believe my eyes as they filled with examples of things I clearly had done because I was a girl, and not because it made sense. Like changing jobs to #leanin, risking going into a less interesting role, as long as that would allow me to maybe 3 years later, have kids. I was lucky, the job turned out amazing and much more challenging than my previous one. Pure luck.
So now I follow #leanin and I try to not dismiss women stories like "feminist tales". So today, I went for #banbossy, and I downloaded the tips for parents. I am sure I am going to find a lot of mistakes I already do there, but I have time, C is only 11 months old. I got her a ball and I am banning pink princesses as long as she does not ask for it. She wears pink, blue, brown, yellow, any colour really as she looks cute on any anyway. And I let her do what any child, girl or boy will do, even if she gets all bruised.
I used to think parents discriminated girls in #mozambique only by making them fetch water 2 hours away and not allowing them into school. But there is so much more than that
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