I heard this on a video of the Vital Voices’ Global Leadership Awards:
“Women constitute 50% of society, but please, we should not forget that they raised the other 50%.” - Shaika Lubna Al-Qassimi, the first woman Cabinet Minister of the United Arab Emirates
After I finished laughing, I realized the huge impact we have on the next generation by who we are as women today.
On this Father’s Day where we celebrate the good men in our lives, I want to ask, how am I and how are we as women showing up for the other 50%?
What will my nephews know about women from the way I love them and from who I am in their presence and in the world? What will your colleagues know about women from the way you lead a Board Meeting or manage your staff?
How do we show up for our boyfriends and husbands in love one minute and in a fight over his socks on the floor the next? What will all of those not-quite-right dates remember from the way we said goodbye?
What do I show my father about the woman I’ve become when he still remembers a 6-year-old needing his hug and a 16-year-old needing (but not quite wanting) his loving guidance?
I think it is worth exploring and practicing how we want to show up for this other 50% whom we love, lead, follow, learn from, partner with, raise, give to and send on their way.
For ourselves and for others, this is what we help each other do in the Women’s Circle.
My Dad and I in 1970
