Reflecting on Women’s History Month

As we close out Women’s History Month, I have reflected on the women before me, next to me and in front of me.

There is nothing more empowering and painful than being a woman in this world. The women that personally have impacted my life are strikingly inspirational. When I entered my twenties, I would constantly look for women who would share advice about thriving and getting through your twenties. I found myself reading articles, watching Youtube channels, listening to TED talks and attending conferences. The women I met along the way shared their knowledge with me. They had advice about finances, mental health, culture, politics, fashion, education or feminism. Moreover, they all had one thing in common. They conveyed humility and understanding. Generously offering up empowerment and happiness.

And that to me is what a female community should be built on – it should reflect oneself. But you also should want more for the women next to you.

I remember watching the Nina Simone documentary and being absolutely inspired with her selflessness. Simone was a woman that gave her talent and grace to the world, but it was all given with sacrifice. That word – sacrifice – has such a heaviness in a woman’s day to day life. Simone was a singer and an activist, who spoke out on the Civil Rights movement, and spoke about what crimes were done against Black folks in America. And Simone is someone that I am truly inspired by. Because she left us with her art and her vision. And at a price that she paid for. For all women in America, and the world.

Women nowadays have the privilege and power to use their platforms – big or small – to make a change in this world.

There is still so much to do, but we cannot forget the progress we have made as women.

Growing up in the Midwest, as a Latina woman, I often found myself craving to see a powerful woman (besides my own mother) on a platform. Oftentimes I questioned whether or not I would see a brown woman in office, speaking at conferences, or even just on a children’s book cover. Ultimately it was small steps forward that I witnessed. Moments that accumulating throughout my childhood til now.

Someone who I slowly began admiring because of her work ethic and charisma was Jennifer Lopez. Lopez has this saying of “Making something from nothing.” She expresses how she was working for the man, getting where she is at with grit, clarity, vision and of course hard work. Lopez is an entrepreneur, actress, singer, dancer and mother. She has built herself up by working twice as hard as the person next to her, in front of her and of the opposite gender. Women like Lopez being on the screen, in award shows, or in the White House continue to inspire me.

I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by women who have created a life of their own by the beat of their own drum.

And they have been able to be on platforms. (big and small) lending a hand by sharing their love, knowledge and power with me. Some are singers, artists, business women, mothers, teachers, friends and sometimes strangers. Their common thread is that they all shared ways to lift other women up – the same way the women before them did.

I would encourage you to share this article with the women that you admire. And express your gratitude towards them. Because you should thank them, support them, and most importantly listen to them. We women have one another to uplift and encourage. So let us continue to bring love, humility and empowerment into this world for all of the unique and amazing women to come.

3 Ways That Travel Empowers Women

Have you ever stood at the airport, holding your passport and on the verge of traveling abroad? You were a little nervous despite the anticipation, weren’t you? It’s understandable since heading off to a new location while being away from anything familiar can be daunting for everyone, but it’s mainly so for women. Still, push through the pain because there’s a different world waiting for you on the opposite side.

These are the three ways in which going abroad empowers women, in my opinion:

1. There’s Time to Relax and Self Discover

It is far too tempting to fall into a routine at home. It isn’t easy to juggle all of your responsibilities, much less make time for yourself, whether you’re attending school, working, or doing both. Particularly as women, we not only become caught up in our daily activities like watching naruto shippuden filler list or naruto filler but we also try to look after our loved ones and friends. So, we may lose focus of ourselves as a consequence.

Apart from having time to learn about a different culture and to see a new city, one of the main advantages of traveling abroad is having plenty of opportunities to relax and look at the world go by. Nothing could be more empowering than having a thorough understanding of one’s self.

It’s a difficult challenge, but travel allows us to feel at ease in our skin in areas far from home. If you don’t know who you are, you will be unable to fully set yourself up for lifelong friendships and the most intimate relationships. Adventures such as mountain hiking push the body to the limits and force some women to go for supplements such as Canadian anabolics steroids to boost their performance.

If you do not know what you want, you will be unable to aspire or seize opportunities. Knowing who you are and also what gets you excited is crucial to creating unforgettable experiences in life. We also travel around to learn about other cultures and lifestyles unique to our own; however, we are bound to discover ourselves in the process. Allow it to happen.

2. It improves your self-esteem and confidence.

When women express an interest in traveling or becoming international students, they are frequently met with fear and nervousness from others. In these people’s minds, the only thing that matters to them is that you are safe. Although they have no ill-intent in their hearts, hearing about their fears repeatedly can sometimes be demotivating.

The next stage to self-love is to be unrepentantly yourself once you’ve figured yourself out. This entails accepting all that makes you who you are — your habits, womanhood, strengths and shortcomings, interests, and regular routines, to name a few. You should be proud of traveling as a female, whether by yourself or in a group.

However, one valuable lesson that adventure teaches female explorers is how to navigate all of the complexities of being a woman and human at the same time. It’s essentially a master class on reducing personal catastrophic risk. The moment you travel, you will be put in circumstances where you must think quickly. It makes no difference whether you were correct or incorrect; what counts is how you approached the situation and what you gained and learned from it.

3. It challenges you and pushes you to achievements.

For certain people, travel will feel like a struggle at times. It all begins with saving money for that dream vacation, followed by the challenges of obtaining a visa (if necessary) and planning the ideal itinerary. It’s a different story when you have issues with your reservations, credit card, visa, or luggage. Travel is great, but many things can go wrong when you’re doing it. Are you willing to step up to the challenge?

Women travel and get stuff done despite their physiology standing in the way, which applies to everybody. PMS while climbing a mountain or scuba diving in the blue sky? It’s no problem. Taking a trip the day before your baby’s due date? Let’s not even begin to discuss the scourge of Dysmenorrhoea. What about those sisters who suffer from the polycystic ovarian syndrome, irregular monthly cycles, and other disorders affecting female organs? Women’s Hormone levels, emotions, eating or sleeping habits, and even their view of life are all affected by these factors. However, we do not allow them to pull us down.

We also take our advantages for granted, unaware that not everybody has the same opportunities. Despite the pandemic, travel will bring the world you’re traveling through to life, with all of its elegance and nastiness. It’s a shame to live in such a beautiful and diverse world and be unaware of its truths.

Conclusion

Travel is a luxury in and of itself; for others, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you’re among the fortunate ones, view travel as a chance to learn about places other than your own. What are the chances? Perhaps this will inspire you to start a lifetime project if you don’t have it already.

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About The Author

Jessica is a full-time content marketing specialist and a passionate writer who loves to write about creating an aesthetic and ambient living environment for everyone. She focuses on sharing ideas and techniques learned from his experience in a concise manner so that it can be used by everyone to make their surroundings beautiful to live in.

Hindsight is 2020: The Twenty Ten Decade And How Women Prevailed

The Twenty Ten Decade:

Women prevailed in the twenty ten decade. Let’s take a ride back in our time machine. It’s now 2010 and according to the US Department of Labor, here are some quick stats on where women were.

Within the US there were 123 million women over the age of 16 years old, and just shy of 60 percent were in the work force. Of the total workforce, women were just shy of 50 percent.

At this time, it was projected that women would account for 51. 2 percent off the increase in labor growth from 2008-2018.

The top two jobs for women at this time were Secretaries, (admins) and nurses.

Fast Forward to 2019- and here is what we see

For the classes of 2016-2017 women earned more than half of the bachelor degrees (57.3), master degrees (59.4) and doctorate degrees (53.3) And over half in law and medicine. Women are now nearly half of the labor force.

In 2018 women held 51. 5 percent of all management occupations.

Despite these statistics, women are still earning 80 percent, 80 PERCENT!!! (read that again ladies, and get mad) of what men earn on average. And there are less women than men on boards. For example, in 2018 men held 76 percent of board seats of all S & P 500s, while women had a mere 24 percent, 24 PERCENT (Get mad again, ladies) with less than 7 percent 7 PERCENT !!! held by women of color (NOOOO ladies NOOOOO).

What does this info tell us?

While these are snippets of many data stats and analytics, it does tell us something. Women are expanding their career paths and are climbing the many corporate ladders, while entering more fields. However, the top positions and prominent board seats are still being occupied men, and by a large majority.

So what events took place in the last decade that were the cause or the ‘because’ of some of these progressive changes ? Women prevailed in the twenty ten decade. Here are 20 women related people or events that occurred in the twenty ten decade.

1. Fourth Wave Feminism Begins

The decade of 2010 brought a resurgence to the feminist movement, and terms like “mansplaining” and ‘manspreading” rode the coattails of the #MeToo Movement, which publicly brought down many media moguls for sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Women Rights Are Human Rights

With organizations like Planned Parenthood under attack pre and post election, more and more women are supporting other women, and advocating for global change.

2. The Women’s March

The second “The Donald” mentioned grabbing any of our mothers, daughters or sisters by the pussy, a new women solidarity movement began. And proudly our sons, boyfriends, brothers and husbands supported us and frowned upon the newly elected sexist president. A worldwide protest, the Women’s March has become an annual march in DC and around the globe. And it is a reminder to us women, how much further we have to go.

3. Kardashians

Social Media and reality television can create celebrity families. The Kardashians are living proof of that. While diverse in personalities, or lack thereof (you decide), they are willing to spend countless hours under social media scrutiny. Each of them have become household compliments and insults. And most importantly, have managed to build successful empires using their own sexuality to work for them and beating men at their own game. Like them or not, they have made an impact.

4. Hillary Clinton

Whether you voted for her or not, she was the first woman to almost become President and she won the popular vote too. With her nomination as the Democratic candidate, Hillary became the female catalyst and fall girl in 2016. Now, more women are running for President than ever before.

5. Greta Thunberg

Born in 2003, and from Sweden, Greta takes on climate change as if it’s her fight alone. She challenges adults on both sides of the aisle and on a global scale. In her speeches she seethes her distaste for their apparent lack of concern for her future and for generations to come. Here words, at sixteen have made an impact on children and adults. She is motivating everyone to clean up their act and to be part of the solution for climate change, a new climate reform. Go Greta Go!!

6. Wonder Woman

Female directed and first female led comic book action hero movie to truly gross at the box office (821.8 million to date). A triumph that is inspiring more female led super hero films, Captain Marvel, etc.

7. Ava DuVernay

She is the first (FIRST) women of color to direct a live action film with a budget of over 100 Million. Ava won the Directing award at Sundance for her second feature Middle Of Nowhere, becoming the first (another FIRST) black woman to win the award.

8. Kathryn Bigelow

An American producer, director and screenwriter, she was the first (FIRST) woman ever to win an academy award for best director for her film The Hurt Locker. Other films you may remember, Point Break (original), Detroit and Zero Dark Thirty, among others.

9. Michelle Obama

Since leaving the White House in 2017, Michelle is actively producing on Netflix and addressing various women’s issues. She has become the matron poster child of compassion and grace.

10. Simone Biles

The best gymnast to ever compete (male or female). Simone is so talented, they named three gymnastic moves after her. At the ripe age of 22, she continues to impress us while reminding us to also challenge ourselves.

11. The Entire US Women National Soccer Team

Not only did the US Womens Soccer Team show the boys how it is done, they also had so much fun doing it! An inspiration for all of us girls, young an old, that have competitive blood in our veins and the spirit of good sportsman (uh woman ship) too.

12. Christine Blasey Ford

Not all heroines where capes. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of psychology at Palo Alto University in California felt it was her civic duty to step forward to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. She continues to fight off harassment and death threats and recently received an award of courage from The ACLU.

13. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The highest upset victory in the Democratic primaries. Ms AOC impressed everyone in 2018 winning the 14th congressional district in the Bronx. From bartender to congresswoman, Alexandria is showing young girls everywhere that you can be whatever you set your sites on.

14. Women And The Blue Wave

Women now hold 126 seats in congress which is 23.6 percent of all 535 members. That’s 25 women (25%) in the Senate, and 101 women, (23.2%) in the House Of Representatives. Women on both sides of the aisle triumphed and more and more women of diversity have seats than ever before.

15. Beyonce

A decade of Beyonce and another defining decade of music. Beyonce uses her feminism soapbox to encourage men and women to succeed. And she promotes female strength through motherhood and femininity using independence every step of the way.

16. Frozen II

Oh yes, this little film. After we let it go, this sequel showed us that an animated movie about two sisters saving their kingdom- can be one of the highest grossing films of all time! That’s right.

17. Mo’ne Davis

First girl to earn a win and to pitch a shutout in Little League World Series History. A powerful girl, indeed!

18. First All Female SpaceWalk

Jessica Meir and Christina Koch took a stroll outside the International Space Station to replace a power controller. Their jaunt into space lasted seven hours and seventeen minutes, reaching a new milestone as the first female spacewalk ever. Women were first admitted into the astronaut program in 1978, fyi.

19. Gita Gopinath

The First – (I say first) female to become chief economist of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Gita, is on leave from her professorship at Harvard University where she teaches International Studies And Economics with a focus on Macroeconomics. Yes!!!!!

20. Yolanda Renee King

At just ten years old (yes your heard me,10), Yolanda joined all 800,000 of us on Pennsylvania Ave for our March For Our Lives march for gun control. Channeling her grandfather, Martin Luther King. Jr. she told us this ” I have a dream that enough is enough”.

Happy New Years To Further Progress

To all of the girls out there with big dreams, and to the women out there reinventing themselves, cheers to 2020. Let us continue to support each other as we progress into the next decade and each decade to come.

It’s Time To Stop Slut-Shaming Women For Feeling Themselves Online

It’s 2019 and women are all over the world preaching about equality, empowering one another, and women’s rights. More often than not, I find that women feel more comfortable speaking up and speaking out when other women are being held down from their liberties and freedom. But, as quick as we are to speak up against injustice against other women—we’re equally as quick to judge them for the way in which they live their lives.

When it comes to social media, we have the ability to get a taste of other people’s lives through words and photos. Obviously, people choose how they want to be seen on social media by deciding which photos to post and what to write. Women, for example, like to post photos in which they look and feel their best—obviously. And, if they choose to do so in poses that may seem provocative to you or outfits that seem revealing to you—who said it’s your business to comment on it?

So often, women will post photos that make them feel empowered and strong—and, if that means embracing their sexuality and their bodies, then it does. Why is it your problem if another human being decides to post a photo they like on their social media profile? Is this photo physically harming you in any way? Is it affecting your life in any shape or form? More likely than not, the answer to these questions are both “no.” Therefore, it’s not your place to judge them, comment on the photos, or “report” them for any reason at all.

Part of the women’s movement is not only about equal rights and taking “back” certain liberties from the patriarchy, but it’s taking back female sexuality from men, too. For so long, men have used women’s bodies for their own consumption. From TV shows to advertisements to film. I was in undergrad when I read about Laura Mulvey and “the male gaze.” The male gaze, in media theory, is “the act of depicting women and the world, in the visual arts and in literature, from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.”

By judging women for embracing their sexuality and taking back their sexuality, we conform back into this pre-women’s right’s movement notion of objectification of the female body. That, women, are only showing their body off for the male consumption and not for their own confidence, happiness, or pride. We perpetuate the mentality of the patriarchy and the mentality that a woman is only put on this earth for men.

It’s time to stop allowing women to be judged and labeled as something derogatory because they are happy and confident in themselves and their bodies. In fact, in this new era of the “empowered female,” it’s time we stand up for each other, instead of bringing each other down. I’m sick and tired of someone viewing another woman on Instagram and—due to the outfit she’s wearing—call them a “slut” or a “whore.”

These words have consequences and, in fact, are perpetuating a male-dominated culture of holding down women and allowing them to solely be known by these male-ego centric standards. It’s time to put an end to it. Stand up for your fellow sister, no matter how she chooses to live her life.

Why Ariana Grande’s ‘7 Rings’ Is The New Independent Woman’s Anthem

Ariana Grande has had one hell of a year. From a terrorist attack at her own concert, a safe place for any successful artist to a publicized break up to losing an ex-boyfriend and longtime friend to a drug overdose—it’s almost as if the odds were against her. We’ve seen the story for so long with pop singers who gain too much spotlight and recognition—they burn like the bulbs of paparazzi cameras in an all too publicized breakdown. In the early 2000s, we watched “pop royalty” fall down the totem pole labeled as “crazy,” or “mental.” It was only a decade ago that cameramen were chasing down Britney Spears with an umbrella.

But, Grande has taken all of her adversity and proven that she is the iconic woman all young girls and women should be recognizing everywhere. Her most recent album, Sweetener, stood at the top of the Billboard charts for weeks, with not one, not two, but three singles breaking records. Her following single, Thank U, Next, stood at the top of Billboards Hot 100 chart for not weeks, but months.

And, yet, Grande was saving the best at an unexpected time. Her new single, 7 Rings, is one for the books, and something that will go down in history much like Destiny’s Child’s Independent Women as an anthem for all independent, self-sufficient, strong women to follow.

The song was inspired, as Grande let fans know, by a spontaneous shopping trip to Tiffany’s with her friends. After getting tipsy on champagne with her girls (goals) she bought 7 of her closest friends matching rings—and later got one for her mother and nonna (also goals).

https://twitter.com/ArianaGrande/status/1068929900856279040

And, thus, with her friends by her side—7 Rings was born. And yet, with all of Grande’s powerful lyrics off of Sweetener and her change of artistry, I was unprepared for the strength that was to come from this single.

While many accuse the song of being materialistic and embracing a consumer society based on luxury and wealth, I see it in a completely different energy and light. 7 Rings is about buying things—but it’s more about the ability for a 25-year-old, hardworking, successful, strong woman having the ability to rely on herself and only herself to get what she wants when she wants it. Grande is preaching an anthem to ladies everywhere that, while in the times of “My Favorite Things” and The Sound of Music, women were looking for men, now, women can look out for themselves. It’s a transformation that all women should embrace.

So often, the music industry has posed pop singers and women in a position in which they need a man, a male companion, by their side for marketing. Label executives plan PR events, red carpet walks, dinner dates to make women appeal to fans and followers. Grande defies all industry odds and makes a path for herself in her own way, letting women know that it’s okay to be on your own, play by your own rules, and get things for yourself.

You don’t need a man in your life to pave your way or help you get places. In all honesty, you only need yourself, and some really down to ride friends by your side.

If you take away anything from this song, besides the ability to rock to it in any setting (bass up in the car, ladies), it should be that your dreams and goals are never out of reach as long as you work hard for it. Grande has had a hell of a year success-wise, but that girl works harder than most artists today. No matter what you want in life for yourself—from the small to the big—it’s always possible, and you don’t need a man to bring it to you like Grande says “buy myself all of my favorite things.”

2019 will go down in history as the year of all the self-made ladies, with a little thanks from Ari herself.