During the Covid pandemic, I was listening to my local news when a teaser for the national news came on broadcasting:
“Teachers and school nurses quit rather than return to school.”
The next commercial that came on was from my local power company showing men going to work and taking safety precautions for Covid-19 because they have to be out there. Their work is essential. They have to get it done.
The contrast between the two commercials was stark.
Women saying, “We can’t, we can’t” accompanied by signs saying, “I don’t want to die.”
While men whose work is inherently dangerous and where they can die just from doing their tasks say, “We can and we will.”
The contrast is an immediate reminder of the stereotypes.
Men are brave, daring, risk takers who get things done. While women who are caring and compassionate are driven by emotion. Our emotions make us weak and fearful, leading us to become irrational and hysterical.
The media then reinforces the stereotype of women being overly dramatic with stories of mothers who are afraid to send their children back to school for fear they might “get sick” (with no symptoms) or become “transmitters” (nice way of saying “silent killers.”)
Now of course there is science, data and facts to help alleviate women’s fears but mathematical, rational, analytical thinking is just too much for women’s brains. This is why we defer to “the Experts” who happen to be men to tell us what we need to do. Right?
No.
This is just what we’re conditioned to believe about ourselves.
Now this may be breaking new to some – especially those in the media industry – but women are quite capable of thinking and solving problems. I would venture to say that women are even far, far, far better than men at solving complex problems because we think about how this has to work with that, and that has to fit into this but then there is also this other thing we have to consider.
In other words, women are really good at thinking about all of the pieces and parts that are needed to solve a problem, and we are also really good at fitting all of them together to create a complete solution.
However, women aren’t taught to recognize this ability. Instead we are taught that men and their brains are superior to ours in problem solving. So, when women see men and especially “the Experts” get stumped by a complex problem, we believe that of course our poor little emotionally driven brains can’t handle it either.
This belief is what conditions us to respond to complex problems with “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.”
But we can.
Throughout my career I’ve seen women – irrespective of their education or role – “help men” figure out how to assemble all the pieces and parts of a complex problem to come up with a solution. And it made me question, “Who is the real leader in this situation? Who is the more valuable person?”
So, it’s time for women to break free of our conditioning and recognize our abilities for the leadership qualities they are. But first, we also have to adopt the same attitude as men.
When women adopt this attitude then we will stop saying “No, I can’t” and begin saying “Bring it on….Because…Yes, I can!”
But more importantly, we will experience the joy and challenge of problem-solving and the sense of achievement that comes from creating a solution that works.
Empowered Women Say, “Yes I Can!”
To learn more watch this YouTube video:
