Judging other women

This morning I had a woman who claims to be about 'empowering women' send me an email which, among other things, attempted to shame me for running a business at this time (the implication being that if I'm not speaking up about the Israel/Hamas war all the time I'm a callous capitalist with no soul).

Sigh...

Where to begin...

Perhaps with this - if I don't sell products or programs I don't have a business.

If I don't have a business, all the people we're working with might otherwise be delayed in speaking up, or might never speak up about the critically important issues they have to share with the world.

I have literally no idea how that would be helpful to anyone.

It's certainly not going to achieve anything that would benefit Palestinian civilians.

Reading the message, I couldn't help but wonder if she also wrote to her utility providers saying, 'Please stop my electricity and water right now. It seems distasteful for me to benefit from these things when others aren't.'

The reality is that the world is wildly unfair.

That's a horrible truth that we all live with every single day.

All of us are doing different things to change that. And much of the support people provide is invisible to other people. Each of us has literally no idea what other people are doing in their lives to address the crises currently facing the world.

It's also true that amid a cost of living crisis and many personal crises, following years of a pandemic and fires and floods and the rise of extremism across the globe, many business owners are just focused on staying afloat right now.

What is completely unnecessary at this time is judgment by some women toward others for not doing enough, or for doing what they need to, to feed and house their families.

It's a patriarchal practice to shame women who dare to care for themselves.

Let's not perpetuate it.