Speaking up | The School of Visibility

#girlboss is not empowering

The women’s empowerment space is an interesting space. On the one hand it attempts to boost women’s confidence and claims to be about women standing in their power.

On the other, there’s so much unacknowledged patriarchal conditioning there that it actually serves to entrench inequality and disempowerment just as often as it attempts to liberate women from it.

#girlboss is a prime example.

#girlboss is not empowering for women.

For girls? Absolutely.

But you’re not a girl. You’re a woman. Which means if you’re going to hashtag yourself, and feel the need to include a gender marker in order to connect with other women, let’s at least go with #womanboss.

Calling yourself ‘girl’ when you’re a woman is a nod to the long time infantilisation of women. It’s a tool that’s been used by the patriarchy to keep women submissive.

It sounds empowering because the word ‘boss’ is in it. … [Read More...]

Disrespecting women’s voices

The long history of men disrespecting women’s voices can be traced back thousands of years. Here’s a corker from Samuel Johnson (playwright, poet, and creator of the Dictionary of the English Language, 1709-1784) ‘…a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.’

The dehumanisation of woman, the diminishment of our capacity and our wisdom, is one of the oldest tricks in the patriarchal handbook.

Which is why, every time you speak, every time you put pen to paper, every time you hit publish on a blog post, or record a podcast episode, or say yes to being the guest speaker at a conference, you are partaking in a revolutionary act.

Be sure to take the time to pat yourself on the back.

… [Read More...]

The Visibility Compendium, July 2019

We covered some juicy topics in July; the one thing you can’t be doing if you want to call yourself an intersectional feminist, the visibility flavour of entrepreneurship, the value of listening if you want to be a good leader, and one key action to take if you’re feeling depleted, particularly as a mother. Below is where you can scroll through everything we shared and catch up on all the goodness. So grab a cup of tea, wine, or kombucha and let’s get into it!

FROM THE BLOG

Failure to act
[Topics: visibility blocks | women speaking up]
‘…in encouraging you to take action, I’m not suggesting you quit your job and spend every waking minute initiating conversations about race or class or sexuality.

I’m saying, when the situation arises, have the courage to speak up.

I can think of many people in my life who haven’t spoken up in

… [Read More...]

Failure to act

Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time arguing with people.

Mainly white males.

I’ve argued with them about racism in Australia. I argued with them about politics. I argued with them about sexism and homophobia. And for many years, when they’d discover that I’m a vegetarian, invariably they wanted to argue about factory farming as well.

It’s been tiring for sure. And a lot of times I haven’t handled the arguments very well. I’ve become upset that people would say things that I found so uncharitable or ignorant or out and out dangerous. My heart has broken more than once at how little compassion some people have for the rest of humanity.

But while all of that arguing has been emotionally exhausting, it’s also taught me a lot about how to speak up effectively and it has convinced me of the absolute necessity of speaking up.

In the … [Read More...]

Entrepreneurial visibility has a flavour all of its own

Visibility challenges are not all created equal.

Here’s one big difference; what it takes to speak up and feel confident talking about things you don’t have a personal investment in, versus speaking up about your own work (programs, services, products that you’ve created and nurtured into being).

If you’re an entrepreneur you’ll know what I mean. There’s a level of courage and vulnerability that’s needed to put your work into the world, to declare it worthy of consideration – not because someone gave you a seal of approval but because you know it to be so. There’s a level of confidence that’s needed to continue to tell more and more people about your work and not feel like you’re harassing them, or ‘being a bother’, or being scammy.

Entrepreneurial visibility requires a type of courage that – as women – we’re not conditioned to feel comfortable with.

As a gender … [Read More...]