You’re good enough … Or are you?
You’re good enough …
To organise family life and keep everyone happy and looked after – 365 days a year
To solo circumnavigate the world in a sailboat at age 16 (Jessica Watson)
To be the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific (Amelia Earhart)
To be running the Boston Marathon in 1967 (Kathrine Switzer became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, even though women were not allowed to compete at the time. Seriously, in 1967!!!)
To win two Nobel prizes in two different categories (Marie Curie: 1903 for Physics and 1911 for Chemistry)
To be the first person to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the Olympic Games (Nadia Comaneci)
To be rear admiral in the US Navy and a pioneer of computer programming (Grace Hopper)
To be a four-star general in the US Army (Ann E. Dunwoody)
To win Pulitzer Prizes in Literature (Edith Wharton) and Poetry (Gwendolyn Brooks)
To be the first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (Eleanor Roosevelt)
To be many other firsts and excel in so many areas
But you’re not quite good enough …
To be a CEO – In 2021, 26% of all CEOs and managing directors were women. The Fortune Global 500 reported an all-time high of 23 women CEOs in 2021. Btw, that all-time high is only 4.6%.
To be a world leader –
As of 1 September 2021, there are 26 women serving as Heads of State and/or Government in 24 countries. At the current rate, gender equality in the highest positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years.
Just 10 countries have a woman Head of State, and 13 countries have a woman Head of Government.
Only 21 per cent of government ministers were women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets. With an annual increase of just 0.52 percentage points, gender parity in ministerial positions will not be achieved before 2077.
The five most commonly held portfolios by women ministers are: Family/children/youth/elderly/disabled; followed by Social affairs; Environment/natural resources/energy; Employment/labour/vocational training, and Women affairs/gender equality.
Isn’t it time we stopped being nice and good and stepped into our possibilities and the power we have?