Choose to Challenge

This International Women’s Day I’ve spent 12 hours in workshops, webinars, networking sessions etc in conversation about the theme International Women’s Day ‘Choose to Challenge’ and I have learnt alot.

I have learnt that before I challenge something I run an internal assessment in my head to determine if it is safe to challenge. In other words if I don’t feel 100% safe I’m not going to challenge and that probably means there are lots of times I don’t challenge. For example the time I didn’t challenge an all male panel because I was at an event where I didn’t know anyone v’s the event where I did challenge an all male panel because I was in a community that knew me (and I felt would expect that from me).

I have learnt that if I choose to challenge and no action is taken I can step into a certain male trait (think authoritarianism: lack of concern for the wishes and opinions of others) which doesn’t serve me well in my personal or professional life (as one friend once commented “I can imagine you ordering heads to be chopped off due to lack of action being taken on what you see as important”)

I have learnt that choosing to challenge is a mindset, a muscle to build and potentially the most important thing I can do to make a difference in my career.

Choosing to challenge isn’t just about challenging gender stereotypes but what I have learnt after a day exploring this topic is that the behaviours I have learnt due to my gender (don’t make a scene, don’t shout etc) impact on my ability to challenge.

Over the next month I’m going to challenge myself to make a list at the end of each day of how I have chosen to challenge. I’m curious to see if ‘choosing to challenge’ will give me the strength to challenge even when I don’t feel safe, the patience to challenge in a way that leaves space for others and results so that it takes less than the over 200 years predicted by the United Nations for the world to experience gender equality