What Happened to Woman Power?

“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside-down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back and get right-side up again!” Sojourner Truth

The fairer sex. The weaker sex. We’ve all heard the descriptions, and while I completely agree that not all women are as physically strong as men, I also believe there are no limitations on what a woman can achieve. We are not made weaker by our gender. What makes us weak is our determination to unravel the fabric of who we are.

Once upon a time, women came together to demand equal rights. Our ancestors wanted more for their daughters than what they had. Sojourner Truth began her life as a slave but once free, she changed the world by advocating for women’s rights and abolition. She never learned to read or write but still managed to make a positive difference and to influence women who came after her.

In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to graduate with a medical degree after being rejected by ten medical schools. She’d even been told to disguise herself as a man to get into school, but she refused, calling it a “moral crusade.” She went on to create the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children as well as the Women’s Medical College of the New York Infirmary. She wasn’t willing to let anything stop her from achieving her goals.

Sally Ride, who had a Ph.D. in physics, became the first American woman in space on June 18, 1983, and though she had to endure gender-biased questions like “do you weep when things go wrong on the job,” nothing could stop her from what she wanted to be—an astronaut.

Nichelle Nichols, famous for her role as Lt. Uhura on Star Trek, used her celebrity to help NASA recruit more women and people of color into NASA’s astronaut program. In a recent documentary, civil rights attorney, Ben Crump said, “Nichelle Nichols [was] a testament as to what one person can do when they believe in the spirit of diversity and development for all of our children.”

Because of determined women like those above and others, women of today can vote, enter the military, be doctors, lawyers, firefighters, and can even take to the skies as astronauts.

As women, we’ve accomplished much, but that was long before we started limiting one another. We’ve gone from sharing in one another’s triumphs to celebrating their sorrows.

I'd like to say there is no stopping a woman who knows what she wants out of life, but there is. We work against those of our own gender without even realizing it. Women seem to be moving beyond helping one another achieve and more toward denigrating those we disagree with. It's not unusual nowadays to hear women call other women whores, bitches, and other less than flattering words whether on television or online. And friendships are so easily severed because of disagreements over politics, religion, or name the issue of the day.

If you don’t agree with another woman on an issue, you’re likely to get labeled as ignorant or ridiculous. No longer does one woman’s opinion matter unless it matches up with the women on a certain side of the aisle. And forget about having a conversation about differing opinions because that line in the sand has already been drawn, and you don’t dare cross it unless you’ve “come to your senses.”

What happened to standing strong together? Where has our self-respect gone? Our respect for one another? Our united strength used to be a cause for celebration. Now, we look for a weak spot, a way to tear down rather than build up.

Why are we all supposed to conform to rules that have been created by an anonymous “leader of women?” Are our differences of such magnitude that we can’t discuss them, reach across the table, and attempt to come to an understanding or, at the very least, a compromise? If I don’t believe the way you believe, does that make me any less of a woman? Should I shun you if you don’t agree with everything I believe?

Is it possible to recreate what our great, great grandmothers shared? The spirit in which they worked together to achieve the very basic of human rights is unparalleled. If we could put aside our disagreements and focus on what really matters—a better life for girls coming after us—how much more would we accomplish in this lifetime?

If we could jettison the labels, whether it’s Republican, Democrat, Christian, or Atheist, and believe in one another again, what would be possible? Even if we don’t agree on every aspect of what we think it means to be a woman, we can still respect one another and offer encouragement. We can still want women to succeed and believe they can.

Let’s think about the future rationally. We all have stories. We’ve endured heartaches and experienced happiness. We’ve been up and down. But as long we’re breathing, there’s still a chance for us to reunite with one another with no judgements.

We’ve come a long way as women, but the road ahead is longer still. If we continue to battle one another, the journey will be never-ending, and we’ll tear down any legacy left by the strong women who came before us.