It seems a little odd to have this title because to be fair we’ve had the ‘wave of the woman’ for a little while now. Our voices have been finding space on different platforms and in various areas, we’re gaining traction. And of course, we have those who don’t understand the significance of our times feeling like it’s been overdone, over-talked about or that maybe the use of loaded words like feminism mean the hate of men. Perhaps that’s a conversation for another day. Bottom line is, we are living in exciting times as women, we have to keep the momentum going.
So this serves as a reminder to savor the moment thus far. We are living at a time where more of us are owning and sharing our stories with each other and the world. Women are getting the opportunities to define their own spaces, and to actually have a say in the trajectory of their own lives sans dominant social constraints and imposed fears. But let’s be honest, the journey has often been fraught with stops and starts, and sometimes, frankly, a regression in areas where we thought we’d seen victory.
Nonetheless, giving up is never an option. So let this serve also as a little encouragement along the journey. As the influential actress Tracee Ellis Ross puts it: Even after defining for ourselves what we want our lives to look like, it still takes courage to walk towards those goals and dreams, not just on an individual level but even for the sake of womenkind in general. These are great times; these are also really scary times to be a woman. But scary doesn’t mean we run, let scary mean ‘it’s worth fighting for.’
It is often said that when you invest in a woman you lift up the society. When the dust settles and we look back decades from now, we hope that the women we have fought for, worked with, and uplifted through Amplified Journeys will be on higher ground for their daughters and other women to stand on.