"Together" & "Women"

Hello Everyone!

All of us at Her Voice Is want to extend a warm welcome to you. This might be your first experience with our site. Thank you so much for taking the time to become part of the amazing things HVI is doing. Physically, all of us may be separated by countries and continents, but it is my hope that through the community we build by connecting here, we will create friendships and a strong support system that brings blessing and change to each others’ lives. So welcome. You are becoming part of something great. This is the first time I have been privileged to blog on HVI. I am led to share with you a burden that is resting upon my heart. I believe that in order to see the changes that we so desperately need in this world, our minds must become fully awake and aware of the issues at hand.

Within society today, do you ever hear the words “women” and “together” in the same sentence without a general cringe going around the room? Typically, if those words even come near each other, the result is a lengthy horror story of the disagreements and strife these women had when they tried to work together.
Let’s face it. Women do not get along very well. Put them together without careful planning, and the outcome usually is catty disagreements, hurt feelings, and a deeper sense that we can not trust our sisters. Honestly, I think women are more competitive than men; we are just more quiet about it. Men bond over sports, golf, and secret clubs, like lodges and such. Men know enough to separate their lives. They might compete with each other in business, sports, etc. but they recognize it as what it is--not really that important in the grand scheme of things.

If we, as women, open our eyes to the world around us, I think we’ll see that men and society encourage this war between us. Popular media promotes a whole host of evils--sexism, chauvinism, and the objectification of women--all of which force women to compete in order to keep up.

Yet, rather than blaming society or men for this problem, I honestly have to blame women for our own dilemma. As a collective group, we have permitted society to reach the state it is in. When is the last time you heard a group of women refute the lie that you are only beautiful if you are a size 0? When is the last time a group of women stood up together against violence toward women, or fought to protect each others’ rights? When women received the right to vote and were finally accepted in the workplace, it seems as if their passions for change stopped with this victory. We are passive now, apathetic, and honestly, just too caught up in a web of lies to fight for the same things we used to.

Yet, women are a powerful force. We are fierce, protective, passionate, and driven. Look at what we have accomplished. Women are powerful business owners, CEO’s, doctors, lawyers, scientists. We are more than capable of taking on the world of business and making our mark. But all of that is usually done alone, and at a great cost to our relationships with each other. For what business woman can afford to show kindness or love to her sisters?

I want you to take a moment now to imagine. Imagine what the world could be like if we as women chose today to set aside our disagreements and our petty differences, forgetting all of the past, and chose to come together as one entity for a cause much bigger than ourselves. I think women forget that there is a world outside of the office, a world that is ripe with need. Imagine that we, as a collective force, stepped up and put that same fierce passion that we use to compete with our sisters now, and threw ourselves into making the world a better place instead. What would the results be?

It is a belief that I hold strongly to, that if women are to band together against hunger, disease, violence, all of the evils that the world is rampant with, that a mighty change will occur. But these changes cannot come alone. One woman on her own is not powerful enough to make the differences that we need. But together, as one collective force, unfettered by strife and envy and bitterness, imagine the evils we could eradicate. The possibilities are endless.

I’ll leave you today with that thought. I know it’s a lot to ask--not every woman is going to be as passionate as you about changing the world together. Yet, take a few days to explore what your role could be, the amazing changes you could be part of, if only you didn’t have to worry about competing with every other woman in the world.

By: Brittany Howard
HVI Feature Writer and Co-Founder