The Essential Feminine Company - Empowering Women to Create Successful Businesses and Lives

Several years ago in a blog entitled “Are Women In The US Really Leading?”, I commented on a global survey ranking women in the area of gender equality that was compiled by “The White House Project”.  The survey stated that “The United States ranks 22nd out of 115 countries.”  The report utilized 4 measurement standards: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.  We came in first for Health and Survival, and third for Economic Opportunity.  But, we received our lowest score for Political Empowerment, coming in 66th. 

I wondered about our progress since that time and went looking for an updated report.  I discovered a thought provoking and heart touching blog written by Mary C. Wilson for “The White House Project Blog”, entitled A False Divide Between Head and Heart: What I Learned From Robert McNamara.  It is well worth reading in its entirety.

As for the report, she states in her blog, “Women are still vastly underrepresented in the halls of power. As the soon-to-be-released “White House Project Report: Benchmarking Women’s Leadership” has found, women are far from parity in every sector, from business and politics to sports and religion. Projections show that it will take decades to reach even a critical mass in many of these arenas; and the women who do make it into positions of power often do so at great sacrifice.”

 Do we have decades?

 Becoming leaders takes courage and determination and most of all a willingness to step forward.  It can not and will not be done for us.  Though, each of us must take that step for ourselves, we need not do it alone.

 

 

“An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in a foreign land, but in the heart itself.” Robert Louis Stevenson I guess I’ve always been pretty clear about why I’m here. My journey began years back at seventeen years of age when I chose to study human services and community organization. My heart has always been with people. My dream has always been to be a part of maximizing human potential in every possible way. I have dedicated my life to this aim. However, each day and each year of my life sure as to what the best way for me to achieve this aim would be. But I always kept the question alive. I am convinced that the answer does lie in our heart, not in a foreign land, and it’s our personal responsibility to embark upon that exploration. As I’ve written many times, I believe each of us is here for a very specific purpose that no one else could fulfill. Some days the clarity of that purpose feels very far away, but we owe it to ourselves to stay conscious and inquisitive. You are a very special part of a whole. Without you, things would be very different. “What is your aim?” “Can you look in your heart and trust that the answer is to be found there?”

Maureen Simon

Maureen@maureensimon.com

www.maureensimon.com

www.theessentialfeminine.com

“Women’s innate people skills will be a valuable commodity in almost every sector of the twenty-first-century economy.  Peter Drucker and many other respected business analysts have come to regard people as a company’s most crucial resource. “The organization of the future,” Drucker says, “must be non-bureaucratic and based on the concept of human capital.”

 With their people skills, their language abilities, their drive to network, and their faculty for contextual thinking, women will be extremely valuable human capital in almost any business setting.  No segment of the marketplace, however, requires people skills more constantly than the service occupations.”

-Helen Fisher, The First Sex

I believe the first step in towards women becoming “extremely valuable human capital in almost any business setting” is first and foremost for us to realize the essential value that we hold in both business and the world. Our gifts and talents must be realized first through a personal inventory. Once we are clear about how the feminine lives in our own lives we can begin to reach out and educate ourselves so that we can better understand the natural gifts of the feminine and how they can become more alive in business and the world.

 Start today—-what do you uniquely contribute to business, your community and the world as a woman? What feminine gifts do your sisters naturally hold?

 When we personally awaken and claim our gifts, talents and attributes we will begin to see the feminine truly valued in the world.

 Maureen Simon

 

Maureen J. Simon Consulting

(415) 381-5115
maureen@maureensimon.com
www.maureensimon.com

“Designing Business & Lives”