The third revolution for women

Today I came across a beautiful blending of two beliefs I hold passionately:

(1) The need to find a new way of working, see my post here on Nigel Marsh

(2) The need to no longer have the world run by men who value power and money. See one of my favourite TED talks by Eve Ensler about embracing the inner girl in each of us.

And also this talk by Isabelle Allende.

The talk I came across today blends each of these ideas. I give you Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post giving a Commencement Speech:

My takeaways from what she said are:

A Third Revolution is needed to change the way women work and to change the definition of a successful career (away from the historical male made model).

Success how we have defined it is no longer sustainable for human beings or the planet.

We need to include well-being in our definition of success. 

Stay connected to the essence of who you are - you will easily lose it because the society around you values money and power.

If we stay connected to the essence of who we are then we can use our inner wisdom when "running the world".

We can all then live our lives with more grace, more truth, more empathy and more gratitude.

Amen

Everything I've been dreaming of on Work Life Balance and more....

This TedTalk by Nigel March has so many fantastic ideas in it. I thought to myself "Yes, Exactly!" and "Why doesn't everyone get this? Its so important."

I've only watched it once, just now, but I already feel like its everything I want to say about the work life balance issue, and more. Genius.

How to Make Work Life Balance Work

Nigel Marsh

I am a malformed, misguided wretch

I'm reading Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks and came across a paragraph that simultaneously infuriated and enlightened me.

Its 1661 and Bethia has just revealed to her current master a new plan to get a job in the "buttery" at Harvard College so that she can overhear the lectures taking place and learn while she is preparing meals. His response:

"This is most unwise my dear, most imprudent. These lectures are not fashioned for the unfurnished mind of the fairer sex. What need has a wife and mother to cudgel her faculties with the seven arts and the three philosophies? Have a care, or you will torment yourself into a malformed, misguided wretch...."

I was infuriated by the repression, the inequality, the unfairness.

I was enlightened by the unbearable truth in the statement. Since the majority of child-raising and home-managing is done by women (it still is all around the world, even in Scandinavia - but that's another post), then isn't it easier if this is all they know? If that is all that is ever open to them?

I'm proposing that to have a taste of freedom and intellect and then lose it is much harder and makes us much less happy than never having had those things in the first place.