I Want to be an Assertive Woman

Being an woman is difficult enough, being a successful woman, being an assertive woman is quite a challenge. It is a challenge for women across the globe, across cultures, across social strata. It will be proper to add, across all ages. I’ll tell you why…

Religious, historical and mythical narration of a woman is someone GOOD, good as seen by the people around her and the society. Sacrificial, docile, accepting others will with a smiling face, waiting on others older or smaller to render service at any time of day and at any place, nodding her head and showing consent for the larger good, accepting decisions on her and others around her, without questioning the wisdom and motive, surrendering self for the larger good.

This outlay was well suited for the then patriarchal society. They were the spokespersons of the world, they wore the thinking caps, what they projected, what they spoke and what they wrote was seen, heard and read by all and accepted by many. That includes women who were just about stepping out and were participants in social activities. Even if they found the description a little distorted, they still accepted it as they were minority or had to survive.

Times are changing. Time has come where woman herself describes a good woman. While doing this, she considers woman as an individual, gifted and talented, intelligent and wise, hardworking and decisive, willing to give and needing help, and most of all seeking a space for herself and her needs like everyone else – almost to say like a MAN.

Somewhere I read that when God made MAN, it was a DRAFT and when god made woman it was CRAFT. True it is. The DRAFT is functional, for a purpose, with straight lines and with an objective. Craft is functional and flexible, curvy and beautiful, and the objective being total fulfillment of the purpose for all senses.

Now that woman knows her origin and the production plan, she feels good about herself and is wanting to announce to the world that she has arrived. She is wanting to utilize all the features of that CRAFT from Master Creator. She wants to be sensitive, serving, waiting on others, accepting and nodding. She also wants to be intelligent, wants to be heard and given an opportunity to speak. She wants acknowledgment and acceptance of her existence as an individual with similar needs as that of a man. She wants to take decisions and expects same respect in success and failure.

This acknowledgment and acceptance doesn’t come by easily. Her wisdom, her instinct, her intelligence, her ways of operating are looked upon with doubt, by family, superiors and colleagues alike. She has to strive harder, linger on longer for approval. Considered LESS unless proven, not once but many more times.

So here is the assertive woman, seeking equal consideration as MAN does, in good and bad and will stand the ground till granted. She almost ends up holding the smaller side of the stick. Don’t call her names, but only acknowledge that she knows her mind, has courage to speak her mind, and has the tenacity to execute the same against all odds.

Give her the space as an individual and support her in her journey of bettering the society around her. Assertive woman, we salute you, may your breed increase.