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In an era where it’s more common to follow the crowd than not, groupthink has become the accepted norm. It’s far more shocking for someone to stand outside of the mainstream than it is for them to simply conform to it. And yet, we live in a society that promotes individuality and competition.
Even before technology made it easier for people to consume and absorb trending topics, people have always had a tendency to “follow the leader”. The problem with that is that leadership doesn’t always come from people who are fair or just.
Leadership more often than not comes from egotistical, self-gratifying people who put their needs and wants above all others. This is evident throughout history where men have, and still are, sacrificing entire populations of people, wildlife, and environments for their own benefit.
Before patriarchy became the dominant ruling force, matriarchy was the primary way of life for most ancient cultures. Both men and women understood the importance of balance for the good of all, and neither were threatened by the other. Instead, in perfect compliment, women were deemed to be the leaders. These leaders respected the masculine drive and knew the importance of the man’s role within a balanced society, and they would choose a male-spokesperson to serve as the Chief of the tribe. These men were selected strictly off of merit, ensuring that they had a certain level of integrity to be able to hold such a prestigious position.
Fastforward to the current paradigm – people have become so disconnected from themselves that they don’t even know how to think for themselves. We are constantly inundated with information from a variety of sources, from television to social media, billboards to music, and many never stop to think for themselves.
What is Groupthink?
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon whereby individuals forgo their personal beliefs in order to blend with the crowd and adopt the general consensus instead. The concept was made popular by Yale University Research Psychologist, Irving Janis, in his infamous 1972 study, “Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascoes.” The study’s main focus was the psychological drive behind foreign policy decisions that result in violence, war, and destruction.
Janis was curious to determine what made seemingly highly intelligent individuals make poor decisions. He wanted to understand why groups of people would succumb to the pressure to conform over their own discernment. He recognized that there were eightkeytraits associated with groupthink.
Illusions of unanimity
This occurs when people don’t speak up and assume the seemingly unanimous option instead. People will rationalize within their own minds why it’s easier to remain silent than to disrupt the status quo. What people also tend to do within this disempowered mindset, is to soothe themselves by believing that there is little to no benefit of diversity. The opposite is true; without diversified thinking, innovation cannot occur.
Unquestioned beliefs
A belief is simply a thought you keep thinking, yet people tend to think that beliefs are embedded character traits that are unchangeable. The implications can be huge if one is not self-aware. Simply following the leader is not reason enough to do anything, but people are so misaligned within themselves that they never even consider questioning why. The reason why someone does something is a clear indication of their integrity, or lack thereof.
Rationalization
“Rationalization is a defense mechanism whereby people justify difficult and unacceptable feelings with seemingly logical excuses.” When someone feels the need to rationalize their behaviors, it calls attention to their subconscious beliefs by highlighting their triggers. Defense mechanisms serve to protect one’s ego from discomfort or distress, according to Sigmund Freud.
Stereotyping
The concept of understanding how and why stereotyping is inherently negative is widely kept, and still, many people are ingrained to carry generic beliefs about entire populations. Evidence shows that these stereotypes begin to take form in early childhood. Research has shown that stereotyping elicits a subtle fear in those who are being prejudged, creating a tendency for them to perform less than typical. For example, a study found that women scored lower when asked what gender they were prior to testing due to fear of gender stereotyping.
Mindguards
Mindguards come in the form of a person or people who intentionally shield and block other members of the group from vital information that could potentially alert them to another way of doing things. An example is the men who own the media are also the ones who get the final say in what information is distrusted, and when, to the masses. Each respective billionaire serves as a mindguard to the general public by ensuring that we only receive a select portion of the whole picture.
Illusions of invulnerability
The illusion of invulnerability occurs when most or all the members of the in-group share the illusion of invulnerability that offers them some degree of reassurance regarding the obvious dangers associated with a certain decision. This leads the members of the group to become overly optimistic, causing them to take extreme risks and downplay any potential red-flags.
Direct pressure
There are two separate groups associated with groupthink: the in-group and the out-group. Members of the in-group are often responsible for directing the consensus of the group by silencing those who challenge or oppose the majority. Out of fear of appearing disloyal, members of the out-group will cower and conform.
What Causes Groupthink?
It’s human nature to seek out connection. We are social Beings that thrive best when we feel supported. So it comes as no surprise that one of the main reasons people succumb to groupthink is to attain a sense of belonging. When an individual feels a bond with a certain group, they are more inclined to conform out of familiarity. In doing so, they place greater value on the in-groups’ perspective than they do on their own.
Leadership is also a huge component of why people give in to groupthink. Charismatic and seemingly powerful leaders sway members to obey without question or push-back. Historically, men have dominated the ranks of those elevated to leadership roles. This had created a huge imbalance because the adopted consensus of most is the masculine energetic principle – action, survival, focus, and power. The feminine energy that we all embody has been shoved down and devalued, leaving no room for the feminine qualities – creativity, intuition, receptivity, and nurturing.
Information channels are another reason that groupthink occurs. The information we are given, along with the omitted facts play a huge role in how we decide to proceed. Again, because of the historic patriarchy, men control all of the channels of information to society. This creates a narrow view of issues based on limited knowledge.
Our entire political system was created by and for men, and as a direct result, it stands on a lopsided foundation that promotes profit over people. This is where groupthink becomes the most dangerous because it doesn’t allow for growth or change. The political structure of the United States discourages innovation and opportunity based on the defined norms that were created by male politicians. Because most of these men subscribe to groupthink, beneficial changes are rarely made.
Why is Groupthink Dangerous?
If it’s not already obvious, natural conformity eliminates individual creativity. If we all did things simply because we were merely following the leader, there would be no expansion or evolution. It takes the personal perspectives of each diverse member of the group to build upon one another to create a solution that truly benefits all, as opposed to a select few.
We give up our power when we refrain from speaking our minds and sharing our opinions. No two people on this planet think the same, no matter how similar they might seem. Like snowflakes, every Human has their own unique perspective. When we try to dilute our originality to blend in, we minimize ourselves.
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
Studies have consistently traced groupthink as the root cause of rational, logical, intelligent people making nonsensical decisions in their personal, academic, and professional lives. Again, the emphasis on masculine superiority is highlighted here because it also diminishes the importance of emotional intelligence. Research proves that emotional intelligence, EQ, promotes self-awareness, empathy, internal motivation, and people skills to name just a few of the characteristics.
A prime example of the potential disaster that groupthink can illicit is the space shuttle, Challenger, which exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff in 1986. Hindsight led to a series of discoveries whereby massive warning signs were blatantly ignored. This also calls into question our own capacity to tune into our “gut signals.” If we can’t trust ourselves, how can we effectively lead another?
How to Avoid Groupthink
It is easy to say that the prescription for groupthink is to step into your truth, but it’s not so easy to apply that tactic. There are a few determined ways to promote individuality within groups, and it should also be encouraged to come up with alternative ways of doing things. Here are a few suggestions on how to avoid groupthink:
The leader should allow the participants to voice their opinion before they voice their own
Elect at least one person to play “devil’s advocate”
Discuss the groups ideas with a neutral source
Encourage people to be critical and to do their own research.
Establish metrics or a base level of expectation
Assign specific roles to members of the group
Invite people to provide anonymous feedback
Call to Action:
Knowledge is only power if you apply it. Stop and ask yourself, what am I doing to promote synergy among my people? Synergy does not mean conformity – it means productive cooperation in that the end result benefits all.
The media is the direct correspondence of the few who hold the power and influence over the masses, to those masses. Unwitting citizens around the world alike tune in to the latest blast of information to keep themselves informed, never even considering who creates and distributes the content, and for whom.
Since its inception with the earliest printing presses in the thirteenth century, all media in America has been owned and operated by white men. When put into this context, it becomes easy to see how and why the information that we are inundated with is geared towards one, seemingly dominant race. But a deeper look at the people who are consuming the specified information from these news outlets uncovers an alarming correlation between those “on top” and which information they chose to share with the masses.
Those who commit the murders write the reports.
Ida B. Wells
The Consumers
Who are the people that take in the information handed down by the media? What are their desires, past experiences, or commonalities, and how does this factor into the final product?
Every ten years the U.S. government oversees a massive project to gather a head-count on the people who make up America. Using a variety of methods, they attempt to collect personal data from every single household to gain a better understanding of the population. The main purpose of the census is to “determine how many people live in the United States, as well as their age, sex, and location.” While it’s not sure-proof, the information is used for strategic planning, economic development, and business decisions, among other things.
“Detailed demographic, social, housing and economic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) can strengthen and localize many news and feature stories.” Utilizing the information gathered directly from the U.S. Census, the mainstream media caters to the American audience based on these statistics. However, the U.S. Census is rooted in racial and gender discrimination, much like our great nation.
When the census began in 1790, only the head of freed households were counted. It wasn’t until 1870 that slaves were recognized as people, and recorded as such. Beginning in 1960, Americans who were of color were legally required to participate in the survey, but were given one of two choices when recognizing their race: black or mulatto. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that U.S. citizens were given the option of selecting more than one race with which they identify. In fact, from 1790-1950, those who were tasked with collecting the data were also given the choice of how to racially classify the interviewees based on their personal judgments.
The very first census was conducted by Marshal’s on horseback, by men who deemed “race to be a fixed physical characteristic“. The multiple-choice question only had three options to chose from: “free whites, all other free persons, and slaves.” These racial categories were simply a means to reinforce “laws and scientific views” of white superiority. This is where the “one drop” rule still applies, claiming that any amount of “non-white blood” disqualifies an individual from being able to claim “white” on the census. The strict rules and regulations that were passed down directly from the entirely white, male government to the people were created in fear, hatred, and judgment, reiterating their distinct distaste for any human that is non-white.
Naturally, non-white communities have a lack of trust in the government. This is been the justification for skewed numbers over the years, but the issue of the lopsided census is far greater than a simple lack of trust. The missing data points equate to dollars lost for the non-white communities, which directly correlate with growth and opportunity.
“Black people have been under-counted since we were counted as three-fifths of a person, 400 years ago,” says Jeri Green, who spent 20 years working as a Senior Adviser on Civic Engagement at the Census Bureau. “We have always been under-counted, in stark contrast to the white population that has always been over-counted.”
The data used to create the content blasted through our media outlets is skewed to inflate the white population, namely men. Yet, that is exactly who is on the decline in the United States – white men. On the contrary, black males are on the rise in America. The black population as a whole jumped 29% since the year 2000 and is predicted to grow exponentially in the years to come. By the year 2045, America will join the ranks of the rest of the world where whites are the minority. British National Party Chairman Nick Griffin fearfully said: ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt that within this century, white people will be a minority in every country in the world.’
The statistics do not properly correlate to the consumers’ preferences accurately simply because they are purposefully skewed. Women have always intentionally been left out of all strategic efforts, and media distribution is no exception. Yet, that’s primarily who absorbs the content via television, internet, and social media. Women officially exceed men in the U.S. at a ratio of 51% to 47%, and there are only nine states where males make up more the 50% of the population. So women not only consist of the majority of the population of America, but also those who consume media content, and yet, we own 0% of the corporations that distribute the content.
The Corporations
If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed.
Denzel Washington (quoting Mark Twain)
Who is behind the leading media corporations of our country? What are their experiences and intentions? These are but a few of the vital questions we should be asking ourselves before we simply consume the very deliberate daily news.
In 1983, 50 companies dominated the U.S. media. Very quickly; however, that number dropped down to 9 by 1990, and a mere 6 in 2012. In 2019, all of our media was owned and operated by just 5 companies. 15 billionaires own almost all of the U.S. media outlets that are tasked with providing pertinent information to over 382 million American residents. Except for two, all of the major media outlets in our country are owned and operated by privileged, white men. The other two companies are operated by wealthy, foreign men.
Even more alarming are their obvious conflicts of interest that are blatantly ignored. In September 2006 came revelations that Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officials had, since 2003, blocked the release of major reports that showed the danger of allowing a handful of media conglomerates to control communications. The FCC Chairman of the Board is selected by the President, so naturally, it has historically been a white male majority.
These media conglomerates maintain control over what is and what is not shared with consumers through mass media enterprises such as television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, and the internet. Every owner of every single major media company in America is a man. It has always been this way, and that’s exactly what keeps this imbalance of power alive today.
All of the power and influence that is yielded through the methods of mass communication is controlled by a handful of men. These same men are also the ones who make it harder for women to excel, no matter what role they hold in the corporation. Women make up 49% of all those in the media and entertainment industry, and they are promoted to a manager level at a rate double that of their male counterparts. However, the higher up you go in the organization, the less diversity you see. In the highest ranks of every corporation in America, women are underrepresented; the arena of media and entertainment is no different with 79% of all c-suite male executives being hired externally, passing up all of the highly qualified and loyal, internal female managers.
These numbers naturally reflect the white authority in our nation, as they do not account for the people of color who are marginalized in the media and entertainment industries. To put it into context, white women consist of 22% of all c-suite roles in the media and entertainment industry, as compared to a pitiful 4% for women of color. Likewise, white women are given greater opportunities to participate in these industries, as is made apparent by the obvious lop-sided statistics. 33% of all entry-level positions go to white women, leaving a petty 17% available to fulfill a quota or offer to women of color. Naturally, this translates through the information that is purposefully shared with the masses.
The Impact
Representation matters. Representation is the way aspects of society are presented to audiences, such as gender, age, and ethnicity. “Representation is how media texts deal with and present gender, age, ethnicity, national and regional identity, social issues and events to an audience.” These media texts have tremendous power to shape and influence public knowledge and opinion.
Ideologies, which are personal ideas and beliefs the media producers hold, are passed down by the male executives in the exclusive upper echelon directly to their consumers. Careful thought goes into how representation is constructed. Certain camera shots and angles can give the illusion of more power and control to individuals, and likewise wider angles can induce the appearance of inferiority. Media producers can manipulate the emotions of the audience by representing certain characters or situations in the editing process.
None of what we see and hear in the media is by accident; on the contrary, everything is calculated and intentional. A study by Neilsen found women, Native Americans, and Latinx were the most underrepresented groups relative to the general population. Indigenous representation is less than one-quarter of their population, totaling just 0.4% across broadcast, cable, and streaming. Women show up onscreen a mere 37.9% despite ruling the majority of the American population, and these numbers only decrease with a woman’s age.
Not only does it make financial sense (a potential $10 Billion in annual revenues) to be more inclusive in the media industries, but it has become financially illogical to support and fund such costly projects that are likely to fail due to lack of representation. Similarly, it is only logical to be more inclusive of women simply because they are the bulk of all the media consumers. Women are not only underrepresented throughout media alike, but they are also misrepresented through stereotypes and gender biases.
Research has consistently shown that children’s interests, ambitions, and skills can be shaped early on by the media they consume and the toys with which they play. Not only does this potentially influence everything from the subjects they choose to study to the careers they ultimately pursue, but consequently, those early experiences can also affect their development and life choices, as well as the composition of our workforce and the strength of our economy for decades to come.
A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health contributes a global perspective on the issue of gender stereotypes in the media and the impact it has on society, namely kids. “The key finding: whether a child is in Baltimore, Beijing or New Delhi, the onset of adolescence triggers a common set of rigidly enforced gender expectations associated with increased lifelong risks of mental and physical health problems.”
Research has shown that boys and girls as young as six already have ingrained stereotypes, claiming that masculine traits equate to “being smart.” “The study calls it the hegemonic myth – the perception that men are the dominant sex, strong and independent, while women need to be protected.” 69% of men under the age of 35 state that gender stereotyping had long-term damaging effects, most especially on their relationships.
A six-year global study of gender expectations found that no matter where in the world they live, children quickly internalize the myth that girls are vulnerable and boys are strong and independent. These deliberate attacks on feminine characteristics are the reason for the great imbalance we all feel today.
The solution
Educate yourself first and foremost about the scientific makeup of every Human Being. Once you do, it becomes easier to practice compassion because we ALL have natural masculine and feminine traits. Men experience hormonal upset and imbalances, just like women do. Women have states of peak performance where they are inspired to take physical action in the same way that men do. All humans share and experience a wide range of emotions that are meant to be used for our benefit, despite the media promoting non-emotional males as the ideal.
Advocate for others when you notice gender discrimination. It is so deeply embedded into our DNA that many of us are blind to our own hidden beliefs and biases. This is why it is so important to stay vigilant; because it can easily go unnoticed simply because we’ve been conditioned to think this way through society. Speak up to those around you so they know how and why certain comments and perceptions are offensive.
Boycott certain media outlets simply because they do not align with your perspective or purpose. The news is geared around eliciting reactions based on fear fed by negativity. Now that you know just who is behind the news reports, it should be easier to discern what does and does not align with your life.
Band together because there is power in numbers. They have been able to keep the balance of control and power simply due to their white, male privilege, but the tides are quickly changing. We are on the cusp of major change, and as the majority, we get to decide where to steer the ship.
It’s logical that if we can inherit genetic imprinting from our parents and grandparents in the form of genetic predisposition, we can also inherit other aspects embedded in our genes too, right?
It’s only after living a life inflicted with trauma that I’ve come to realize that it’s in my DNA. My mother spoke of unthinkable atrocities that I came to feel emotionally, but it was through the process of elimination that I deemed it her trauma and not mine. After all, much of it happened before I was even born.
Years of torment led me to the realization; however, that not only was her trauma mine in the present tense, but also the very distant past as well. Historical trauma is recognized as cumulative emotional harm to many documented groups of people, including Holocaust survivors, Native Americans, and other Indigenous groups, even descendants of slaves.
Third-generation lab rats have been recorded having the same traumatic response to the exact trigger their grandparents experienced, but without ever experiencing the trauma directly. One particular experiment tormented female rats and found that trauma to a mother mouse can alter behavior in her descendants over multiple generations.
Epigenetics
Epigenetic inheritance is a compelling and popular explanation. Our genetic blueprint consists of our DNA, which is our chemical ‘marks’ on and around our DNA that are passed down by our parents. Our genome is complemented by a number of ‘epigenomes’ that vary by cell type and developmental time point. Epigenetic marks are attached to our DNA and dictate, in part, whether a gene is on or off, which influences the function of the gene.
A Massachusetts General Hospital study found evidence that children under 3 years old are the most vulnerable to the effects of adversity (experiences including poverty, family and financial instability, and abuse) on their epigenetic profiles and chemical tags that alter gene expression. Both animal and human studies found that adverse experiences early in life can have lasting effects on epigenetics.
Research has shown that exposure to adversity was typically associated with increased methylation, which reduces the expression of specific genes; and neighborhood disadvantage appeared to have the greatest impact, followed by family financial stress, sexual or physical abuse, and single-parent households.
The study defines social adversity as financial poverty or long-term unemployment in the family, while stressful adversity relates to the death of a parent, divorce, or alcohol/drug abuse among the parents. They discovered that children who have experienced repeated serious adversity were 4.5 times more likely to die in early adulthood (16-36 years of age). The higher mortality rate mainly manifests itself in suicide and accidents, but the study also shows a higher risk of dying from cancer in this group.
A research team researched adults that were evacuated as children during WWII, and they found that daughters of female evacuees had the same high risk for mental health disorders as their mothers, even though they did not experience the same adversity. The study could not determine why the higher risk for mental illness persisted across generations.
“Many studies have shown that traumatic exposures during pregnancy can have negative effects on offspring,” said study author Stephen Gilman, Sc.D., of the Division of Intramural Population Health Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. A previous study found that women evacuated as children were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder than their female siblings who remained at home.
The researchers did not find any increase in psychiatric hospitalizations for the sons or daughters of males who had been evacuated as children; however, there is a correlation between adversity during pregnancy and schizophrenia spectrum disorders in males, in particular. Stressful life events ranging from war to natural disasters have been shown to increase the risk. Unwanted pregnancy also creates a hostile environment for optimum development, increasing the risk of psychosis in offspring.
The study could not determine why the daughters of female evacuees had a higher risk of mental illness. One possibility is that the stresses of the evacuees’ experience affected their psychological development in ways that influenced their parenting style. Another possibility is that the evacuee experience resulted in epigenetic changes. For example, the researchers cited an earlier finding that Holocaust survivors have higher levels of compounds known as methyl groups bound to the gene FKBP5 and have passed this change on to their children. This higher level of methyl groups appears to alter the production of cortisol, a hormone that regulates the stress response.
Transgenerational impacts, including risky health behaviors, anxiety and shame, food hoarding, overeating, authoritarian parenting styles, high emotional neediness on the part of parents, and low community trust and cohesiveness, are what many described as living in “survival mode”.
Group Trauma
Historical trauma is an event or set of events that happen to a group of people who share a specific identity, such as Tribal affiliation, ethnicity, or religious affiliation. Individual events compiled make up a legacy of cultural disruption and community destruction. Ethnocide, like genocide, undoubtedly leaves lasting effects on the population of people that it was directed towards.
Personally, I know that what my ancestors experienced before me has played a major role in the course of my life. Being bi-racial has exacerbated this trauma for me, as my heritage is Native and African American. While I never ever knew my black father, I innately felt his trauma. My Native mother was unable to shield me from her trauma, in addition to it being housed in my own DNA. I witnessed the torment it caused her my whole life; torment that was no longer a direct threat was still killing her slowly indirectly.
Individual trauma leads to group trauma because the effects impact society as a whole. PTSD and other mental health disorders can be traced back to one’s lineage. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris discovered that exposure to childhood trauma affects brain development, immune and hormonal health, and children were five times more likely to experience heart disease and lung cancer, as well as a 20-year difference in life expectancy.
In addition to being predisposed for a variety of health issues, childhood trauma is also to blame for the imbalance in the nucleus accumbens or the pleasure and reward center of the brain that is implicated in substance dependence. MRI scans show measurable differences in the amygdala or the brain’s fear response center, further demonstrating that it’s much more than “bad choices.” This means our “good luck or “bad fortune” is literally written in our DNA.
Toxic stress response is due to the high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) that one experiences when poverty, trauma, and adversity are experienced too frequently. “Microaggressions are the chronic and commonplace verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities and injustices, intentional and unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, demeaning, invalidating, and/or negative (racial, ethnic, homophobic, etc.) slights and insults toward people (of color, homosexual individuals, etc.).”
Understanding the genetics of trauma is imperative for our future generations to thrive, and allows the coordination of services to address the trauma properly. Women also need specified healing modalities to address the thousands of years of trauma that still lives in our DNA.
Women’s Trauma
No matter what race a female is, she is still considered subservient to any/all men throughout the world alike. White women have endured trauma at the hands of men for centuries, while women of color have had to deal with the trauma of being both non-white and female for just as long. Research shows that women are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. In addition to experiencing longer durations of posttraumatic symptoms, they also display more sensitivity to stimuli that remind them of the trauma. Naturally, these negative effects also have an impact on her children.
Depression, mood swings, panic and anxiety, eating disorders, addictions, flashbacks, and self-injurious behaviors are just some of the effects women endure. 55% of all men and women who are alcohol depended inherit it from parents; however, lifetime prevalence is 4.9% in women as compared to 8.6% in men. Additionally, women are more susceptible than men to the harmful effects of alcohol. Liver damage, heart disease, brain damage, and breast cancer are all proven to affect women at a greater rate than men who drink the same amount.
A woman’s brain literally differs from that of a male’s, but lack of research focused on women throughout history has left a significant gap in our current knowledge of this issue. What we do know is that women’s brains communicate more thoroughly than men’s because their corpus collosum is bigger and more symmetrically organized, whereas men’s brains communicate better locally (visuospacial skills).
Overrepresentation in medical diagnoses is far more prevalent in women than in men because women have been largely left out of medical research and recommendations since the inception of the medical institution. It wasn’t until 1993 that the National Institute of Health changed its policies to include women and minorities in its medically-funded research, but hidden and outward biases still keep them from being included.
Women are viewed as a hindrance in medical research, and that has a direct correlation with how they are treated. Medical diagnoses cannot be accurately made without proper science and research into the ways women differ from men. Women consist of 80% of all osteoporosis diagnoses, 2/3 Alzheimer patients, and 90% of all sleep-apnea diagnoses. There is no doubt that this overrepresentation plays into the higher rates of depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders found in women than men.
Diseases often go misdiagnosed or missed altogether in the female population for this reason. Plato, the founder of the first institute for higher learning in the western world, believed that women had a “wandering womb” that could become angered and wreak havoc on the female body, especially if barren. With nonsensical thinking like this, it’s easy to see how genderism has become embedded in the medical arena.
Women have endured over 255 years of medical trauma alone. It’s time to alter the course of health and well-being to be gender-inclusive. Women makeup over half of the U.S. population, but are still treated as dispensable in every area of living and thriving.
“Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating change you do choose.”
Michele Rosenthal
We all experience trauma in one form or another throughout life. That is simply life. Women, however, have been made to endure an unjust and unfair amount of that burden. It’s going to take a collective effort to change the current narrative about women before women can begin to truly heal.
The great thing about the study into epigenetics is that it also leaves us with a great deal of hope. We now know that we are in control of how we chose to respond to our environment, which ultimately impacts how things progress or regress. This means we can literally alter our DNA, and future outcomes, based on our current actions. Epigenetic research also reveals:
genetics are controlled by our perception of our environment NOT genes
genes adopt to your beliefs and identities
genes cannot turn on and off by themselves; rather the organism adapts to the environment
Stress Inoculation Training is a method of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) used to treat PTSD. It takes a holistic approach to restoring the mind, as well as the physical and emotional bodies, to homeostasis. Deep breathing, deliberate positive-self talk, muscle relaxation training, role-playing, and consciously changing negative behaviors all are actionable, practical tools that women (and men) can use to address trauma.
It is possible to heal thyself, but first, you must know why you’re “sick”. Trauma is not your fault, but healing is your responsibility.
We are living in the dawn of a new era, where we all get to bear witness to the true abilities of an empowered woman. Last month marked a historical first – the inauguration of the first female cabinet member to grace one of the most intimate boys clubs ever, the United States Presidency.
While this is a sign of great possibilities, it’s still important to remember she is the only one in over 230 years. The fact that Kamala Harris is not only a female but a woman of color denotes progress; however, the “club” is still slighted towards elite, white men.
The Constitution didn’t reflect upon women as people until 1920 when it was amended to include our right to vote. This was, of course, after a great upheaval in the form of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement. Even the wording of the Constitution is demeaning to women because it reads “citizens’, yet women were deliberately excluded from politics for 5o more years after black men were granted the right to vote. That didn’t stop nor deter these women though, instead, it fueled them.
What is Empowerment?
By definition, empowerment is the granting of political, social, or economic power to an individual or group. The very premise of this definition is that empowerment is something outside of self.
True empowerment, however, is something that comes from within. As Elenore Roosevelt famously stated, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” This highlights two types of empowerment: external and internal.
External
External empowerment can come in a variety of forms. External empowerment is just that, empowerment from forces outside of ourselves, i.e. our environment. Our earliest encounters with external empowerment come from our interactions with our parents and primary care-givers. These interactions help form the foundation that determines just how empowered we become.
For some girls, having a role model is simple, easy, and built-in via their own mothers. Mothers who lead by example are the best at fostering this ironclad will that empowered girls seem to share. It’s as though bearing witness to our own mother’s strength is exactly what fosters our own.
“I was raised to be an independent woman, not the victim of anything.
Kamala Harris
Representation matters. When girls grow up witnessing other girls and women stand in their own power, it demonstrates for them what is truly possible. This is why female empowerment is an imperative initiative because every kid should be allowed to look out into the world and have an Idol that they can relate to.
Thankfully for me, I had a mother who was self-empowered. She became an orphan when her mother died when she was just 13 years old. As a ward of the state, she lived a life of abuse, oppression, and trauma – most of which occurred at the hands of men. And it’s through these adversities that my mom taught herself how to tap into her internal strength. She was an alchemist who learned how to turn her pain into power.
Internal
Resilience is a trait that serves as a reminder that our true source of power comes from within. Resilience theory explicitly states that exposure to adverse events in life leads to an even higher level of functioning than before, for certain individuals.
Where there is a will, there is always a way. Lucky for us girls, interior strength is genetic. There are the obvious components of internal strength that every woman possesses. An example is our ability to give birth without quite literally dying from pain. Females possess more pain receptors than men, making us more adept at knowing how to control and handle pain.
Then there are the more subtle leanings that women possess that make us more resilient than men. If resilience is bred out of vulnerability, and it is, then women are inherently more resilient by the very structure of our society. In fact, this inherited ability can be traced all the back to the womb. Girls simply cope with stress better than boys.
What Makes a Woman Empowered?
An empowered woman is one who feels safe and secure with herself despite being female. Empowerment is something that is fostered through life experience. External and internal forces create the perfect atmosphere for her to propel past societal expectations, paving the way for others to follow. Finally, an empowered woman is generous with her gifts, for she knows the power of giving.
We are at a pivotal time, unlike ever before. Women now make up the majority of the population, and officially exceed men in higher education too. Pioneering biological research shows that women differ from men but in the most complimentary of ways.
“It’s time for women to stop being politely angry.”
Leymah Gbawee, Nobel Peace Price Winner
Empowerment leads to self-sufficiency and independence. These are two of the most sought after traits in American society, for both men and women. One of the major side-effects of empowerment is the desire to give back. Empowerment is contagious, as is evident in the numerous examples of empowered women throughout history who have an insatiable passion to give back.
Empowering girls and women should be personalized to cater to the female-specific characteristics. The approach should be to embrace and enhance our femininity through education and inspiration. The goal is to allow them to see their womanhood as a gift rather than a curse.
The 5 pillars of female empowerment encompass the essential areas that every female need in order to thrive. These pillars are educational, financial, social, political, and health, as they pertain to the female gender in specific.
Educational
When girls’ education is given the same amount of investment as their male counterparts, the benefits extend far beyond their personal lives. Data clearly shows a correlation between educated girls and the decrease in societal poverty. “High-quality female education empowers women, reduces poverty, and unleashes economic growth”
Education is the foundation for anyone to thrive in society. Thankfully, the educational institution has evolved over time to be gender inclusive. In the not-so-distant past though, girls’ education was a considered privilege, not a right. Whereas women once had to fight for the right to equal education, we now surpass men in higher education achievements across the board.
Yet the educational instructions are still very much lacking the emphasis on feminine principles to this day. One way this is obvious is in the lack of female faculty in higher education. Women consist of the majority of the population of people who obtain higher education, yet women are consistently overlooked for tenure, appropriate compensation, and representation in high-ranking leadership positions, such as presidency and membership on governing boards.
Additionally, the emotional aspect of living and thriving is still shunned by much of society. This means that our educational foundation still disregards the more right-brain, feminine components that we all possess. Not only should young girls be taught about their emotional bodies, but young boys also need to understand the importance of creativity, visual imagery, and intuition.
Fostering emotional intelligence should not be geared towards one gender over the other. These essential areas are stereotyped as being “female” traits, but we all have them. Much like we all possess left-brain abilities, such as logic, speech, and analytics. Like the two sides of the brain, these two components complement one another and should both be celebrated. Unfortunately, our society still prefers science and math over art and emotional acuity.
Finally, women have been disenfranchised for all of history. While education might seem to be the easy route, many girls lose their way due to the embedded side-effects of systemic oppression. While drop-out rates have declined for both genders, similar factors are cited for both genders, except one: teen pregnancy. Both male and female students suffering from low-income, single-parent households are at a higher risk of dropping out. Thirty-three percent of girls, however, drop out due to pregnancy.
Education is not segregated by sex, but age rather. This means boys and girls are clumped together in a male-centric education and expected to thrive equally. Both boys and girls need deeper instruction on female physiology, but the research simply does not exist.
Teaching girls that they differ from their male peers is essential to their understanding of these differences. Our inherent differences are obvious, yet girls are made to feel less-than because of these differences. Our culture shames girls for bleeding, making the stigma unavoidable. Girls should be given permission to feel comfortable about their physiology, instead of inferior because of it.
Social
We’ve come a long way from the obvious domineering control that once was the accepted norm. Whereas women were once quite literally considered property, we now have certain “inalienable-rights” bestowed upon us per the U.S. Constitution.
In the not-so-distant past; however, women were not allowed to open a bank account or take out a loan without a male co-signer. Just 33 years ago, Ronald Raegan signed the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 granting women the right to equal credit and lending opportunities.
Women are more in control of their own lives now than ever before, but we still have far to go. The system is still set-up by and for men. So while we might now enjoy the benefits of having our own property, income, lending, and investment potential, it’s still more in theory than application.
In 2018, women consisted of only 2.2% of the $130 billion dollar total in venture capital money invested over the year. Sadly, this is a decline from the previous year which was recorded at 2.53% for female founders. This staggeringly low number illustrates the systemic bias that is still very prevalent today.
Female entrepreneurs generated $1.7 trillion dollars in sales in 2017 alone. Women own more than 11.6 million firms and employ 9 million people in the United States. One in every five firms that make over $1 million dollars in revenue are female-founded.
Additionally, women are not only more likely to start a business, but also to start businesses out of need and necessity. Much like women are more likely to choose a career in healthcare or education, they are also more likely than men to start a business in health and education too.
Women contribute immensely to society but benefit only marginally. In such an atmosphere, it’s taxing to attempt to develop one’s autonomy, let alone self-confidence. Representation matters and women are simply not represented properly throughout societies alike.
Women act individually to enhance the collective, unlike most men who act individually to benefit themselves. It’s time for girls and women to be portrayed for the true value they bring. And the best part of honoring and uplifting women is that everybody wins! It’s time to challenge dated ideals and false constructs that deter and ultimately hold us all back.
Health
We all know that women bear the brunt when it comes to care-taking. Women consistently ensure the health and wellbeing of those around them. Even as little girls, we learn to foster this innate drive when we get our first babydoll to care for. Unfortunately, this passion doesn’t translate into caring for ourselves in quite the same way as we develop.
Both genders are taught that being selfish is a very bad thing. It’s ingrained in us that health is something that applies to the general population as much as it does to our very personal physical apparatuses. Public health is preached more than private health. The onset of Covid highlights this perfectly, in that all of the professionals that are considered experts are boasting “we’re all in this together” and to wear a mask and social-distance for thy neighbor, while none of them discuss the importance of self-care as a means to an end.
More than 770,000 injuries and deaths occur every single year as a direct result of medical errors, which makes it the third leading cause of death in the U.S. This number merely reflects those errors that we know of because many go unreported for a variety of reasons, according to Dr. Danielle Ofri. These numbers show the imbalance of promoting medical interventions over daily self-care.
Health empowerment begins with proper education. In the WHO Constitution, health is described as “a state of complete physical, social, and mental well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” In this context health empowerment is something that pertains to the fundamental knowledge of the human body and how it thrives, first and foremost.
We all stand upon a foundation that has taught us to value modern, Westernized healthcare over our ancient, holistic approach to health. Women and men have been guided away from their internal wisdom towards a scientific and methodical approach to wellbeing. While that has served us to an extent, it has also left us quite detached from ourselves too. As soon as something goes awry, we seek the opinions of indoctrinated strangers in an attempt to fix it. Western medicine is a beneficial deterrent because it provides us with the ability to save lives in an emergency, but literally kills when it comes to drug interventions and miseducated professionals.
True health empowerment is knowing that we all have the ability to heal any and all dis-ease from our bodies with the proper prescription of a healthy diet. Diet, however, in regards to our physical, social, and mental well-being, just as WHO states. Our diets consist of not only what we eat, but also the other forms of energy we take in on a daily basis. We are made up of energy, as science has demonstrated. Our bodies know exactly what to do to heal, as we witness in the miracle of a simple scab or even in instant healing and remission.
As recently as 2016, the National Institutes of Health had to issue a directive to specify sex as a biological variable in all their funded preclinical research on vertebrate animals and human cells and tissues. This means that women and our biology have quite literally been ignored for the entire history of the medical institution. Gender exclusion even applies to lab rats, as males subjects are favored over females.
So not only is the general public being grievously misinformed about what health is and how to maintain it, but women especially are suffering the cost of this lopsided indoctrination that all of our medical professionals receive. Moreover, female research should be a priority because it doesn’t just impact each woman individually, but also society collectively because of the major role women play.
Obviously, we cannot speak on women’s health without addressing the power and control that men still hold over women’s reproductive health too. Unfortunately, the states are anything but united when it comes to rules that govern what a woman can and cannot do with her own body. An independent poll spoke for the people of which 77% of Americans agreed that abortion should be safe and legal. Yet, 274 state policy provisions have been introduced in 2021 alone. Naturally, most of these rules and regulations are introduced by the men who create and carry out the policies. Hence the need for more women in positions of leadership.
Political
Women now make up the majority of the American population, yet female representation in the political sphere is still negligible. As it stands, women consist of:
24% of the U.S. Senate
27% of the House of Representatives
30% of the statewide elected executives
31% of state legislative seats
23% of Mayors in cities with populations exceeding 30,000
0% of the Presidents of the United States
Sadly, these numbers clump all women into one big category diminishing the fact that for women of color, these seats are even harder to come by. While the last two Presidential elections have made great gains in the arena of female representation, the U.S. ranks 75th globally in women’s representation in Politics.
If women are the backbone of society, and we are, why is it that we still lack leadership roles that directly impact society at large, namely women? Women have demonstrated that our primary focus is to be of benefit to the community, time and time again. We do this by actively choosing the “low-paying” jobs that bring rewards beyond monetary value, such as teachers, social workers, hospitality staff, and medical professionals alike.
In fact, the number of women in the workforce surpassed men prior to the lockdowns of 2020. Unfortunately, having little political representation where policies are created and enforced has created an even greater divide than before. If women had been more involved politically during the onset of the pandemic, I’m certain the outcome would have been different. But we will never know because women simply don’t have a voice in politics.
When women are allowed to participate; however, research shows that their primary focus differs from their male counterparts. Women officials have different attitudes on several important public policy topics. For example, compared with men, women are generally less militaristic on issues of war and peace, more often opposed to the death penalty, more likely to favor gun control, more likely to favor measures to protect the environment, more supportive of programs to help the economically disadvantaged, more supportive of efforts to achieve racial equality, and more likely to favor laws to regulate and control certain vices (e.g., alcohol, gambling, pornography).
“On a moral plane, there’s a sense that the Constitution sets forth our human rights and to not have the human rights of women in there is a gross omission.”
Jessica Neuwirth, President of the ERA Coalition
Women in both public and private political spheres will be the solution to this on-going problem. In 2021, women still don’t have Constitutional equality. 94% of Americans support constitutional equality for women, yet 80% believe we’ve already achieved it. American sets itself apart by being one of only three countries to offer constitutional protection to gun owners. Yet, of the 131 nations that have passed laws to ensure gender equality, the United States is not one of them.
Economic
On February 7, 2019, the White House launched The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative to bring women’s economic empowerment to the forefront of the U.S.’s Government’s Development Agenda. Standing on three pillars, the goal is to empower women to participate fully in civic and economic life. These pillars consist of ensuring women have the proper skills and training to secure work, promoting entrepreneurial ventures, and removing gender-based legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers to participation.
The focus of this initiative further illustrates the need for more women in politics because until the laws change, women will remain stifled financially. The gender pay gap data helps to make this apparent, but even this is misleading in that it’s based on a white mans earning capacity, compared to that of a white women’s. Yet, women of color are paid even less pay than their caucasian counterparts.
Women started a net of 1,821 business each day in 2019, and own 40% of all U.S. businesses. Of these new businesses, 64% were started by women of color. The reasons women are starting their own businesses are to combat the blatant gender discrimination in corporate America, which is often coupled with outward racism. Women are 15% less likely to be promoted than their male colleagues, despite doing equal, and many times more work. Additionally, less pay, flexibility, and autonomy were also cited as top reasons why women are going into business for themselves.
While many women aren’t even aware of it, they are being held to a greater cost of living than men are. Pink-tax is not a tax that simply applies to feminine hygiene products, although that’s blatant discrimination too. Pink-tax also refers to the higher tax rate that women are held to just for being female. From diapers to shavers, bike helmets to toys, if it’s pink – it’s more expensive.
Even as it pertains to obtaining an education, women are at a disadvantage. Women hold 58% of all student loan debt, and it takes an average of two years longer to pay off. Examining the debt ratio of men to women explains exactly why 56% of all women are living in poverty. Native American women are impacted the greatest, and given the history of Native Americans and our colonizers, it’s obvious why.
Just how is a woman expected to get ahead or thrive in a society that doesn’t even value her contributions? Only by establishing an equal playing field can we progress.
Empowered women seem to share the knowledge and awareness that they are great, despite the general consensus. From this empowered foundation, she begins to strengthen her own resolve, and by doing this, she naturally empowers those around her simply by persisting. Even when she’s told to stand down and fall in place, a truly empowered woman continualy goes for what she knows in her heart to be fair.
No matter who we are or where we come from, we have all felt the wrath of 2020. Last year came in with a bang. Just three months into the year, we were inundated with fear-inducing information about a new disease that was sweeping the globe. Shortly after, we were all placed on a world-wide lockdown. Twelve months later, we still have more questions than answers and many of us are still feeling the turmoil caused by the pandemic.
As time continues to pass, more data is being collected in an attempt to better understand the dynamics that play into this global pandemic. By taking a deeper look at the numbers, facts, and figures, we are able to detect where the gaps lie. Unfortunately for us women, the gaps are blaring and obvious because we are living them.
The Impact
Women are often overlooked in regards to larger-scale issues. The lockdown of 2020 is no different. Before the quarantine, women were notoriously doing more for less. After the quarantine, women are being overwhelmed with responsibilities at a much higher rate than men.
Women are impacted by the epidemic of 2020 in a multitude of ways. To better understand why we must first know how women are impacted at a higher rate than men.
Professionally
Women have broken all molds that were previously held specifying what they can and cannot do. There is not a job on the planet that a female hasn’t done; however, women naturally tend to gravitate towards certain jobs over others. This has been the justification for the discrepancies in higher unemployment rates in the past several months. Women make up the bulk of the workers in all hospitality, medical, educational, and social service professions. Coincidently, these are also the jobs classified as “low-paying”.
Pre-Covid, a woman made 81 cents to a man’s dollar. No matter her educational achievements, a woman is still subjected to less pay than a man. Unfortunately, this pay only decreases once her race is factored in.
80% of the 865,000 workers that left the workforce in September were female, making them four times as likely as men to leave their jobs. In 2019, there were 10 million women with young children in the workforce. Unlike men, women are being forced to choose between their work and their children.
Post-Covid, women are leaving the workforce at a rate, unlike any other time. Women from all walks of life are affected the same right now. Executives to waitresses are having to leave their jobs because of a lack of childcare. Women, especially women of color, are more likely to be laid off or furloughed as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.
Women have always been slighted when it comes to compensation for their contributions, but 2020 highlighted this imbalance for everyone to see. Stemming from the archaic belief that women are property, female labor has long-been denounced and denied. Women, who were once forbidden from working outside of the home, are now being forced to work both inside and outside the home, with no pay incentives.
During the Covid-19 epidemic, mothers are three times as likely as fathers to be responsible for the majority of the housework and childcare. Women are also naturally twice as stressed out about their job performance suffering as a direct result of having no childcare and taking on more than men.
The emotional strain women feel is greater than that of men amidst this pandemic due to the imbalance of societal resources. The U.S. is the only one of the 22 high-income nations that do not have a permanent, national guarantee of paid leave for women. Likewise, when schools were forced shut, there was no plan to combat the increased burden of stress either. This is because women and their unique needs are not even an after-thought for the men in charge.
It’s striking to see just how many of those in charge of making key decisions, in response to the pandemic, are men. It’s no surprise that women’s opinions do not carry the same amount of weight as men’s, simply because men make up the majority of all major decision-making bodies. Women consist of only 10% of Heads of State or Government, and this discrepancy is felt most by those affected the greatest: women.
Who is advocating for the women, who are quite literally the glue that bind us all together, most especially during a pandemic? Men would never feel comfortable with an all-female decision making-body governing their every whim; why are women made to?
The few women that are allowed to participate on leadership teams are predominately white, which only adds to the discrepancies. Compared to the 13% of White respondents, 37% of African-American respondents and 39% of Hispanic respondents claim to have to skip paying bills due to the set-back.
The most appalling proof of the fact that women are impacted the greatest by Covid-19 is the dramatic increase in the already frightening rates of gender-based violence. The UK has reported femicide rates higher than they have been in the past 11 years, double the average for a 21-day period. Mexico has reported an 8% increase in femicides, with nearly 1,000 women murdered in the first three months of the year. Domestic violence rates tripled from February 2019 to February 2020. Within weeks of the stay-at-home orders being issued, Portland police saw a 22% spike in arrests due to domestic violence alone.
Financially
Until you have been humbled by experiencing poverty first-hand, you truly cannot empathize with someone who has. For women, obtaining any amount of wealth has always been more difficult than it has been for men. Unfortunately, the level of lack felt by women was compiled and exacerbated as a direct result of this pandemic.
A simple look into the not-so-distance past reveals the long-standing trend of treating women as property, which also meant that they had no rights as functional, contributing adults. Many laws have been enacted to help overcome these barriers, but many obstacles for women still exist.
One of the best examples of the blatant oppression of women is the gender pay gap. Fifty-seven years after The Equal Pay Act, white women still only earn $0.81 to a man’s dollar. Couple that with other obvious gender-biased laws, such as “pink-tax”, and it becomes easy to see that women are still being outwardly oppressed.
Women have a higher cost-of-living than men, yet we earn less for doing more.
Almost a full year after the initial government lockdown, women and their needs are still not given proper consideration. The biggest financial impact has been felt by women. Not only do some women have to choose between their children and career, but they are also taxed with finding a way to still make ends meet with no job. Those who qualify for unemployment only take home a fraction of their already slighted pay.
This further reiterates the need for not just women at the table, but more specifically, women of color. A further look at the data and statistics show that Black and Indigenous women are impacted the greatest by the pandemic. Unfortunately, they make up the largest percentage of single-parent and impoverished households too.
Single mothers are by far the greatest population of people impacted by the financial upset caused by the lockdowns. The government has all gone virtual, making the already tedious task of applying for financial benefits even more grueling and time-consuming.
Women’s resources are even more limited than before Covid-19, but now women are literally in danger with absolutely nowhere to turn. During the civil unrest, entire police precincts were out of commission. Not surprisingly, these police forces were mostly found in areas with the highest concentration of people of color.
The Solution
The obvious solution is to incorporate more women into leadership roles. Women makeup over half of the population, yet represent only a fraction of all positions of power and influence.
The evidence is clear; women are good for business. Women are better leaders, scoring at a statistically significantly higher level than men in the vast majority of leadership capabilities measured by Harvard Business Review. Unfortunately, the rate of female leaders has remained steady domestically at only 2-4% and has even started to decline globally.
A report released by Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkley showed that companies with more women on their boards perform better on environmental, societal, and governance issues. Women just make sense. Sadly, it’s going to take a collective shift in how women are viewed and treated before true progress can be made.
Research shows that upwards of 90% of the entire population hold some sort of bias against women. Men are more likely to be seen as brilliant. This tells us that representation matters, but until we address our hidden beliefs about women, no progress can be made.
Wake up.
Once you become aware of the issue, you can no longer ignore it. You have to learn to become mindful of the role you play in either the solution or problem. Self-discover to disclose biases you have obtained by simply growing up in a patriarchal world. We all have them, but not all of us are aware of them, let alone strive to overcome them.
Learn to recognize them when they arise and release them without judgment. With concerted focus over time, you will begin to alter these biases and replace them with more conscientious beliefs.
Stand Up.
As you learn to discern between your unconscious and conscious biases, you also start to become aware of your limiting beliefs. Self-exploration is anything but easy, but it leads directly to self-mastery. It is in this process of evolving that we learn the most about ourselves.
Once you begin to stand in your truth, you naturally become an advocate for others. In social situations, amongst friends or co-workers, you’ll find yourself starting to stand up for your newly-held beliefs.
Speak up.
Do your part by combatting stereotypes about girls and women. Lead by example. Start at home; begin with you.
The only way for a movement to gain enough traction to create lasting change is by increasing awareness about the problem. This can only be done by talking about it. Next time you notice female-discrimination, call it out. Now that you know better, do better.
Do you consider yourself self-aware? That is to say, do you truly know thyself? Speaking on a micro to macro level – from your deepest desires and fears to your personal opinions and bias – can you truly articulate who you are and why?
Many people have no real understanding of what self-awareness actually is, let alone the importance of cultivating it. Self-awareness goes far beyond just your mental capacities, as it equally pertains to your body, soul, and emotions too.
Self-awareness is the very foundation of personal growth. Until you evaluate who you are at your core, it’s impossible to build a solid foundation. Unfortunately, having no basis on which to hold your beliefs promotes an automatic response to life, which causes you to operate on autopilot.
What is Self-Awareness?
It’s hard to believe that there can be any functional adult that doesn’t ‘know thyself’, but it’s far more common than you might think. We live in an age where the older you grow, the less in-tune with yourself you become. Technology has made it easy for people to escape their reality and immerse themselves in an artificial world.
In a series of surveys, 95% of people surveyed described themselves as ‘self-aware. According to Tasha Eurich, the accurate percentage is a mere 10-15%. The study cited 3 different potential causes for such a low percentage:
natural blindspots that we all have due to our tendency to operate on auto-pilot, i.e. subconsciously
a inclination to see ourselves in a positive light simply because it feels better to do so
the technological aspect of society has created a more self-absorbed population of people
The dictionary definition of self-awareness is: conscious knowledge of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
In the philosophy of Self, self-awareness is the experience of one’s own personality or individuality. Self-awareness is the recognition of awareness. Self is sometimes understood as being the unified Being connected to consciousness and the ether.
To be self aware is to be self concious. The terms are interchangeable because they are but one in the same thing. Humans Beings are a unique species equipped with the capacity to focus their attention on either internal or external environments. To be self conscious is to be aware of your very own existence.
Socrates famous words “Know thyself”; Lao Tzu in his Tao Te Ching says, “Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing the self is enlightenment. Mastering others requires force. Mastering the self requires strength”; Adi Shankaracharya’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita says, “Self-knowledge alone eradicates misery. Self-knowledge alone is the means to the highest bliss. Absolute perfection is the consummation of Self-Knowledge.”
To simplify, self-awareness is being actively aware of who you are mentally, physically, and emotionally, and how those facets of you interact with and affect the world around you.
Benefits of Self-Awareness
Becoming self-aware isn’t something that happens overnight. It requires consistent dedication and determination. Additionally, it demands an on-going commitment to honing the craft. People are ever-changing Beings that require deliberate upkeep if they are to maintain self-awareness.
There are countless benefits that come with truly knowing yourself. The benefits have been shown to positively impact both the personal and professional aspects of life. The more self-aware a person is, the more benefits there are.
Personal
We are social Beings by our very nature. We love to connect with others on a variety of levels, be it physically, emotionally, or mentally. Humans are complex creatures, fully equipped with all the necessary intel to make thoughtful decisions at every intersection we encounter. However, this ability has been diluted by societal programming, which has caused people to become less fluid with their surroundings.
When you enter a room, there is a tendency to read the room in order to gain insight about what’s occurring. This ability, known as emotional intelligence, can be fostered in order to benefit everyone involved.
Emotional intelligence is the psychological theory that humans, as emotional Beings, have the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. An easier way to say it is the ability to perceive, evaluate, and control emotions.
Emotional intelligence speaks to both yourself and your immediate environment. To have a high degree of Emotional Intelligence is to be aware of your both emotional set-point, as well as that of those around you. Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is all about understanding our emotional responses to life. You can increase your EQ just like you would your IQ, with focused determination.
EQ is made up of four different components, according to researchers. The most basic level consist of first perceiving or becoming aware of emotional responses in yourself and in others. Emotions can be displayed in both verbal and non-verbal ways, i.e. body language or facial expressions.
Reasoning with your emotions is the second step in becoming more emotionally intelligent. People have a tendency to react to emotions, assuming they’re more of a spontaneous human trait than one that can be controlled. The fact of the matter is that emotions are cues for us to pay attention and listen to, serving as a internal compass.
Building Emotional Intelligence is like strengthening any other muscle: it takes time, dedication, and skill.
Understanding and interpreting emotions is the third level of becoming emotionally adept. It involves critical thinking in order to decipher the clues (such as the environment), possible triggers, and immediate responses.
The fourth and final phase is to manage your emotions. It is possible to achieve an emotional equilibrium, which naturally inhibits the way you react to situations. Instead of being a person who is emotionally charged and always reacting to circumstances, you become someone who is aware of the underlying factors that create emotional situations. As a result, you become more empathetic to the emotional needs of others.
Professional
“Self-awareness can directly translate into better choices, and result in more fulfilling careers,” said Global Vice President of the Korn Ferry Institute, Joy Hazucha. “On the other hand, those with low self-awareness tend to scramble the messages they receive concerning improvement, interpreting them as a threat rather than an opportunity. They often have an ‘I am what I am’ mentality and continue doing things the way they always have.”
The American Medical Association conducted a study of 72 Senior Executives found that a “high self-awareness score was the strongest overall predictor success.” Researcher Dr. Becky Winkler contends that it’s due to the fact that Executives tend to be aware of their weaknesses, and they understand the value of bringing on someone else who is more equipped in that particular area of expertise.
Entrepreneurs can especially benefit from taking a closer look at their own though patterns, emotions, and behaviors. Psychologist, Author, and Co-Founder of eHarmony Dr. Les Parrot believes that self-awareness is essential for entrepreneurs who tend to get overly focused, creating tunnel vision. “An organization can only be as good as its leaders”, he totes. “Lack of self-awareness can be toxic.”
“The higher you ascend up the corporate ladder, the less self-aware you become.”
Tasha Eurich
The lack of self-awareness can have detrimental effects. In the professional arena, it is not uncommon for leaders to become less self-aware as they gain more power. This is a dangerous slope, as many members of the upper echelon are known to act without integrity.
The fact of the matter is that the more self aware a person is, the more stable their personal foundation is. A sturdy and stable foundation allows for the avoidance of environmental pressures. Greater self awareness can help leaders perform with more empathy, making them less likely to lie, cheat, and steal.
Types of Self-Awareness
There are two emerging themes amongst self-awareness studies, and that is the way we see ourselves internally versus the way we see ourselves externally. They are both essential, equally important aspects of self-awareness. In order to fully appreciate who we are on the inside, we need to also take into consideration how we are perceived on the outside.
Self-awareness is a multifaceted feat. It involves deep introspection, but also frequent external assessments to recenter and recalibrate. The key is to balance your efforts.
Internal
It can be beneficial to start with an internal self-assessment in order to gauge your current state of self-awareness. After all, as we grow and change over time, so too does our ability to be fully self-aware. There are many different types of self-assessment tests that can be found online to spark insight on areas that need improvement.
“Self analysis can trap us in a mental hell of our own thinking”, according to I/O Psychologist Tasha Eurich. She goes on to say that most people approach the act of introspection wrong. In her four-year-long research on self-awareness, she found that people who introspected more were found to be more stressed and depressed, and overall less satisfied with their jobs, relationships, and life in general.
“Thinking about ourselves isn’t related to knowing ourselves.”
Tasha Eurich
The problem lies with the most common introspection question: why? Unfortunately, asking why something is the way it is does not lead us towards more self-awareness. On the contrary, it leads us away. Humans tend to overcompensate where there is a gap in our understanding. Studies reflect that people will even make things up to validate their outlandish opinions.
Instead, try asking yourself what. It will force you to dig deeper and ask yourself probing questions, like “what can I learn from this?” It’s in these open and aware moments we can be truly honest with ourselves.
External
We all misinterpret external feedback at some point in our lives. It’s a given simply because we are all different, and yet we tend to assume that we are more alike than not within life’s experiences. It is impossible to shed your personal perspective, and therefore biases. When interpreting information be it internal or external, you can only ever do it through your own personal lens. This allows room for much error in judgement.
The average person reacts to external feedback with defensiveness and contempt. The only time it’s truly acceptable to give someone your constructive criticism is on the job, and therein lies the problem. If people correctly sought out self-awareness, they would understand the benefit of feedback from others.
Verbal feedback, when incorporated properly, can serve as a guide for someone actively seeking self-awareness. The key is to learn to truly listen and digest verbal feedback with appreciation for the clarity it provides.
When someone tells you about yourself, listen.
Not all external feedback is so blatant though. The human brain processes information received via our 5 senses. We are always picking up cues utilizing these senses, as well as our intuitive senses. Research has shown that our brain’s ability to process feedback relies on not just a persons verbal responses, but also their non-verbal cues. Tuning into these cues as feedback is yet another facet of becoming self-aware.
So now that we know what self-awareness is and the benefits of it, it’s time to explore exactly how we can cultivate it.
How to Improve Your Self-Awareness
Personality and strength-finder tests are a great tool on your path to self-awareness. Some are better than others. The good ones will give you direct insight into your personality traits, behavioral tendencies, and psychological profiles. The internet has made it easy to access these assessments, many for free.
These tests are surprisingly accurate, and can give you direct insight about yourself. A few sights I’ve tried and recommend are:
Meditation is not exactly the answer people want or expect to hear under the category of self-awareness, but it is one of the most beneficial daily rituals you can adopt along your journey. A Harvard study connected both science and mindfulness, proving that mediation does positively affect your genetic thumbprint. A UCLA study showed that people who had meditated long-term had brains that were better preserved, or less aged than those who did not meditate habitually.
Meditation, by definition, is the act of quieting your mind for an extended period of time. It can be done by simply focusing on your breath for 15-20 minutes at a time, or in other forms such as walking or exercise. Physical activity causes that brain to emit some of the same regenerative chemicals that are produced during meditation.
Meditation comes in a variety of forms. This makes it easy to find a method that suits your personal style, ensuring you’ll stick with it long-term. Some include:
Guided meditation
Walking meditation
Tai Chi
Yoga
Transcendental Meditation
Qigong
Pay attention to triggers. What bothers you most about others? Recognizing irritations caused by someone else’s behaviors can provide insight about your own disposition. Most often what irritates you in another person is merely reflecting back to you the things that you dislike about yourself.
This is a vital part of the self-awareness process because we all have parts of ourselves that we have allowed to fade into the background, so as not to have to deal with them. These facets don’t go away though; instead they fester. You have to deal to heal, but how can you deal with something you can’t even see in yourself?
Ask for feedback. Never underestimate the power of good, old-fashioned feedback from others. We can never truly rid ourselves of our personal biases, therefore, we can never really see ourselves objectively. The people you interact with most are able to see you more objectively, making them the best people to ask to tell you about yourself. If you do a good job in the preparation phase, external feedback can be extremely valuable.
To prepare to receive external feedback properly, it is first necessary to be open. Feedback from others can only benefit you if you actually listen and hear what people are saying about you. It’s not always easy to listen to negativity as it pertains to you directly. To incorporate this information, you must also perceive any/all feedback as beneficial. Simply putting a positive spin on negative information can pivot how you interpret that information. Always look for the silver-lining.
Self-awareness is an essential part of maturing. While most people tend to think that they know themselves pretty well, the truth is that the majority of adults are growing less self-aware with age. Self-awareness takes active intention to foster. It is not something that once you achieve, it is yours forever more. Instead, true self-awareness is a work-in-progress. You can never get it done. As long as you live and breathe, you will always be in the pursuit of self-awareness.
2020 ushered in a new era, highlighting the incredible imbalance that is still consistent throughout societies around the world today. Depending upon the color of your skin, the sex you were born to, or even the social class you inherited from your parents, you might be subjected to any number of biases daily.
Men still ‘rule the world’ in the sense that they hold that vast majority of all of the positions of power and leadership around the world alike. Men dictate the current climate of our culture in this way. Ironically, it is ultimately a man who decides how a woman is viewed and treated. Yet, every single man spawns from the loins of a woman.
While words like ’empowerment’ and ‘boys’ typically are not used together, it is my goal to change that. Many of the issues we face today are due to a lack of focus on empowering boys. Disempowered boys grow up to become egotistical men, leaving us all in a never-ending loop of constant upset.
What does an empowered boy look like? How does this ensure he will grow into an evolved man, who is both balanced and wise? This article will take a deep-dive into the importance of raising empowered boys, as well as highlight some practical techniques you can use right away to empower your son.
Google “empowered boys” versus “empowered girls” and simply scroll through the results to witness the obvious divide. The effort that is given to empowering girls is clearly lop-sided. This implies the general assumption that boys do not need focused attention to build them up; that they are getting their empowerment elsewhere.
Society is taking initiative to ensure the future generation of girls are empowered, but who is looking out for the future generation of our boys?
Growing up, we are taught that we are fundamentally the same. Throughout school, classes are arranged by age, not gender. We all receive the same education, midly touching on basics of what it means to be male versus female.
The fact that all of our systems sit upon foundations that were built by men alters the overall context quite a bit. The political, educational, and medical institutions were all created by men, for men. Yet that is exactly what’s causing the imbalance that we all feel. When you stop to consider the history of these institutions, it becomes obvious that women have never even been a consideration. Women and “women’s rights” were incorporated after the fact. Even now, we still find ourselves seated upon a foundation that promotes female disempowerment.
This has landed us all in a vicious cycle where the ‘men in charge’ are still deliberately disempowering the women who are raising our boys to men. From birth, boys are programmed to see females as inferior. This has caused a chain reaction that will only end if we start empowering young boys from an early age. When a boy is taught to embrace more of the feminine traits that we all possess, and he learns to utilize more of his right-brain talents, we all benefit in the long run.
Know Your Why
When you decipher the drive behind your desires, it becomes that much easier to carve out a path towards them. Knowing why you want to raise your son empowered is half of the battle. It propels you towards your goal because it provides clarity about why you want it.
Most people would agree that women make up the bulk of those doing the child-rearing. Married women have traditionally been the primary caregivers too, even when they maintain work outside of the home. Therefore, it is mothers who are the ones to take accountability and responsibility to raise her son empowered.
Male-Centric Institutions
Politics
There is an abundance of statistics that exemplify the average type of man living in today’s society. There are statistics that highlight violence, sexual aggressions, and other blatant discriminatory behaviors all directed towards the female species. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women in the U.S. have been raped in their lifetime. That creates a very high probability that you know at least one woman who falls into this category, if not yourself.
When you consider that this data includes females from all walks of life, ages 12 and up, you realize just how systemic the underlying issue is. There are laws in most of the states that forgive the offender and punish the victim. Laws that were made by men, for men.
Even the less extreme examples of female disempowerment are bleak when examined. For example, taxing females for essential products while providing contraceptives free of charge to males is a blatant form of discrimination. The entire reason behind ‘pink-tax’ is because tampons and pads are considered “luxury” items. Yet in some states, medical care products, which include Rogaine (which fights male baldness), are exempt from sales taxes.
The gender pay gap is yet another example of discrimination. While females have consistently out-performed males in the education arena for the past nine decades, we still only receive $0.82 to every dollar a man makes. A man with a bachelor’s degree out-earns an equally credentialed woman by about $26,000 more annually. These numbers become even more bleak when you factor in the female’s race.
“At present, our country needs women’s idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.”
Shirley Chisholm
Now, stop and consider what our political systems would look like if empowerment was systemic. If emphasis was placed on teaching our young boys self-love and an appreciation for diversity, division would naturally dissipate.
Education
Women have not always had the luxury of attending educational institutions. In fact, the only reason females were ever given access to formal education was because of the largely held belief that it would enhance their abilities to be a good mother and wife.
From the very inception of the American education system, women have been intentionally left out. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that women were granted the right to an education.
The earliest schools were segregated by sex, and the earliest texts were too. In much earlier times, boys were taught to read and write, while girls were merely taught to read. This was to ensure that as grown women, these young girls would not have the ability to forge their own signature in lieu of their keepers, i.e. father or husband. Additionally, girls were only able to attend between the months of April to October.
The courses that were offered to females were geared towards making them a better domesticated citizen, such as home economics and industrial education. While the courses offered to boys were to prepare them for work in the public sphere, including science and math.
A surge of females began to seek out higher education in the 1930s, eventually exceeding men in enrollment. Within forty years, women went from uneducated to exceeding their male counterparts in higher education achievements. Since then, females have consistently held top-ranks of academic success.
Yet the deeply-rooted biases towards women run deep through the heart of society, making female advancement a non-existent facet in most regards. Women earn 6 out of 10 Bachelors degrees, yet females still earn an average of $16,000-20,000 less than their equally-qualified male counterparts.
Women have proven they’re passionate about education by not only exceeding the standard of female education but also by serving as the largest population to work in this area of social service. Just imagine what we could do if there were more empowered men in leadership roles, who allowed more of a female perspective in the education sector. What a wonderful world that would be.
Medical
Most people assume that in the twenty-first century that the latest scientific research and data would be inclusive, and we have made great strides in that area. According to 2019 data, for the first time in our history women comprised the majority of first-year medical students. However, this detracts from the fact that the system rests on a foundation that was primarily built by men for men.
Dating back to ancient times, women have always played a role in medical practices. It was customary for women to partake in most medical interventions, most especially pregnancy and childbirth. Midwives were considered the experts on the female body and birthing process. Midwifery was even considered a noble profession, notably for women who dominated the field.
It was when the male-centric scientific approach was adopted that this all shifted. As scientific bodies grew, so too did the “business of medicine.” The focus was more on hard data and facts and left absolutely no room for intuition and physiology. Men comprised all elective bodies that founded and supported all things related to the profession of medicine.
Midwives were completely denounced, as was anyone offering medical care without proper licensure. Women who were once lerry of receiving prenatal care from a man were suddenly only seeking out the expensive expertise of men working out of hospitals. During the economic boom in the early 1920s, women with any amount of wealth preferred doctors as opposed to “lower-class midwives.”
Since women were historically banned from obtaining higher education, this made it even harder for women to succeed. There were but a few institutions that made exceptions for but fewer females. When Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female admitted into a U.S. medical school, she would naturally go on to become the first female to receive her medical degree too. She was a pioneer for women who wished to pursue higher education. She changed the game entirely when she opened her own female medical school in 1868.
A female’s tendency is naturally to create institutions and constructs to provide vital care to the community she comes from. Throughout history, you can find numerous examples of women forging ahead and challenging status quo in order to modify ideals to benefit the masses.
Even today, much of the research that our medical foundations rely upon was conducted on a mostly male demographic. Women run on a completely different biological clock than men, yet our entire societal structure caters to the male species. Women operate on the same 24-hour clock that men do, called the circadian rhythm, but women are also shown to have a shorter intrinsic circadian period, making them biologically more susceptible to experience days that are shorter than 24 hours.
A 2016 study concluded that women fall asleep and wake earlier than men by an average of 2 hours. This study clearly demonstrates that women and men operate on a different circadian rhythm. In addition, women also operate on a second time-keeping rhythm called the infradian rhythm.
Simply look back at the past 10 years as evidence, women’s hormone and autoimmune conditions have gone up by 50-percent. Alisa Vitti, author of “In the Flo“, states that this is all due to the fact that much of the medical research still ignores female physiology.
Empowered men know the value a woman brings, and therefore they naturally tend to be more inclusive. The need for a system that values the other half of our population is vital to us all. It all begins with teaching young boys humility and respect for women, starting with the women closest to him.
Empowerment Begins at Home
Ultimately, it is men who will need to take action in order to improve the situation for us all. However, women are the ones raising the young boys who eventually grow into the men in power. It seems only natural that empowerment begins at home.
Empowered parenting promotes equal treatment towards both sons and daughters. An empowered mother teaches her son to value his body as his temple in the same way she would her daughter. Empowered parenting demonstrates the power of leading by example.
Though we have the courage to raise our daughters more like our sons, we’ve rarely had the courage to raise our sons like our daughters.
Gloria Steinem
Define Standards: Feminine vs. Masculine
Our current culture promotes behaviors that are associated with the left side of the brain, i.e. masculine. The left brain is connected to logic, sequencing, linear thinking, mathematics, facts, and criticism. Just take a look at our current paradigm to see evidence of favoritism towards the masculine traits. Science, math, and technology are valued overall.
On the reverse, right-brain characteristics are known to be associated with emotions and intuition. A major study showed that women are significantly more right-brained than men. These attributes include creativity, art, music, visualization, ‘big-picture’, and free-thinking.
Isn’t it obvious that is what is lacking in society? People have become so abhorrently focused on self and ego that they have completely surrendered the emotional, soulular self resulting in a power-driven, individualistic society. Hence the phrase, “each man for himself.”
Women are the feminine Yin to the masculine Yang – the perfect compliment. Conceptually, Yin is rest, slowness, the quiet and heavy; while Yang is moving, active, buoyant, and forceful. A society that is balanced with both would have the capacity to thrive beyond measure.
Empowered women know the importance of raising their children to respect both the feminine and masculine attributes. Our children are the future of society, the ones who will rewrite the standard of living moving forward. Whether they grow up empowered or disempowered is ultimately what sets the tone for us all.
Learning to Embrace Emotions
Emotions tend to carry a bad wrap. We’ve been taught that emotions are a feminine trait, and expressing them means that you are soft or weak, as if that were a bad thing. Females are dismissed as emotional, and unstable as a direct result. While men who cry in public are shamed, or at the very least, prejudged.
We have been greatly misinformed, and it’s been to our own detriment. Emotions are powerful, measurable chemical responses to life. We all have them, and increasing emotional intelligence is something that we could all benefit from.
Dr. Joe Dispenza compares the ideal process of emotional expression to that of a child. “Watch a child when they experience disappointment, fear, frustration, or anger. They emote completely, and then they’re finished.”
Self-awareness is the key to self-regulation. And self-regulation is a byproduct of emotional empowerment. In understanding what emotions are and the purpose they serve, people naturally become empowered.
Teaching your son the power of his emotions is essential to his empowerment. He has to know that it’s natural to have emotional responses to life and that it’s also natural to express them. Emotional expression has even been scientifically shown to improve health.
Create Perspective
Women tend to underestimate the power of their influence over their sons. They respectively give their power away by thinking they have none. It’s hard to be a parent at times, with or without support, and often times mothers feel they can’t relate to their sons as they navigate through the changing tides of life.
Perspective is everything. Since you can never truly understand what it is to be a man, the best you can do is educate yourself about the phases your son inevitably passes through. This will equip you as situations or questions arise. There are numerous ways to enlightening yourself to what a boy goes through as he grows into a man.
As a single mother to a son, I utilized my son’s male Pediatrician to provide me with information regarding male puberty. I also enlisted him into the Big Brother, Big Sisters program, to engage with a male mentor on a regular basis to help him increase his awareness of male perspectives. I reached out to his school for male-centric support. I kept him actively enrolled in sports and I capitalized on the male coaches for additional support.
Empowered parenting also involves teaching perspective about the opposite sex too. It’s imperative to educate your sons about the different types of phases girls pass through, and to be sensitive to the plight of a female.
In the end, empowering the future generation of our male leaders begins with the women raising them. Women make up the bulk of those doing the child-reading, whether single or with a partner; doesn’t it make the most sense for them to take the lead on this issue?
The best way to lead is by example. Demonstrate to your children what an empowered woman truly looks like, and through the clarity of your own example, they will naturally follow. Mothers, never underestimate your power to make a difference.
