IWD Theme Embracing Equity

 International Woman's Day is 1 week away from today (March 8) and as I sat pondering what exactly the theme means Embracing Equity I feel the meaning is very personal to each and every woman. It is not something that you put a meaning to and then everyone confirms to it. Every woman would have her own perception and identity of EMBRACING EQUITY.

Equity is not equal as how it is defined it is fairness and justice and in so many ways we all see through difference lenses. How you define equity is based on your upbringing the various challenge's you go through in life and what has shaped you into becoming the woman that you are today.

I will speak entirely in the context of woman as I feel we are so over shadowed by other genders in this space that the empowerment of woman is also lost in this international woman's day.

For me embracing equity is about accepting that woman are different they all are very different in character in beliefs in thinking etcetc and they are all different from me, they will all have their short falls, may not be of a certain class and standard, maybe better than me, richer than me more beautiful than me but I learn to allow them to thrive and be in their own space and be who they are. 

It also means I am fair frank honest and be who I am to every other woman around me at all times. People will not like me like my ways like the things I do but I remain who I am because I believe in me. You not liking me is fair too because that makes who you are and I embrace that, that not all the time I will be seen to be liked. 

In PNG context we all are very diverse and different given the cultural upbringing we come from. That impacts and shapes us into who we are as a person. The way we act the way we structure our thoughts the way we bring up our households, the way we live has it's roots linking back to our customs and traditions. So that means accepting someone from another province makes us embrace them as they are. We all come to the table as sisters as woman of honor and dignity taking our stand in this male dominated society and having a voice to speak, voice that can be heard and a voice to be recognize.

I have been in the cooperate world for 40 plus years now and it has not be an easy journey. In all my positions most times I am the only female amongst my male counterpart in those leadership roles. It is daunting nerve racking dealing with males from different cultures and nationalities but I have also believed in myself, in what I stood for and holding my ground for what I think is fair and just. It also means I walk the talk, that what I say is what I do and I live by my principals.

I also see the gap between younger woman and older woman and I see the jealousy the look down upon, the shun behavior the I would rather listen to someone else but not you, the seeking favor to be  recognize, the saying Yes to everything so I am given preferential treatment  and all the emotional baggage. The moody ness that so defines our days, one morning am yahooing and hollering hello and good morning to everyone and the next day am down in the dumps and cranky and shitty to everyone, all the mood swings the highs and the lows and the I am good when I want something from you and I am bad when you are not in my good books today. When someone is busy and caught up with work or something else is on their mind and here we are spending a good hour trying to work out if they are angry with us or not.

It so defines who we are EMBRACING EUITY is embracing who we are and treating each other with respect and accepting that at times other woman are not like me, will not treat me right, but that is fine. It does not define how I treat them I continue to treat them with love with respect and with dignity. I take time to apologize to all my woman folks and sisters if I had not treated you right or did not say hello to you because I was too caught up with something else please forgive me. Go out there celebrate the day and take time personally to understand what exactly does EMBRACING EQUITY means to you. Godbless and keep being the woman God has called you to be in this nation. We still have a long way to go fighting for equality and for our rights as woman but what we can do right away is let's embrace each other believe in each other support each other and then we can be a FORCE FOR GOOD in shaping this beautiful nation of ours PAPUA NEW GUINEA.

Here are some stories of great woman role models in our society that was published a couple of years back but some great read up for us. https://png.embassy.gov.au/ Happy International Woman's Day!