"A man is as good as he has to be, and a woman is as bad as she dares"
Read this recently in a friend's blog... somehow seemed very very apt for what has been on my mind for some time and maybe just havent been able to put it down. Its been a phase of bouts of extreme concentration and complete distraction!! :-)
Anyways... to get back to the topic at hand... the women's day this sunday left me feeling very nice... some random sms', some wishes... some FB updates...
sometimes i wonder if we ever realize the impact our small actions can have on someone else... on the impression we carve out for ourselves in their minds and vice versa.
a male colleague... someone i dont really think i've spent time with - on work or outside...except for some random short interactions... sends an sms with a simple msg 'women like u make your gender superior'... dont even know (or care) to how many others went the same sms... but it made me smile at the unexpectedness of it. the fact that this guy is not someone i wud categorize as a wannabe of any sort - i guess made it that much more impactful. but it doesnt take much - does it... to make someone feel special... for even that brief milli-second!!
and even someone as 'realist' as me - can feel nice abt this gesture!
of course this was followed by some other sweet ones - all from women - but none touched me the same way. I didnt even react or respond to the others - except the first one - where i ended up thanking the guy for his gesture!! :-)
Made me have tons of questions about my reactions... my feelings and i guess my own assessment of the reason why...
Do we supposedly 'liberated' women still seek recognition for that liberation from the men in our lives?
Why is it that the same recognition coming from another woman would not count for even half the worth of it had it come from a man?
While seeking to be recognized and creating our own identities etc - do we not end up doing the same to the men in our lives - by not really recognising them and their support?
Masking feminine charms at workplace almost became a necessity at one point of time - i think about a decade back - just to be taken seriously. not to be declared a 'delicate' part of the team... and i guess women with ego (like me) must have gone thru lots more struggle than we ever did to establish themselves as serious 'corporate types'! Maybe thats why if you meet women managers from a decade back - they do seem to have a certain steely strength to them. But did they reach their by masking the feminity well? Or were the men around them more open to change? Maybe the men were just caught unawares by the invasion of their domain... whatever it may have been... i think women's day for me symbolizes the reality of this in my world today more than anything else! The fact that our generation is very equipped to be a complete part of the erstwhile guardedly male-domains... And tho it may sound weird to some - i really pray that we dont have a reason to celebrate women's day in the near future!! Hopefully our society will become gender-agnostic in celebrating life...
As for me - I continue to strive for the balance between being a 'corporate citizen' and a 'woman' - and hopefully having them co-exist peacefully!!! I remember reading an ad somewhere long time back which resonated with me very much - dont remember even the product category for which it was... but will try to recapture the essence of it - in my own words of course
I am a proud corporate citizen
Travelling far and wide
Educated and ambitious
Matching the men - stride for stride
Can decide with large stakes
The future of business world
Independent and coherent
I am the boss - authoritative and bold!
And yet beneath it all
Am very much a woman
Full of feminity and grace
Respect me, cherish me - thats your ace!!!
:-)
Read this recently in a friend's blog... somehow seemed very very apt for what has been on my mind for some time and maybe just havent been able to put it down. Its been a phase of bouts of extreme concentration and complete distraction!! :-)
Anyways... to get back to the topic at hand... the women's day this sunday left me feeling very nice... some random sms', some wishes... some FB updates...
sometimes i wonder if we ever realize the impact our small actions can have on someone else... on the impression we carve out for ourselves in their minds and vice versa.
a male colleague... someone i dont really think i've spent time with - on work or outside...except for some random short interactions... sends an sms with a simple msg 'women like u make your gender superior'... dont even know (or care) to how many others went the same sms... but it made me smile at the unexpectedness of it. the fact that this guy is not someone i wud categorize as a wannabe of any sort - i guess made it that much more impactful. but it doesnt take much - does it... to make someone feel special... for even that brief milli-second!!
and even someone as 'realist' as me - can feel nice abt this gesture!
of course this was followed by some other sweet ones - all from women - but none touched me the same way. I didnt even react or respond to the others - except the first one - where i ended up thanking the guy for his gesture!! :-)
Made me have tons of questions about my reactions... my feelings and i guess my own assessment of the reason why...
Do we supposedly 'liberated' women still seek recognition for that liberation from the men in our lives?
Why is it that the same recognition coming from another woman would not count for even half the worth of it had it come from a man?
While seeking to be recognized and creating our own identities etc - do we not end up doing the same to the men in our lives - by not really recognising them and their support?
Masking feminine charms at workplace almost became a necessity at one point of time - i think about a decade back - just to be taken seriously. not to be declared a 'delicate' part of the team... and i guess women with ego (like me) must have gone thru lots more struggle than we ever did to establish themselves as serious 'corporate types'! Maybe thats why if you meet women managers from a decade back - they do seem to have a certain steely strength to them. But did they reach their by masking the feminity well? Or were the men around them more open to change? Maybe the men were just caught unawares by the invasion of their domain... whatever it may have been... i think women's day for me symbolizes the reality of this in my world today more than anything else! The fact that our generation is very equipped to be a complete part of the erstwhile guardedly male-domains... And tho it may sound weird to some - i really pray that we dont have a reason to celebrate women's day in the near future!! Hopefully our society will become gender-agnostic in celebrating life...
As for me - I continue to strive for the balance between being a 'corporate citizen' and a 'woman' - and hopefully having them co-exist peacefully!!! I remember reading an ad somewhere long time back which resonated with me very much - dont remember even the product category for which it was... but will try to recapture the essence of it - in my own words of course
I am a proud corporate citizen
Travelling far and wide
Educated and ambitious
Matching the men - stride for stride
Can decide with large stakes
The future of business world
Independent and coherent
I am the boss - authoritative and bold!
And yet beneath it all
Am very much a woman
Full of feminity and grace
Respect me, cherish me - thats your ace!!!
:-)
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