Why is the Future Female?

To be honest, I didn’t realize “the future is female” is actually linked back to the lesbian movement in the ’70s. Supposedly, anyone older than me associates this statement with the LGBT community. I had NO fucking clue! I thought it was a little like something I’ve been studying lately. My career, to this day, is male-dominated. Working in the engineering community, I see and experience the setbacks women have in this industry. With the tough skin I’ve grown over recent years, I’m getting curious about how I can break through the managerial testosterone barrier. I thought “the future is female” was a movement related to gender equality, mostly in the business and political worlds. So, after doing my research, I now realize why some people have this hesitant attitude towards what “the future is female” is all about.

In my case, it seemed like this is the perfect time to discuss my perception of what I think “the future is female” means. An important take away I want my readers to understand is that I’m not glorifying female domination. Nor am I inferring that women do not need men to procreate. That’s a complete exaggeration to the main message behind “the future is female”. There has been centuries of women oppression. Since the beginning of time, women: did not have the right to vote, were not allowed to open bank accounts, discriminated against for being the gender that must render a child and thus not qualified for a job, are not given equal pay because a women’s work is not considered as valuable as a mans, and whatever other social constructs that has labeled women not as powerful as men.

These facts have beaten down our psychological sanity within our culture. Over centuries of evolution, since we haven’t been successful convincing men that we can indeed be just as educated, just as persuasive, just as confident – even though women are still denied education and not given an equal opportunity to learn more than men – we were essentially forced to take another route to show our significance: by attracting the attention of men using our appearance and sensuality.

We then compete against each other for who has the best boobs, the best butt, the most beautiful face that every man will want. We compete against every woman for that matter, but in the form of envy and jealously. This competition is over something that women everywhere have grown acceptance to willingly go under the knife, endure pain, and risk their bodies to make their features more admirable for this very reason. It is the one thing that men don’t have: boobs and ass.

We’ve glorified the beauty industry so much that it is very apparant the age that girls become sexually active and are wearing makeup is reaching younger and younger. Why? Society has placed the expectation that women are the eye candy of society. Oh no, not successful, confident, and women money-making millionaires. Nope. Its the models, Instagram famous beauties, and trophy wives. Like, “trophy wives” are actually a definition of women in society. You never hear about trophy “husbands”. Only rich husbands. Girls wanna marry rich. Boys wanna marry trophy. Just look at the confused, twisted, fucked up stereotypes society holds women to.

THIS is the very reason that I connect to “the future is female” – because I believe that these are the reasons we need more attention to and the perception of females in executive roles. Society needs to grow the fuck beyond that just because you have huge tits and ass that you’re an amazing woman. I don’t give a shit. It’s so much deeper than that. Just how I’ve continuously been in the same situation over and over and over. “Wow, you don’t look like an engineer” – that’s because no one ever thinks that a beautiful woman can be smart too. That to be smart you have to be introverted, nerd, lame, not attractive. That’s completely bullshit and that’s what I want this generation to see. Being hot but your dumb, is so NOT hot.

We are linked… not ranked – Madame Gandhi

These new types of girls are thirsty for intellectual conversations, but can probably still beat you at your ab circuit in the gym. They can do a blow out on their hair, pull off red lipstick, and still ace a calculus exam. They can dress business professional, look fresh AF, and still walk into a male dominated meeting and run it and they listen. The days are over of just being appealing because of how hot we look in some cut off daisy dukes. The days are beginning where a girl pursuing a STEM degree is recognized as the girl with the most guts, the hardest work ethic, the sharpest one in the room. The days are beginning where women are starting to surpass men in salaries at their jobs. The days are beginning where women are starting to challenge the status quo that has been holding them down since the fucking beginning of time.

Now, this movement is not just about females. This movement is still about the equality of men and women. This movement is going to challenge the very men that thought they didn’t have any competition. This movement is positive, optimistic, and exciting. This is a pivotal moment for the idea of human collaboration to actually work. This world currently is run by men, and I don’t think they understand the actual potential that is actually available to make this world a fucking better place:

• In America, only 19% of congress are women. That means it is 81% male
• Women currently hold only 4.8% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies
• Less than 30% of the world’s researchers are women
• 62 million girls are denied an education all over the world
• Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77% of their male counterparts’ earnings
• Women spend at least twice as much time as men on domestic work, and when all work – paid and unpaid – is considered, women work longer hours than men. (The World’s Women 2015)
• By 2020, there will be 1.4 million open technology jobs in the U.S. and, at the current rate of students graduating with degrees in computer science, men will outnumber women 4:1
• American women serving in military forces are more likely to be raped by a comrade than killed by an enemy

References found here

“The future is female” means we look at the female archetypes as a way of leadership – Madame Gandhi

So far, we’ve looked too much to the male archetype for influence. Male archetypes have developed colonialism and patriarchy – a very competitive, testosterone driven, hierarchal-triangle driven leadership style – where only one person can win and the rest lose (Madame Gandhi).

The US has never been run by females. Maybe that’s why we have a strong movement of female leadership because we want change and have a compelling belief in trying to see whether female influence is the missing piece. A contagious reason I believe this movement has grown is because of girls and women willingness to collaborate more. For those of us that have been able to tear down the wall of comparison, envy, and jealously, we are starting to see how well collaboration works.

We are linked and not ranked. We need to look to how individual contributions amplify the lives of others and create a prosperous nation when everyone is on the same team. Instead of trying to figure out how to organize and dominate each other to only leave others in oppression, we look to collaboration. Just because you chose to help someone does not prohibit you from progressing faster than them. Nor does it give them a better advantage to beat you. Choosing to collaborate to solve issues or complete a project – all sides win.

Instead of being group forced, angry, fighting, and not asking questions – women listen more than we speak and we are more emotionally intelligent than we are physically strong (Madame Gandhi). The physical attributes are always a plus, but the big picture here is the influence of both gender archetypes needs to be balanced. We need both energies, but we’ve gone too far into the male side of the spectrum. We need to to start to learn from the female energy.

What can we learn from the female energy to provide alternative methods of leadership? Research shows that women have more collaborative, intuitive, nurturing, and empathetic style, while men prefer more top-down, fact-based, linear, and task-oriented approach (Mary-Frances Winters). It should be obvious that we need both. But each side needs to begin learning from the other. Men need to become more comfortable with collaboration. Women need to become more confident when decision-making. Feminism must be the fight for gender equality – a movement inclusive of all genders. It is our challenge to speak out against our old-fashioned culture.

Women: we are gentle, we are loving, we care. But don’t oppress us, don’t shove us aside. Push us far enough and we will get mad. We will push back. This is the future I’m talking about. This is future I believe in and the future I am encouraging. “The future is female” is our moment, this is our time to show our true potential.

#becausegirls