Women for women

I don’t recall ever having been as depressed by events in the world as I have been the past few weeks. I have felt truly down about the situation women in Afghanistan are facing, and have felt a real sense of despair at the thought of them losing the rights that they have fought for and earned over many years. What is an unthinkable nightmare for so many of us is happening to these women.

At times like these, one of my first reactions is to have a bit of a crisis about my focus on driving gender equality in leadership. It suddenly feels like a bit of a luxury ‘top of the pyramid’ discussion and not our biggest priority when women are not safe to even go to work or express themselves freely.

But then I come to my senses and I remember that all of this is of course linked. Because if our world was run 50% by women, it would be run better than this. Things like this would not be allowed to happen in the first place, and if they did happen somewhere there would be a significantly more intentional response and intervention from other countries than we have seen. Women in leadership means women’s issues are heard and prioritized. But for this we need true representation of women, not just a lone or minority voice.

I’m not saying I want the world to be run by women, but I am saying that the world run by men that we have doesn’t work. How about instead of expecting male leaders to represent women and being disappointed when they don’t, we simply just appoint more women into leadership?

And not just a few more women, I want 50% women.

The events of the past few weeks and months (Afghanistan, the poorly thought-through Covid strategy) have depressed me, but they have above all galvanized me. I am more convinced than ever that the answer is this: 50% population, 50% representation.

I am also galvanized and inspired by the response by women everywhere for the women of Afghanistan. This is making a difference. Imagine what we could do if we were represented as we should be.