The Female Founder Issue and The Sisterhood
2020 was wrecking for so many reasons but also we celebrated a lot of wins as feminists. A lot of females have claimed the stage and the higher positions to make a huge impact on society. This means we are one step closer to achieve the only goal! To be represented and counted as equal. A lot of us were watching the news with wet eyes and a happy smile. However, it should also be noted that we are celebrating a normal thing. A woman on the lead, a woman claiming a Nobel prize, or a woman leading a county… I saw a very powerful campaign like so many of you about the female founder issue. A campaign was so powerful that almost every one of us has reacted and responded by supporting it.
Being a “female”
Throughout 2020 I asked myself multiple times after celebrating the wins of my society “Why do we even celebrate that? This is what it should be.”. Because society itself has a hard time normalizing females taking leads on countries, states, or companies, we always put a “female” in front of anything we do to emphasize the obstacles we have to cross. While half of the society put a “female” in front of anything we do to emphasize that they are supporting women.
A lot of times, I expressed myself in a variety of speeches that being a female is in industry or in anything we do is not an abnormal thing and sometimes I get overwhelmed by a portion of society which is 80% male clapping me to achieving anything because I’m a female. As feminists, we express ourselves well but in general, I see that the message got lost in translation. Yes, I achieved that, and yes I’m a female so this makes me one of the people that has had to grow a thick skin but clap me for my success, not for anything else. I’m only happy to be a “female” because I get to show my sisters that it’s OK to hit the road.
Estee Lauder, a Female Founder
Let me introduce you to a person who inspired me a lot which almost everyone knows, Estee Lauder. She is a female founder, raised in a hardworking family. In her family everyone made money somehow. While reading/listening to her biography I genuinely think that she is a woman of passion in anything she does. She had the secret sauce, she had the creativity and she had the community she needed while growing her business. I learned a lot of things from her like the importance of building a community, listening to people you give your product, influencer marketing, having technology, and branding. However, I also saw that Estee and a lot of successful women has generally something in common. A family that supports her and a female she watches who secretly normalize a lot of things society doesn’t see as “normal”. She had two sisters who grew their businesses while Estee was in highschool. She grew up with the idea of being like them, making money from anything she does. So she knew that she had to have a business to make money and she didn’t hesitate when she was ready!
But let’s think of this in another way. A case where the only person who is working hard to make money was her father and she grew with the idea of finding a “good husband” like society has normalized and every other girl in her surrounding would prefer. Do you think she would have been the same person? Yes, she could have been, but do you think she had hesitated herself about starting? Well, that is a strong question any of us could easily answer. Not on this question but I can take a bet on this: The majority of female’s idol is a female. Let’s not ruin that. Be a female on what you do but do not accept the pitty check.
TL: DR
I support the idea of putting “female” on anything I achieve but I’m not supporting the claps for it. I support the idea of putting “female” in front of the titles because I see a repetition in successes. It’s not normal to achieve everything the opposite gender achieves, but it’s not so common these days because of the INEQUALITY. Inequality of economy, of the places we grow, of the places we learn, of the society who raised us. So to be an example to another sister, I support being a female in something. But please, don’t pay me for being a female, pay me for my ideas and skills.
What is Triwi and How Can You Help?
Here at Triwi, we work on a smart wear to help women during their breast self-examination. Because breast cancer is a type of cancer that can be cured with an early diagnosis yet the fatality rate is still extremely high at 40%. We asked why and saw that problem is not that early diagnosis is so hard. It’s actually very simple but also very stressful. We want to raise awareness among women not only about the early diagnosis but also about listening to the signal our bodies give to us. We live in a society where a lot of women grow up afraid to touch themselves. So it’s time to reduce the anxiety about our bodies.
What Can You Do?
Currently, we’re in the commercialization stage and trust me, we’re almost there… So the best this you can do is actually to sign up to our list to hear it when we launch and go, get undressed in front of a mirror and start your examination!
