Since I’ve become a Mother, and as the years pass, the weight of all it is to be a woman pushes my feet more firmly into the ground. I feel the roots there now, growing from my feet simultaneously backwards and forwards in time.
Did you know that when your Grandmother carried your Mother in her womb, you were a tiny egg in your Mother’s ovaries? Three generations, connected. Sharing space. Maiden, Mother, Crone. The Triple Goddess.
This fact brings me comfort because I didn’t meet my Grandmother, she passed when my Mum was only 9.
But I existed in her womb once.
As I think about this, I imagine what life was like for her, and for the 3 generations of women before that she and I are both connected to.
Nesting dolls inside nesting dolls, spanning centuries.
Oh, how far we have come, but how far there is still to go.
The IWD website says “Are you in? Will you embrace equity? Show the world your huge embrace. Strike the IWD #EmbraceEquity pose to show solidarity.”
Yes, I am in. I’ve been in it since the beginning.
We’re connected to those that we owe this current iteration of ‘liberation’ to. We’re living it.
We lived it inside our Grandmother’s womb as she lived it inside her own Grandmother’s womb. We are nesting dolls.
We don’t need to strike a pose and use a hashtag to hold deeply nuanced feelings about equity, equality and all the ways we might both benefit and not benefit from the intersections and gaps. I don’t feel like celebrating when we’re living it, still.
Here’s what I’m doing every day to carry on the legacy of the women that came before me.
- Raising my boy to be an ally
- Modelling to those we come in contact with what our version of equality looks like as a family – eg. more equal household and family duties.
- Offering this ‘free to you’ blog with high quality articles and access to advice – to give what I wished I’d had, with reverence for every person who has paid me with their time, energy, or money along my business journey so far. There’s a mission statement brewing in my mind.
- Actively looking for ways I can collaborate and co-create with the women around me, in life and in business, so we rise together.
- Became a founding member of Pregnant then Screwed for £3.50 a month
What I want to assure you is that what you are already doing is enough. Whether you’re raising the next generation, modelling behaviour, having important discussions, or simply existing as yourself, it is enough.
We are nesting dolls.
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