Throughout history, the traditional role of a woman in many cultures was to carry out domestic responsibilities like caring for children and managing a household. Over time, with changing perceptions, new laws, and a growing feminist political movement, women have seized opportunities to expand their roles in society. This event centers on supporting women in the workplace.
In celebration of Women’s History Month and in the next event of Meetup’s Dismantling Social Injustice series, Cherie Marquez, Founder of Take One Daily Media, and Nora Rahimian, Co-founder of #Culturefix discussed how women are perceived in the media today, explained what it means to decolonize professional space, and shared what progress looks like going forward. The event touched on what actions we can take to make women more visible and influential both in the workplace and in society at large.
Championing Women in the Workplace, Main Takeaways:
- Nora: The skills that women are conditioned to have are skills that are valuable but not valued. It’s not enough to put women in these systems if the system is still upholding these values.
- Cherie: I think the media can be extremely damaging but it can also move action forward. We’ve coined “influencer” in a certain way because of social media. But in a way, we’re all influencers. We can change the narrative and we have the tools today that women in the past didn’t have.
- Nora: Really what we need is to create workspaces that are more feminist. When I say feminist, I mean inclusive of all people. Everyone has equal access, equal opportunity to move freely.
Top Q&A Questions/Resources:
- How do you think women leaders will be able to further impact and prioritize that were routinely dismissed (DEI, pay equity, mental illness, etc.) prior to COVID-19.
- Nora: It’s not enough to say that these are “women’s issues.” The things that impact women, impact everyone. They impact everyone so it’s the responsibility of everyone.
If you have power and privilege in this area, this is where you speak up and advocate, and you do the legislation work, or you talk to your boss. It’s not enough to put it on women.
- Nora: It’s not enough to say that these are “women’s issues.” The things that impact women, impact everyone. They impact everyone so it’s the responsibility of everyone.
- What do you think men’s roles should be?
- Cherie: This is not a conversation about women hating men. That’s not the society we should be living in. We do need men, but we also need men to speak up. To break that patriarchy and the system that we have, we need men to be part of the change.
- Resources:
- Social Media:
- Cherie is also an active member of the Women’s Media Center
Last modified on June 23, 2021
