By Emb Hashmi
We have lived in a fast paced world where no one had time to stop and support anyone else unless it benefited their personal growth and the multi-tasking women had to do to get through the day juggling family and work took a toll on their mental wellbeing but also sometimes increased their insecurities of other women around them.
However, Coivd-19 has given us the time to stop and think and reflect on the world around us and more importantly pushed us to appreciate everything we have. It also increased the level of kindness echoed by complete strangers.
Where women started cottage industries to raise money for the local heroes at their hospital’s and using the power of social media to reach out to other women who just needed to talk.
Personally, I find nothing more satisfying then to help another woman, that’s why I founded Rising Girl a charity that helps empower young women through education, so they have the skills knowledge and confidence to follow their dreams.
I visit Pakistan frequently and always make time to visit female educational institute’s and spend time sharing my knowledge and experience with younger female audience’s which always has a positive impact on their life. Rising Girl will also soon launch a Gender Equality programme aimed at making female university students financially independent when they graduate.
Many a time I have women who DM me who need help and advice women who need to be connected to organisation’s and people so they can find a safe space to rebuild their live. Sometimes it’s just about buying a cup of coffee for a woman who is down on her luck and giving her a few words of encouragement.
When I made the film Rising Girl, I found that just spending a small amount of time mentoring young woman changed the prospects of their life for the better, this is something I continuously do whenever the opportunity arises.
So how can we support other women and in turn help ourselves to feel good about it and more importantly benefit from it:
Amplify other Women – We can start by amplifying other women – we live in a world where social media tracks our every mood our every success and failure so why not tweet, post share or repost the success of a female follower or friend… not only allowing us to gain to gain confidence in ourselves but making another woman feel that little bit more appreciated.
Support Women – Covid-19 has bought us closer even when we were far apart through the power of social media, video conferencing and community giving. So many women either volunteer to do charitable work or work to progress charities in some way, or have started a new enterprise or entered into the cottage industry – so why not buy that box of homemade brownies from your next door neighbour’s sister or donate to a local women led charity or use your skills to benefit your community. Sisterhood will never die it just sometimes needs to be revived.
Women network – open that network to help your fellow female comrade, we all know someone who knows someone so why not connect the dots and push open that door to help a sister progress.
The future is all about Womankind so let’s pull together and support each other.
