The Unexpected/Hidden Prejudice

I am experiencing frustration!Lately, as I have been speaking to female friends and associates, I have been noticing a trend. It could be because it is ripe in the world, or because I am waking up to the awareness, or some of both.What I am finding is that many women and men on a deep level believe that women have less value than men. That is crazy!Of course, most of us would not say that we thought that or believed in it, but when I am observing it through the lens of inquiry I have been discovering the basic belief that women are less valuable.Under examination this belief cannot be true, it is a false premise that affects us all profoundly. We have done much of the outer work around women’s liberation but to go further we must all do the inner work of women’s liberation.At a core, many believe that the value of women is in their beauty and attractiveness. Many women believe that they lose value as they age.The truth is that we are desperately missing the contribution of the feminine in our culture, and the masculine is over emphasized. It is not that one is better than the other but that they are designed (evolved) to balance each other. As Jean Houston puts it “we are in need of a mutual co-arising of masculine and feminine”.The masculine in all of us is about doing, fixing, accomplishing, directing, overcoming, and, in a way creating “what I want”.The feminine in all of us wants balance, harmony, beauty, right action, supporting the well-being of the collective, what I call tapping into “what is wanted”.Both these voices need to be heard and integrated.The maturing woman has grown her capacity to recognize “what is wanted,” this is so valuable it is hard to believe that we cannot see it or value it in our culture. We all must make a change so that we can see, appreciate and value this capacity for what it is truly worth.I invite you to take a deep dive into yourself, explore your relationship with the feminine and see how it affects and informs how you hold women in your life. If you are a woman, look to see how it affects the way you see yourself. If you are a man, look to see how it affects the way you see and interact with the women in your life and your relationship with the feminine within you.This blog is just scratching the surface of the topic. Please let me know if you want to hear more about it. I believe it to be one of the critical topics of our time.