You Must Work Doubly Hard
Women must work doubly hard to be taken seriously. Advocating for change, designing better policies, funding women-backed ventures, closing the gender pay gap, lobbying for longer paid maternity leaves — all of it is true, and crucial. I have been doing all of this over the last decade.
And yet, if I were to advise my daughter right now, I would say —
“Go get your PhD, or whatever the necessary credentials are on your path.”
Because all of the things we are doing are going to take time to bring about real change. The kind of change that will put you on par with your counterparts of other genders. Even revolutions take time to create fully functional institutions. The work of building fair, equitable institutions and fair systems takes time. Rebuilding begins where revolutions end.
While we work on all of that, stop tantrumming about “not being taken seriously”. Get your credentials. Work doubly hard. Jump the existing hoops, only those which do not compromise your dharma, your true values. Not because they need you to jump through that hoop, but because you are capable of jumping through and acing any hoop they could possibly set up for you. Show them that, show yourself that, and alongside, keep doing everything and keep supporting everyone who is bringing about the necessary change in society’s consciousness.
While change matters, time is of essence. Time is the stuff that your life is made up of. Your life is ticking away every moment. Make sure each of those moments gets you closer to where you want to be - with equal pay, unequal pay, or no pay at all.
