I don’t think women should be powerful
LinkedIn has become my favourite go to place to keep on top of what’s going on in the world of the grown-ups. It’s like the Lonely Planet for the boring and necessary destinations of work life.
Of course, I still obsessively check Facebook at every opportunity for laughs, keeping abreast of what my friends are up to, making sure my friends are OK, seeking validation by checking I’m getting my daily “like” quota, interesting articles, and breaking news.
LinkedIn is different. For a start, my profile is public, so I behave differently in this space, it’s a networking space and my profile is often the first impression of me received by a potential future professional collaborator. It’s also a rich source of industry news and opinion, and a brilliant place to seek advice on personal development.
But something that is really starting to get my goat is the growing prevalence of the word “Powerful”, followed by “Women”.
I wasn’t sure exactly what it was that bothered me about it, so I decided to look into why “Powerful” is considered an adjective of such eminence (see, I have already replaced it with a much better word – case closed!).
I am a successful woman. I have a long career history resulting in a breadth of knowledge and experience, I have influenced and inspired, I have failed, I have thrived, I have achieved great things, I have made bad choices, and most recently, I have traded safe choices for happy choices. I wouldn’t say I have ever felt powerful, and even if I was, I wouldn’t like to be described as such.
Synonyms: all-powerful, authoritative, compelling, dominant, forceful, potent, robust, vigorous
Powerful, for me, conjures connotations of tyrannical figures like Idi Amin, Ilse Koch, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, even Margaret Thatcher. Dictators, despots, autocratic individuals who brandish their importance and control over others to serve their own agenda. It suggests someone who receives special treatment because of their position.
Of course, these are exaggerated examples of abuse of power. However, the other end of the scale is no more appealing:
Antonyms: helpless, impotent, insignificant, little, powerless, unimportant, weak
Not what you’d expect to see at the top of the pile of CVs, is it?
Forbes continue to brandish “Power” as an accolade of great importance with their Top 100 list of the World’s most Powerful Women, just as Fortune held their Powerful Women Summit this week in Washington DC. Fortune describes the event as their “premiere gathering of the world’s most prominent women leaders.” So that would be a Prominent Women Summit then?
What is powerful?
Language. It is both powerful and empowering. Words allow us to be articulate, to teach, to ask for what we need, to issue instructions, to warn, reassure, communicate; to have a voice. Women have fought long and hard for our voice.
We are still fighting for an equitable professional landscape, we are fighting to be heard, and we are forced to fight off those who wish to silence us. Then, when we think we have finally succeeded in our chosen field, we discover our remuneration is packaged slightly differently, the monetary versus title/personal accomplishment ratio is not the same as our male colleagues. There’s another fight.
We are constantly fighting to prove ourselves to others. However, we also need be cognisant of the fact that lens we view ourselves through impacts the behaviours we adopt. The logical consequence of being powerful, is that others are rendered powerless. Think about those other antonyms you just read, they’re all the things women are fighting against.
Women have accomplished a great deal, but there remains an array of people who are disadvantaged and discriminated against, for reasons beyond their control. Colour, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, opportunity, physical appearance and ability, and all the places where those things intersect.
So when various areas of my life place me in a position of influence, I accept my obligation to use that position to advocate for those who have not been as lucky as me. When I do this, I know that there are a number of adjectives that spring to people’s minds, many of them unpublishable.
But I don’t want to be described as powerful. Because I don’t only represent myself, and powerful sounds like a lonely place to be.
So I will strive to be, capable, competent, effective, celebrated, distinguished, illustrious, noble, dynamic, energetic, forceful, vigorous, inspirational, potent, aspirational, influential, and benevolent. And when I’m looking for women to inspire me, examples to aspire to, these are the things I will search for.
Powerful isn’t enough, women can do far better than that.