As part of the community reporters scheme I was invited to blog about a Thinking Women event which took place in Manchester last week. I was a little wary at first. I don’t normally go to women only events and I’ll be honest, I had a few doubts. Why do women need their own events? What would women say about men only events? What kind of women go to these meetings?
The last question is the easiest to answer and so I’ll start there. There were around 30 women from different backgrounds: entrepreneurs, students, housewives, performance artists and many more. We sat in a circle in The Friends’ Meeting House and listened to guest speaker and Well Heeled Diva, Jane Kenyon. The subject of the seminar was ‘Finding Courage, Losing Doubt: Strategies for Life’. A tough gig for anyone to tackle but Jane talked frankly and honestly about her own life and this filtered through when we split up into smaller groups to discuss some of the issues.
I’ve been to lots of seminars, workshops and lectures – some good and some bad. For me the mark of any successful event is if I can take away one valuable thing. This could be advice, an idea or a contact. Last week I learned a number of practical tips but the one thing that stayed with me was the idea of deconstructing negative beliefs and substituting them with positive ideas. It’s too complex to tackle here but if you’re interested in learning more take a look at the sites below.
And the other two questions? Well, I still don’t have comprehensive answers to those but I think I know two women who do.
Jane Guest – dynamic entrepreneur, motivational coach and one of the founding members of Well Heeled Divas.
Jessica Symmons – social entrepreneur, creative thinker and one of the founding members of the northern strand of Thinking Women
Further Info:
http://wellheeleddivas.typepad.com
Hi Jenny
Great blog post! Glad you got something out of it. And I totally know what you mean about ‘why should women get their own events, and what would we say if there were men only events.’ I’ve thought about this a lot though, and I think that until women are truly equal in society, we need to bond together – as a discriminated-against minority – not only to remind ourselves that it’s ok to be premenstrual, but also to remind ourselves that we are actually discriminated against. The well-oiled cogs of our patriarchal society are turning so smoothly now that many women don’t even realise it, and progress is never going to happen unless they do. Just a bit of feminist philosophy for the Friday afternoon. Rock on sista!
Yes you’re right, Jess. And I guess if you’re in a majority you don’t need to think about these things. You take them for granted. Yes, we should definitely bond together
And I got a lot out of the event, so thank you!
Sound like an interesting event, glad you got so much out of it!