While pink is mostly used for girly stuff in the western world, it also means breast-cancer awareness. And while October is a whole month dedicated to that, it’s important to note that March is Women’s History Month.
From wearing skirts to becoming a politician, I’ve talked about lots in this column. Not so much about personal relationships, though, as I find Carrie Bradshaw does this way better in Sex and the City, and because I think personal relationships don’t really have to do a lot with feminist issues.
However, I would like to address the ability females have to build community. I’d argue that more than ever we feel like we want to belong and be part of a group, especially foreign students who have a lack of family and friends when we land in Canada.
And it’s those groups of women that invite you to take part and reach you a hand to connect. If history has shown one thing, it’s that females can make peaceful and meaningful connections. I’m not saying that males don’t, but wherever I look, I see females making connection happen. I met most of my friends through sporting groups or mutual activity in female-led environments. It just seems to naturally be in our DNA.
While I see a lot of competition with males, I see a lot of encouragement with females. Especially when it comes to sports, there are tons of cheers and empowerment. And we are competitive: females like to compete as much as males do, but for different reasons. While males seem to compete to win, females seem to do it to prove that they can do it.
We find ourselves in times where we struggle to find our place in this world, and connection is incredibly important. Maybe this is just a hopeful wish, but what if the next generation of males starts to see connection as the highest of values? Where could society go with this sense of belonging? A place we can feel safe and be ourselves instead of competing against one another just to win. Because in the end, you can only win by yourself. But it’s always the people that make the time of your life.
So, if you haven’t yet, celebrate a female friend and your connection today. In the end, all that matters is who makes the effort to sit down next to you and tries to give you a shoulder you can lean on. Why not try to use it instead of always pushing harder, alone?
My female community has always been this shoulder. From laughter to tears, from loss to win, whatever was created grounded me and gave me the strength to look and strive for a bright future. And I hope your female community can do this for you, too.
Pink power, baby!