Gender Equality: Are We Missing Something?

Gender equaluty... Are we missing something? a n Event by Auxilium

We all know of women in leading positions, some in sectors that may be male-dominated, and we know of women that feel that they have limited prospects because of their gender.

The question that arises out of this is, why is that the case and what is the differentiating factor?

Is it luck? Is it to do with what colleagues, peers and leaders someone is working with? Is it company culture, unconscious bias, is it capacity and capabilities?

Asking these questions leads us to uncover a variable that receives little consideration. But to start, let me ask you this:

Have you ever encountered someone being incredibly rude or obnoxious to you and instead of feeling offended you perhaps found it funny or felt compassion for that person?

Have you ever felt something to be unfair, unjust or wrong and the next person has the complete opposite view?

From my experience, your answer will most likely be yes, as we all know that our perception has a play in how we experience the world around us. Spiritual teachings have always been pointed in this direction for centuries and science, more specifically quantum physics, is proving this variable that our experience of the world is created internally through the process of thought.

"Thought creates the world and then says, I didn’t do it." – David Bohm, Quantum Physicist

We do not have a direct experience of people, situations, circumstances, or anything else. What we actually experience is our very own, individual, thoughtcreated reality.

Yet it seems to us that what we experience is objective and we very innocently fall for it.

This is a constant variable that unless we truly consider this fact of life, we are ill equipped to solve some of the biggest issues our world is facing (but more on that another time).

With regards to gender equality, being consciously aware of this variable provides access to approach the topic from another angle. When we speak about gender equality we tend to focus on the external appearance of things (situations, circumstances, people).

Therefore, we look for solutions (out) there, by trying to change peoples behaviours, peoples unconscious bias, company structures and culture.

I am not saying that there isn’t some work to be done in terms of those external factors, but we are missing a very important piece if we are exclusively looking for solutions and change externally.

Our circumstances, situation and people could be perfect and yet we would still find different people having different experiences of it. By taking into account that each and everyone creates their own separate reality we are creating change at the source.

Educating and supporting people to become aware and truly understanding this variable enables people to create change from the inside out and take ownership of their experience.

What I mean by that is, that as longs we believe that external circumstances, situations and people have the power to create our experience, we have limited scope and power to create change. In other words we are a victim.

experience is created form the inside out, we are empowered to access the full spectrum of solutions and possibilities, are able to step into our own potential and therefore take ownership of our experience.

What is more powerful and effective: trying to change circumstances, situations and other people, or understanding how our experience is created and therefore creating change from within in how you show up? How empowering would it be to enable anyone feeling at the mercy of inequality to create a new experience from the source?

I have witnessed incredible results in people’s success and wellbeing across all aspects of life by shifting their focus away from the external and to the internal workings of the mind. Next time you are faced with a difficult situation or person, be curious about where your experience is really coming from and the possibility of experiencing this exact situation or person differently.

Kerstin Andlaw www.auxiliumctc.com

Kerstin Andlaw is an Executive, Performance and Wellbeing Coach, mindfulness facilitator and founder of Auxilium CTC - a Performance and Wellbeing Consultancy and founder of Working Minds.