#thesecondshift

Well here is some good news for women—a New York Post article shouts out women in their 40s and 50s who face both age and sex discrimination when they are at the most capable point in their careers! One of our core values is to be a grown up and there is a reason why...

“The truth is midlife women, with all that experience under their belts, who have ridden the rapids of family life and juggled duty and caring, make the most terrific employees. As one senior woman in financial services told me: “Of course I can handle difficult clients. I’m the mother of 15-year-old twins for heaven’s sake. I can handle anything!”

Have you listened to Abby Wambach's commencement address to the 2018 graduates of Barnard College? She focuses on her career and how women are socialized from a young age to be grateful for what they get, no matter how hard they worked for it. That lack of confidence and feeling of obsequious gratitude directly influences our careers and results in unequal pay and opportunities for advancement. We see it all the time--senior-level women with deep expertise who sell themselves short because they are grateful for any opportunity to work. Sound familiar?

“Like all little girls, I was taught to be grateful. I was taught to keep my head down, stay on the path, and get my job done. I was freaking Little Red Riding Hood.

You know the fairy tale: It’s just one iteration of the warning stories girls are told the world over. Little Red Riding Hood heads off through the woods and is given strict instructions: Stay on the path. Don’t talk to anybody. Keep your head down hidden underneath your Handmaid’s Tale cape.

And she does… at first. But then she dares to get a little curious and she ventures off the path. That’s of course when she encounters the Big Bad Wolf and all hell breaks loose. The message is clear: Don’t be curious, don’t make trouble, don’t say too much or BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN.....

If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing it would be this:“Abby, you were never Little Red Riding Hood; you were always the wolf.”

Love that so much and it just gets better from there. No spoilers here-- it’s worth watching the whole speech for yourself. But, here is one more section that aligns perfectly with our Second Shift ethos. 

“As you go out into the world: Amplify each others’ voices. Demand seats for women, people of color and all marginalized people at every table where decisions are made. Call out each other’s wins and just like we do on the field: claim the success of one woman, as a collective success for all women.

Joy. Success. Power. These are not pies where a bigger slice for her means a smaller slice for you. These are infinite. In any revolution, the way to make something true starts with believing it is. Let’s claim infinite joy, success, and power—together.

Wolf Pack: Her Victory is your Victory. Celebrate it.”

We give the gift of this speech to you. Enjoy it!