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Black women empowerment is a two-edged sword: there have admittedly been many gains, but a burning question remains: are these professionals truly empowered as women? Despite the government’s focus on gender representation, and the advancement of women in companies, the empowerment of women as women remains elusive.
Getting ahead, in reality often makes women feel that they must deny their feminine self. For women to be truly empowered as women in the new democracy there needs to be a greater focus on acceptance: not only of their own inner diversity but also of the diversity and differences amongst individuals.
Empowerment can be defined as a process through which individuals gain control of their lives and fulfill their needs, as a result of developing the competencies, skills, and abilities necessary to effectively participate in their social and political worlds.
Yet research exploring empowerment reveals that professional black women psychically split their selves, favouring what society considers being the masculine, intellectual side and suppressing the traditionally feminine and emotional side. This means that they suppress their own inner diversity in favour of being more “like a man.”
Black professional women often see themselves as being quite different from their mothers and their more traditional, female (and sometimes male) peers, and as very similar to their father figures.
Fazila Naidoo* has several degrees, a professional job, and prizes her independence. “I own my own home, I own my own car and I love that independence…it’s something I thrive on and the one thing I passionately believe in…” She describes herself as very different from her traditional Indian mother in the sense that she is more rebellious, more independent, emotionally and financially, more educated, and more outspoken.
This was not always the case. “My mom used to be the centre of my universe, easily. I could say that, I would defend her, for anything and against anyone and over time, that relationship has changed.”
Naidoo now disidentifies with her mother and those traditional feminine qualities that she represents. She sees herself more as the dominant powerful (male) subject and unconsciously splits off the parts of her psyche, which are feminine and devalued by society.
Yet, this confidence continues to be paradoxical. When Naidoo, like many empowered professional women, is in the presence of the more powerful male, whether the traditional patriarch or a boss, they are often treated and behave more like traditional women.
In spite of their high qualifications and levels of expertise, the male figures often silence and do not allow them to make important decisions. Furthermore, although they identify with their father figures, they are also shown to not be as rebellious, independent, educated or as outspoken as these males.
Empowerment then, constructed upon the apparently genderless ideal of rationality and independence, is in fact shown to be a mere extension of masculine power as feminine characteristics are excluded and devalued.
Although calls for empowerment based on equality are a struggle against patriarchal domination, it is a far more complex construct that does not operate outside of the laws of patriarchy. For, similar to patriarchy, the empowered woman suppresses the traditionally feminine.
Thus, empowerment, which equals equality, does not allow for the empowerment of women as women, since it entails the exclusion of anyone that is different to the norm, which is the male. The term “empowered woman” is thus a paradox, for these women are only empowered inasmuch as they act more like men and deny their feminine selves.
The South African professional woman, especially, is in a unique and complex situation. University of South Africa (UNISA) Professor of Business Leadership Stella Nkomo describes the handling of these paradoxes in a country with multiple stakeholders as a “dance” which requires our leaders to be “bold, imaginative and creative in their thinking.”
To be truly empowered as a women society needs to consciously acknowledge these silenced, repressed qualities and call for an empowerment that values differences, both within individuals themselves and amongst individuals in broader society.
Change initiatives focus on the organisational level, but very seldom concentrate on the individual. Personal coaching and mentorship is one way to address this.
For, it is in an acceptance of this difference and diversity that the opportunities lay for actual woman empowerment and radical transformation. Only then will women leaders be able to face the ongoing challenges of a changing socio-political environment as well as fulfilling expectations in terms of their leadership roles in the economy and society without sacrificing their feminine selves.
*Not her real name
Carita McCallum is a business and personal coach who completed doctoral research exploring the psychology of empowerment among professional women. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news.
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