Advice for Women on Empowering Themselves, Friends & Family

Throughout history, we’ve seen women march to the beat of their own drum and defy expectations. They’re looked at with fascination, fear, and often ridicule. Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, Elizabeth I, the suffragettes, and Rosa Parks, were all trailblazers, especially when women have long been expected to remain at home and silently conform.

It wasn’t until education started to become more accessible for women that things changed. They still haven’t changed enough, but they’ve gotten better. Every day there are more expectations, and society is still getting used to the idea that women can accomplish the same, if not more, than men. 

Expectations are too high

While society is changing, we still have a long way to go.  As women, we need to be there for each other as these changes take place. We often feel that we can’t give 100% of a role. We can’t be the perfect worker AND the

• Homemaker

• Wife

• Mother

• Daughter

• Caregiver

• The list goes on

Those are society’s expectations of us, though. We feel guilty when we can’t be 100% in these roles for everyone who needs us. 

It’s a struggle, but we need to let those expectations go.

Yes, we all want to do the absolute best we can, but life goes so fast that we’ll never catch up as much as we want if we focus on trying to be everything for everybody.

How do we support other women?

1. We need to first accept ourselves as vulnerable, imperfect, and the work in progress we all are. 

2. We need to be there for each other. We each learn from an early age many of the expectations:

   Be soft-spoken

   Be well-behaved

   Be lady-like

   Settle down

   Leave the “hard work” to the men

   If we want something better for our own futures, and the next generation’s, we should lead the change. That starts with being there for each other and asking ourselves, how can we help? The world has enough rivalry and women’s progress has been a long and hard time coming. We can do anything, but we should all appreciate that support and teamwork makes most things easier. It’s the way to really be triumphant. 

3. We are women, with goals that dictate progress, happiness, change, and future accomplishments. We cannot be a jack of all trades, time will not allow it; but, we can do it all through teamwork. That means not seeing our female colleagues as competitors but as friends and assets. We should embrace our differences and disagreements - that type of effective communication is the sign of a great workplace. 

4. Just as our ancestors worked hard so we could have a better life, we call it to our descendants to do the same. If we do not stand up for ourselves, we are only going to help slow down the changes we all want to see coming. The only way to propel ourselves forward is through acceptance, advocacy, networking, and teamwork.

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Annette “Annie” Rodriguez was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and started to write consistently when she was in tenth grade. As her writing and creative imagination progressed, Annie became confident enough to share her work and create her own characters. The first draft of Lifeforce was born. 

Lifeforce was picked up for publication by Green Writers Press and her first novel was published in February 2019. Lifeforce’s sequel, Immortality’s Peril, is in progress. 

Annie’s writing is accompanied by her impressive background as a practicing attorney, holding two Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees. Lifeforce was published during her first year of law school. A minority woman who has worked with students, Annie’s passion for writing keeps her sane in the sometimes harsh reality of training to practice law.