Katie Couric, an award-winning journalist, podcaster, documentary filmmaker, and best-selling author, who promoted gender equality in the workplace before it was popular, defines a badass woman as someone who “stands up for herself, is confident, and is not afraid to challenge the hierarchy, the patriarchy, or conventional thinking.” In other words, a woman who knows herself and honours who she is, a woman who owns her story, her history, her experiences, and bases her confidence on that knowledge and self-respect.
As we approach fifty and beyond, some women, now stripped of child-rearing responsibilities, are, in fact, ‘feeling their oats’, so to speak. With more personal time and space, they have more time to self-reflect and realize they are powerful beyond their expectations. They change careers, start new businesses, leave toxic relationships and start fresh, all the things that take courage and require action.
But the reality is, in some ways, it’s more challenging to be a badass as we approach fifty and beyond. In our ageist society, as we show visible signs of aging, we are considered less competent, less valuable, and often pushed to the sidelines or out the door prematurely. Our opinions are no longer respected or even requested, and in the face of gendered ageism, our tendency can be to allow these cultural forces to overwhelm us and make us feel invisible.
We can’t let that happen. Being a badass woman is about showing the world that we are capable of achieving anything we set our minds to. So, let’s explore how we can embrace our inner strength and resilience, challenge ageism and start over again.
Read the full article on Crunchy Tales.com.
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