Miami’s Women’s Empowerment Week wrapped up this afternoon with the event, “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” but for those of you who couldn’t make it to the events this week, HC Miami has the scoop on all that occurred!
After Monday’s Zumba and “Better than Barbie,” event, Tuesday’s “Girls Fight Back” self defense program continued to promote women’s health and safety on campus. Wednesday’s “She Negotiates” lecture brought a new meaning to the word “empower,” with spokeswoman Lisa Gates giving advice to women on how to handle transitioning into a male-dominated workplace after graduating from college.
Keep reading to find out more about Tuesday and Wednesday’s events from Panhellenic’s VP of Public Relations, Kat Davies, and HC Miami’s own Jordyn Burke:
Tuesday’s Girls Fight Back
I walked into the Girls Fight Back workshop and there was a red solo cup projected on the wall with the phrase “BYOB: Be Your Own Badass.” Right then, I knew we had chosen the right program for Miami Women’s Empowerment Week.
Girls Fight Back is an innovative personal safety and self-defense workshop. It was taught by Bree, a bubbly twenty-something passionate about the work of women’s safety and empowerment. She opened the program with a few tips on how to be well aware of your surroundings, minimizing your risk, and about the importance of taking ownership of your safety.
Then, she transitioned the program into personal defense, first showing women a good ready position and coaching them on how to react. She got all the girls in the room on their feet and asked out willing volunteer, Lot Kwarteng, a senior member of Beta Theta Pi, up on stage where all of his vulnerable areas were covered in smiley face stickers, (yes, it was hilarious).
Bree then moved into the “3-step Badass Ballet” of self defense; a strike to nose with the heel of the hand, a knee to the crotch (classic), and a knee to the face or elbow to the back of the neck as he bends over from the second hit. All the women in the room excitedly jumped to their feet to try out the moves with Bree, laughing, taking notes, and mock-practicing on each other. Bree also added elements of how the “ballet” could be adjusted to work for an attack from behind, if thrown to the ground, and other scenarios as women in the audience suggested them. She even included a section on improvised weapons, my personal favorite being the stiletto.
The event was fun, high-energy, empowering, and deeply important in beginning to address the issue of sexual assault on our campus. Bree wrapped up the program by getting the now-hyped-up audience on their feet and asking “Do you feel dangerous?” Which we all responded to with resounding cheers, and plenty of applause!
Wednesday’s “She Negotiates” Lecture
Women believe that they receive many disadvantages in the workplace compared to men. With lower wages and discrimination, this creates many obstacles in a woman’s life in trying to overcome this inequity. So what is there to do to prepare to enter a male-dominated workplace?
Miami University had the pleasure of hosting Lisa Gates, co- founder of SheNegotiates.com to help adapt young women in entering the work field. Wednesday evening many women across campus came together for the opportunity to sit in on Lisa Gates lecture titled “Developing Your Bragging Rights.”
To start off the lecture, Gates talked about empowerment:
“Women need to start taking power and recognizing when to take it,” Lisa communicated to the audience.
Lisa then asked thoughts on the word “bragging”. Many comments made were negative associations with the word. And that’s just it; the American culture tends to associate bragging with negative aspects. Why is this? From the start of time, women are always told to stop “being loud,” or stop being “self- serving.” It’s always that women had to act a certain way, and they are expected to do so based on gender norms.
So that’s where Gates comes in to help. How can bragging be used as a benefit to a conversation with a partner? It’s a system called “Un-bragging”. According to Gates, women tend to not ask for things they want or wait to speak up until it’s too late. This is why there is a wide wage gap between men and women in the workforce. Women need to use their power and speak up. Wanting something isn’t a bad thing. Now whether this applies to a job interview, job review or even an application of some sort, women need to realize they have the power to move people to change course.
Now it’s a question of how exactly to go about that.
Gates believes there are three parts to a good conversation. The first one is Intention. Women need to walk into an interview with confidence and a plan. They must know exactly what they want and what they’re asking. This also applies to resolving a conflict. Confidence is key in every aspect of Gates’ first step to a good conversation.
The second part is audience. Women first need to figure out what problems the targeted audience is having, and how to use their own story to help solve the problem. The last part to carrying a strong conversation is connection. There must be a strong personal connection made with someone by creating small talk. Even if it’s an interview, it shows character to invest interest in the company or person conducting the interview.
Gates then asked everyone in the audience to pair up and apply these three steps to their conversation. Through this exercise, everyone in the audience was able to learn about other people’s stories just from having a short conversation with them. Kristin Rudy, sophomore here at Miami University, felt that by having a five-minute conversation with the girl next to her, she was able to collect and analyze the story the girl was cognitively telling.
“I have such a different view on conversations with people now,” Rudy said. “I feel that I have a better outlook and feel more confident and prepared,”
By combining all of these techniques, Gates’ techniques can be applied to any situation in everyday life. It’s all about the approach taken to any situation, and overcoming obstacles. Together, women can help empower each other to rise above the discrimination in the workplace!