Dear women, it is time for us to learn to speak positively and proudly of ourselves.
It is important to promote equality between men and women by any means necessary. This includes making the right men accomplices.
I just read “Feminist Fight Club – how women successfully fight their way through the workplace”. At first glance, Jessica Bennett’s book seemed aggressive to me. Feminism against patriarchy! A battle for which the New York Times columnist provides us women with tactics and tricks to combat sexist behavior that still exists even in the most progressive workplaces. But that doesn’t change the fact that I am convinced that: We can only achieve equality together with men.
Dr. Katarzyna Mol-Wolf is Managing Partner of INSPIRING NETWORK and Editorial Director of EMOTION as well as a member of the FAZ Supervisory Board.
Almost ten years ago, Dr. Katarzyna Mol-Wolf founded the Hamburg publishing house INSPIRING NETWORK. Since then, the 45-year-old has been the managing partner of the medium-sized media company. Mol-Wolf is also the editor of the women’s magazine EMOTION and the philosophy magazine HOHE LUFT.
The lawyer with a doctorate in law helped develop EMOTION as publishing and advertising manager at Gruner + Jahr and took over the title from the major publishing house in the first management buy-out in November 2009. HOHE LUFT has also been published by INSPIRING NETWORK since 2011. The corporate publishing business is another important pillar of the company.
In May 2012, Mol-Wolf published her autobiographical book, which tells of her mother’s flight from Poland and her new start in Germany: “With her heart in her hand: A story about freedom, happiness, my mother and me”, published by Ludwig Verlag / Random House. A book that wants to encourage everyone to believe in themselves and to go their own way unperturbed. She is currently working on her second book.
Women are eyed more skeptically at work
When I read the many examples in Bennett’s book, it became clear to me that I have probably been out of the classic corporate life for too long to really be able to have a say in what situations women are still exposed to. Karen Parkin, Adidas’ first woman on the board, told the “FAZ” only recently that “a woman’s performance is often viewed more skeptically; one is patterned more”. Obviously, we still have a long way to go before we get equal rights and equal treatment.
Women must promote each other
I agree with Bennett that actively promoting women is essential. Not just support from employers, legislation or quotas. We women must become better at promoting each other. We must seize every opportunity to get women – qualified, of course – on the podium and into good jobs. So that they can show other women in this way: It works! So that we become visible as women and women become the norm in important rounds and in important positions.
Be proud of what has been achieved!
One of the things I have learned in recent years: If I want to support others, I must learn to be proud of my own succes. I should stop returning my success to happiness. Like most women, it is easy for me to analyze defeats and take mistakes upon myself. It is much more difficult to stand by one’s own success, in which luck may play a role, but above all ability, a feeling for trends, customer needs and market opportunities. It’s time we learn to speak positively and proudly about ourselves, and trust ourselves to promote ourselves and eachother when we have succeeded.
Diversity strengthens your company
Freedom for me means trusting my own judgment. Then it is also easy to promote other women. Bennett advises to use the right adjectives instead of recommending a woman as “unbelievably team-oriented”, preferring to say that she is “independent, sovereign, intelligent, fair”. It’s about letting other women shine without first thinking about what this brings me. It’s about bringing good women to where they belong: to the public, to management positions, so that our society and economy are given equal rights. I hope that everyone in management positions will grasp this with appropriate power: Diversity strengthens your company. Women help your company forward.
I am a fan of women women: Women who have understood that it is yesterday’s business to compete with other women or to be jealous of their success, but that it is sexy to “bathe in the glamour of successful women” – again I have to agree with Mrs. Bennett.
But unlike her, I am in favour of us not only joining forces, but making the right men accomplices. There are still too many powerful men’s rounds that we can break more easily together. Then we can do something fundamental more quickly so that more women can shape society, the economy and our world.
INSPIRING NETWORK is an owner-managed network for media. A creative place where clever minds work together to develop products, reach more than a million readers/users every month with their own media and work on unconventional ideas and content for customers. A creative mix of media house, agency, consulting, editorial office and creative office with a multitude of own platforms and events. The focus is always on relevance, quality and attitude.
