An association, society, or community of women linked by a common interest, religion, or trade.
If you would have asked me just 5 years ago when Empowering Women in Industry first came to fruition the impact that sisterhood could make – I would have probably done something weird with my eyebrows and said something along the lines of it not being my thing. Fast forward to now after having been in our growing community for years as well as joining an outside collective of women that was based on sisterhood and healing. My answer now to the impact that sisterhood can make is that it is incredibly important to have a community of women in your life.
Last year, I joined a container of other women from all over the world who were all coming together with the intention of anchoring into ourselves to heal deep subconscious patterns imprinted in us from our childhoods, from generational wounds carried by those who came before us in our lineage, and to come home to our bodies and be able to stand in our feminine power. I don’t share a lot about this side of me because it’s very “woo woo” which I embrace full-heartedly in my personal life but I still struggle with letting that show in my professional. Thank goodness for therapy, right?! Haha
But all joking aside, I joined this group because I knew I needed it. Something deep inside me intuitively knew that I needed to do this work with like-minded sisters doing the same alongside me. And I also craved having more meaningful connections with other women. I learned many deeply nourishing things in my time with these women but what I want to hone in on is the sisterhood wound. The sisterhood wound is essentially conditioning from a patriarchal society that has pitted women against each other. This can come in many forms that include things like judging other women, feeling insecure around other women or comparing ourselves to them, not trusting other women, feeling like you have to compete, etc.
I’ve never heard this term before this group and it brought up a lot for me to unpack when I truly reflected on my past and how I had been rejecting women and really anything that embodied feminine energy my whole life. I feed into the lies that women are “catty” and that I “just didn’t fit in with other women.” I’ve always had a group of girlfriends, too, but I realized that I always kept them at an arm’s length so that they couldn’t hurt me. Most importantly, once I was able to see this behavior in myself, I was able to think and choose differently.
What I learned is that there is so much healing that comes with sisterhood. We aren’t wired to do it alone and as humans, one commonality we all have is the need for connection. One step further, though, is the importance of women to be connected with other women. I have been able to heal in ways that I wouldn’t have been able to without that community of other women seeing me and supporting me.
Part of that healing was also to stop rejecting the feminine and instead, embrace it. Embracing feminine energy to me means trusting my intuition, being open and free-flowing. I like to think of the feminine like a river, the water flowing free, regal, and wild. And the masculine is the river bank, providing the structure needed to keep it safe and moving. Being able to be present with other women in their feminine energies and be able to embrace my own helped me better see myself. I was so focused on not embodying those parts of myself because a lot of the time it’s deemed “weak.” And I needed to be around other women to show me that.
For me, that’s what Empowering Women in Industry is all about – it’s about a community of women growing alongside each other AND helping each other grow by lifting each other up and supporting one another. We’re all on our own unique journeys in life but by coming together as women, I believe we can face any obstacle. We do that by showing up as we are and knowing that we can do that in a container that is supportive, nourishing, and inspiring. I’ve seen this magic first hand in our Empowering Women community. It makes me grateful for sisterhood and for our community of strong, courageous, empowering women that I get to grow alongside.