How to use centuries of unfair advantage to make the world a more equal place

Welcome back, ladies. Last year’s guide to women in business was a big success, so I’m excited about this year’s. I assume the popularity was for several reasons: the title had a number in it, it was addressed to women in business, and it was written by a women. That is mastered SEO!

(I’m kidding. There was no 2020 guide. Roll with it.)

First of all, let’s acknowledge, as white women, the privilege we have in society just by being white. And let’s acknowledge that as all-colours women we mean a little in business specifically.

Then let’s acknowledge that whether you want it or not.

You can be aware of your privileged place in the world, you can disavow it, you can deny, you can go against it. I encourage you to do all of those things… and more!

As white women you’re going to be offered more and better jobs and get paid more for them, the bank won’t call the cops, the passport office won’t give you side-eye, and your co-workers won’t confuse you for the cleaners staff.

Finally, I should acknowledge that I couldn’t say half of this shit and still expect to have a regular column here if it weren’t for that “being white” privilege.

Privilege is unshakeable. Until the world is fundamentally changed so that all people are viewed as equal — which is our goal — you have two choices: You can either be a cherry on the top believing there’s no privilege, or you can use that privilege to help others who have to work much harder than you to achieve even half your success. This will not make you a hero, but it will bring you closer to being a decent human being. Which is a pretty wonderful thing to be, I guess.

Black & White War

Let’s be realistic. When black man is killed, people defend him. When the killed man is white, we hear he deserved it.

There are bad white people.

There are bad black people.

There are bad men and women.

There are bad kids.

They. He. She…

PEOPLE – let’s come back to that!

We are people.

We never gonna heal what’s going on while fighting for new-named-boxes.

We get busy fighting for what we think is “ours”, missing things what others do to us.

And then overnight, we wake up with new law restrictions, additional taxes, new rules in which world operates.

We are on the same team.

We have differences among that team.

But we are TEAM.

By fighting with each other we make our culture weaker.

News pomp some shit in our heads every damn day.

They want us to go crazy, become weak.

We don’t have race problem.

We have a humanity problem.

Stop being so emotional about everything

Despite your perception that things are now harder for you (they’re not). You need to hold your shit together if you want to be taken seriously. I understand how emotional white women (and really all women) can be because I am one of you. I see you, I’m not blind.

We freak out when everything doesn’t go our way because everything went our way for so long.

Sometimes people are wrong on the internet. Sometimes people are wrong at work. Sometimes they remake your favorite childhood movies and they put black women or men in them. I realize how traumatizing all of this can be, but dear ladies — we freak out about this shit. Why?

Save your energy Boss Babe

Look, we all know that women empowerment movement. We use terms like “female entrepreneurship”, “girl power”, “boss babe” – on repeat. While doing it we categorize ourselves again. Why we are doing it?

Same with “black women”, “women of colour” etc.

I feel like we (women) often behave like we want to save the world. We have enough work without it. We finish the sentence for men. We finish what they started. Save your energy, let men do their work. Oh, and maybe remind the other women to save some energy, too.

We are multitasking while men will most likely still be making more money than we does. We beat ourselves up while the shit has nothing to do with us, personally. We blame ourselves for everything, and take blame publicly. This doesn’t change anything. It won’t save the world. It won’t change the world. But it will (for sure!) negativelly influence us. Why should all this shit be on you?

Empathy is for suckers

You’ve probably sat through a couple of empathy workshops at this point. Probably something put together by HR. They’re exhausting.

Let me tell you: you don’t have to be always nice, mounth shut, hands on the keyboard, starting work first, leaving office last. That’s right!

You can just sit back, ladies. Recline in that nice, expensive office chair. Put your feet up. See if infuture.fashion’s hiring. And think about the bright future you and the other women built for everybody.

If you have a question, email me, and I’ll be happy to answer it. If answering it could help a lot of people, I’ll be more likely to answer it. Question example? “Should I quit my job because my boss is a dick?” (good question but you know my answer already).