Is it really only two weeks that I have been deeply immersed in learning the American way? It feels like I have always been here, though I have learnt there is also a  darker side.

I have been wondering whether my Peruvian upbringing (it’s in the America’s after all) has had an influence here. I feel so at home. I like their way of working, connecting with the students, the sense of humour and the intuitiveness that ‘We Can Do It All!’

There does appear to be a darker side however, as I have come to see from one of the women I have been in a study group here. An American in Brighton, she told me that she moved to the UK because the women in the US are so oppressed, they HAVE to fight and be bright and succeed the way they do, just so they can be seen. It’s a man’s, man’s world in good old USA. I’ve always had an inkling this was the case. Maternity leave is only 12 weeks! 12 WEEKS! You either leave your newborn with someone else or lose your job. I’ve always wondered why I felt lucky we are here in the UK where we get over 9 months. 

Much as I love the bravado and the ‘we can do this sisters!’ attitude, it pains me to know that it is there because there is still an equality fight to be had. It seems perverse in a country which is meant to be modeling “The best way to be a Country” to the world. We’ve all known about the deeply embedded racism that exists for their Afro-American community, Mexican community and Indigenous communities, now we need to add ‘Women’ to the list. It seems North America is actually modelling the Patriarchy very well, thank you very much.

So American Women want to change their lot, and they are doing it by becoming high earners, supporting each other in wonderful communities like Claire Zammit’s “Evolving Wisdom Community” Marci Shimoff’s “Your Year of Miracles” Lisa Nicols “Abundance Now!” and Sage Lavine’s ” Women Rocking Business” to name but a few. Apart from Marci, these communities are on the whole feminine centered and are designed to help women come together to support each other so that they feel safe and they can thrive. It’s just a shame they have the need to seek safety first.

I mean, I have also experienced the patriarchy trying to put me down. We all have right? From Slaps across your face for being too cheeky or “what are you wearing?” comments at school through to trolls and indecent messages on our phones, all women seem to have someone looking to bring them down, somewhere. And it’s not only from Men either, masculine women do it too.

I still can’t get around that darker side of human nature where we put others down so that we can rise. It implies a lack of resources, a lack of love, a lack of light when we all have a place in the sun and most of us, 6 billion of us, do survive somehow or other, usually through the kindness of others.

It is no small thing then to put oneself out there in the “Empowering Women” world. I can imagine I need to start building a community of women around me who will hold me up, when the trolls get going. Who’s coming along for the ride? Join my new Facebook Group here, to become part of the movement.d