HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY 2022

??By Erum Khan

‘We envision a world where every person gets the opportunity to discover themselves by actively engaging with the natural world.’ This is our message ON International Women's Day.

It’s a beautiful feeling to contribute something for the women’s day and I believe the world is now changing with more and more women leading from the front making this world a better place for everyone.

“Women are never as strong as after their defeat”….. Many women take re births after experiencing the powers within themselves, realizing that this world is owned by them too as much as owned by men. They find their hidden potentials after challenging the boundaries societies created for them, through strong belief and actions. Women have powers beyond what is known to men-led societies: they have super natural powers, the point is to help them discover that as early in life as possible.

That’s what we should be focusing on instead of crying with banners on the roads. Now it's getting easier as SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals under UN) provide a workable guidelines for all of us to start working on women empowerment in many different ways.

"I want every little girl who is told she is bossy, to be told instead that she has leadership skills". The journey starts from childhood, the kind of toys we offer to our girl child has a big, gigantic impact on her belief system, thought processes, feelings, actions and reactions.. When a boy child is given a Lego set to explore, a girl is always playing with her Pink stuff, dressing, beautifying and exploring the physical properties of her existence. In contrast a boy is always busy exploring the beauty of his mind and the challenges of the real world while a girl is always reminded of her appearance.

While a boy starts working on his mental capacities quite early as per the environment and culture, a girl soon realizes that words, voices, and ideas have to go through some kind of scrutiny to get the approval. Whether it’s an elementary classroom, or a high school idea table, she is been learning the art of getting approvals, as her thoughts have to pass certain judgement, critique and sometimes crises. A boy has been praised for his boldness, but girls are been labeled as highly opiniated when acted with confidence.

“When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch.”?―?Bette Davis

EDUCATION MATTERS

Educators must come up with more strength based educational philosophy which can rupture the very existence of gender differences in the local and global societies. The early foundations of strong beliefs in girls will pave the way for stronger women in the future, who are not weak, but are powerful in their approach towards leading their lives. We should create a generation of leaders who deal with their problems in as much the same way as a leader should approach., instead of crying and waiting for someone to come and solve it.

History of great women should be a classic topic in the early years to educate girls about the power they poses and get inspiration by the great minds from the past. The history proved that when a woman is convicted, she surpasses the limits which a man can never even imagine!

STEM (Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics) as you know it should not be confined to boys only but we should pave the way for girls to join sciences, engineering, technology, and Space programs.

Financial freedom…

Then comes the importance of Financial Freedom……I believe Financial Freedom is so much more than money, it is the ability to do what you want, when you want and not have to worry about the financial consequences. The society should recognize that women face unique challenges in relation to money matters and that it has to come up with the tools to make women financially empowered. Here I must mention a great woman Rasheeda Khatun, a great friend and an author of 'Millionaire Mindset' who is busy changing lives of women around the world through her Financial Freedom program.

Shaping the Future of Work….

If we really want to do this we need to come up with more and more women role models….The twenty-first century workforce continues to face tectonic shifts amidst a backdrop of disruptive technology and increased global competition. From harnessing the power of multigenerational talent, to closing the STEM gender gap and embracing rapid digital transformation, how can we meet the demands of the future by building a more inclusive and adaptive workforce today.

We have to pick up the rebellions: game-changing women leaders who’ve found success against the odds share the risks they were willing to take and the rules they didn’t follow in order to seize new opportunities and chart their own path.

Empowerment through Adventure….

And lastly I must add my own vision of raising great minds in our girls and women. Our society tries to protect girls and women from the world by discouraging them from getting themselves into risky situations, but this only hurts us more. There are numbers of factors which undermine women liberation, freedom of expression, self-confidence, self-worth and their passion towards achieving their goals. Personal constraints are the most powerful of all constraints, as they influence the motivation to act and steer an individual’s decision to participate. These personal constraints are based on their self-perceptions, beliefs and attitudes which is directly moulded by the society. Many times fear is a cultural bias that we’ve internalized that is overriding our own objective assessment of our skills or the conditions.

We need to encourage our girls to take risks. Only then they can teach themselves how to react in scary situations by walking right up to the cliff’s edge of fear and then practicing navigating there, in the space between comfort and distress.

Imagine what the world would be like if more girls had the support to cultivate a personal practice of risk-taking and intuition-building. How would they respond to sexual harassment? Workplace discrimination? Ecological destruction? What would they create?

?Yes we have a plan for all this….

We at Odyssey ?provide state of the art Women Expeditions on Mountains. We believe that adventure expeditions will provide our young girls and women to come out of their shell, gain confidence, get better self -image, fight their vulnerability, develop strong determination, polish their risk taking skills, and finally going to persue their passion. The program can boost their courage and help them change their thought process and belief systems.

We welcome girls and women from all over the world to join these ‘Empowered Camp’.

Last but not the least is our message to Re-connect with the Natural world…. Humans have long intuited that being in nature is good for the mind and body. From indigenous adolescents completing rites of passage in the wild, to modern East Asian cultures taking “forest baths,” many have looked to nature as a place for healing and personal growth.

Now, a large body of research is documenting the positive impacts of nature on human flourishing—our social, psychological, and emotional life.

By stepping into nature, we step into a place of solitude. Far away from the hustle and bustle and superficiality of everyday life, it’s possible to rediscover a sense of purpose for your life. Natural landscape provides a wonderful opportunity to connect with our inner world. In silence we awaken our spirit and we get our inner guidance.

This is how we are trying to play our role for human development, learning, creating avenues to relax your body, minds and souls…

My Personal Journey

As my journey started with a teacher’s soul dealing with angels all around me, I learned a lot from 2 years old about life, to discover my purpose of life. I still remember one of my article about desert when it was picked up by an American Nature Advocate Richard Louve in 2010. According to him, before reading my article, his definition of Nature was always been green but after that he could add brown as a new color of nature…

Working ?with many International organizations like ‘Alliance for Self-directed learning’, SDG Academy Alumni, ‘International Association of Nature Pedagogy’, ‘International Play Association, ISPCAN, AMS, ‘World Forum Foundation’, Imagination Foundation USA, and many more makes me learn a lot about humans and how we behave in relation to each other.?I enjoy doing workshops for Growth mindset with toddlers, teenagers, women entrepreneurs and even with men. From an educator to an Entrepreneur, I have discovered the laws of nature. I strongly believe in the creation of a sustainable world and I’m playing my part through different channels. My passion for exploring the world of Mountains is still keeping me in the business of Tourism. I would love to plan your unique tour so you can explore the wonderful world around you. I know we need to do a lot on our local tourism but the virgin beauty is enough to start discovering the magic of the universe!

Let’s travel more!

(I’m still in a learning process in a world where AI is taking over and the human presence has to be intelligently felt. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or [email protected])