International Women's Day: 5 Things You Can Do.

It’s International Women’s Day and I wanted to shout out the incredible sisterhood of women. The generations that came before us, and the generations of women we are raising. This International Women’s Day here’s 5 things as Limitless Lawyers that we can focus on:  

1. Nurture your own self-belief + model it, for the younger generations. 

Self-belief is at the heart of my mission with the Limitless Lawyer. Self-belief, for so many women (and men), can be challenging. 

We listen to the doubters, the inner-critic, the outer-critics, the ones who say “it's not possible.” 

They don’t know how to dream.

Yet the truth is that everything is possible for all of us. 

With the right mindset + support systems, women every day are breaking through glass ceilings and are making impossible dreams a reality. 

2. Access 

In 1918 in the UK where I was born, women were given the right to vote. 

My 99-year-old grandmother was born in 1922. 

She revered Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragettes instilling in us the importance of voting. 

Incredibly smart, grammar school educated, because of societal requirements, class, funding she did not have the opportunity to go to university. 

Her pride in having a woman lawyer in the family was huge for her. 

Remembering the women who came before us, in such a short space of time it’s so incredible and humbling to see the progress we have made. 

To make a difference for women across the globe at every level, we need to create opportunities and give women access. 

Access to EDUCATION. 

Access to FUNDING. For education, for food, clothing, a roof over their head.

(This is why I have been supporting Save the Young Girls Foundation, Sierra Leone, sponsoring incredible young girls at this orphanage. More on this initiative to come.) 

Access to CHILDCARE.

Access to LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.

Access to the BOARDROOM. 

3. Feminine Energy

Recognize and embrace “feminine energy” in the workplace. 

What are you talking about Charlotte, I hear you say! 

“Feminine energy refers to a specific set of traits, considered to be the opposite of traits associated with masculine energy. Your masculine side gets expressed when you're working toward a goal, making progress, getting things done, and pushing forward. Your feminine side gets expressed when you move with the flow of life, embrace your creative energy, dance, play, and attune to your internal process.”

Both attributes are valid and necessary in the workplace but in a patriarchal male partner heavy legal world, what would look differently if law firms could embody more feminine energy in the workplace?

3. The Women We Are Raising. 

As parents, as siblings, as leaders, as mentors - we have a duty. 

We have a responsibility for raising the next generation of leaders, lawyers, mothers, doctors, engineers, artists, teachers… [insert other professions]. 

We get to model to them what is ok, and what’s not ok. 

We teach them how to speak up.

How to share their voice. 

How to have confidence. 

How to quieten their inner-critic. 

How to be kind, and compassionate, to others, but also importantly to themselves. 

We get to show them how to take the pressure off. 

To strive for excellence, but not demand perfection. 

Our job as leaders is to model it for them. We MUST do the work. 

4. Support

COVID-19 has created a special brand of super-women that’s for sure! 

Wouldn't it be great if we all could have more support?

Support without fear of judgment. 

Support career decisions when it comes to motherhood. 

Support from your organization on women’s health. Maternity, paternity, adoption, reproductive health, miscarriage, still-birth, menopause support. These topics are real, inadequately discussed, and require far more work! 

Childcare support. 

Mental health support. 

Coaching to help leaders create happier, more collaborative, high-performing teams. 

Support to avoid feeling alone as leaders. 

Wouldn't it be amazing if as women, as leaders, (if husbands, brothers, friends, colleagues, and partners), we are able to uplift and support one another? 

A global community committed to our growth and rising, committed to the greater good above all else. 

Just imagine…

Thank you for reading this article. 

If you would like to hear how I support women leaders, legal teams, and legal innovators please check out www.charlotte-smith.com