The world needs a feminist overhaul

The world needs a feminist overhaul.?

We live in a world that is painfully imbalanced.?

There’s huge inequality between men and women.?

There’s a huge abhorrent gap between white people and people of colour.?

Our institutions and leaders are revealing their incompetence at a pace we can’t keep up with. We’ve seen financial collapses, a global pandemic, the devastation of our environment and the disintegration of democracies. Women are being told to ‘flag down a bus’ if alarmed by a police officer and 'lean in' to progress in toxic work environments.?

It is not okay that women are taught to feel less than… That we are rewarded for staying small, and “being grateful”. It's not okay we are left out of the rooms where the quality of our lives is decided upon.?

So, what’s the solution? How can we fix this? How can we create new power and change reality for the next generation of women and non-binary folks??

Let me introduce you to The UPFRONT Bond.?

In 2016, I stood on a stage in Bristol as the only woman speaker in an all-male lineup at a conference. I was angry and naive. I didn’t understand intersectionality and I most certainly didn’t understand privilege and anti-racism. But that day was the day I decided to stop complaining and do something about it. Why did so few women want to speak on stage? What happened next was the start of a five-year journey that led to UPFRONT being what it is today. What began as a guerilla marketing campaign, involving a red couch helping over 800 people get over stage fright in every single continent (except Antarctica) is now a global community of women overhauling teams, families, daily routines, businesses, and communities in a feminist way.

We’re on a mission to change confidence for 1 million women by 2023. We’re committed to learning how to stand up for ourselves and each other. Since our first online course (A Bond is a noun for a group of women) launched in August 2021, we’ve welcomed 817 women from over 50 countries and the results have been transformational. This still blows my mind!

We’re putting our anger to work. We’re showing up for ourselves, each other, our families and our teams in a bolder way. We’re inclusive, kind, generous and committed to building a world where confidence, visibility and power will no longer mean greed, arrogance and prejudice. It will mean collective progress, vulnerability and positive change.?

It’ll feel uncomfortable but what’s the alternative? The status quo? No thank you, ma’am. You will learn how to respond to prejudice, you will learn how our institutions and systems are designed to harm women and most importantly you’ll learn how to do something about it. You’ll learn how to harness your own privilege and learn what being an ally looks like. Because our Black sisters are drowning. Our trans sisters can't see the shore.?

You’ll learn how to harness your power to create positive change. You will learn confidence. We're here to change confidence, not women.

And it starts with you.?

One woman, making a decision. A decision that sounds like this:?

?“I am determined to unlearn the harmful stories I have been taught about my confidence and my place in the world. I will use my privilege to advocate for myself and other women. I’m ready to learn how to signal to the world that I am here and I am valuable”

And when one woman learns her confidence, it changes her community.?

It changes how we parent. It changes how we spend money. It changes how we take care of ourselves. It changes how we work and it changes how we talk to ourselves.?

When millions of women learn confidence, it changes the world.??

It changes elections. It builds businesses. It influences policy. It means CHANGE. It means not settling. ??

This is why our goal is to reach 1 million women by 2023. On average, we know every woman who graduates from a Bond will share what she’s learned with 150 people. That means UPFRONT principles and lessons have reached 120,000 people. We want to times that by 8 in the next two years and you are the key.

Here’s how you can help

• Join The Fifth Bond
• Talk to your boss about UPFRONT
• Invite me to come and give a talk?to your team
• Follow UPFRONT on Instagram
• Sign up for our weekly newsletter
• Enrol your team in The Fifth Bond
• Write for us about your experience of these themes
• Buy someone the gift of The Bond
• Share this article with three people
• Send The Bond 5 page to three people

What we are doing here really works. Take Mariana’s, First Bond graduate, word for it

“I thought UPFRONT would be one glittery explosion to yank me out of my forever rut, but instead it’s been an endless renewable resource of multiple touchpoints, ups and downs, and helping hands along the way. I came in with one specific giant hurdle to overcome at UPFRONT - to get over the mental and workflow blocks that will allow me to put out more content into the world, because my career depends on it. To quantify, I’m still only at 30% of my goal, but I was operating at 5% for all of my life, so this is a huge win. Thank you UPFRONT”

Taking power is an incredible thing to do.

If you choose to spend time with me you will begin to work and think 10, 100, 1000 times bigger. It’ll feel like a very warm hug and a kick up the bum at the same time.?

Together we learn to swim through the sea of prejudice we are all drowning in. We build, we tell stories, ask questions and build a movement that has generosity, inclusion and kindness at its core.????????

Community, action, and hope are vital right now - we need a safe, inclusive space where we can be ourselves in all our states of joy, celebration, anger, and activism.

Now, for the love of the fucking universe let’s jump in, let’s build a confidence revolution.?

We are the change. You. Me. And her. We are the feminist overhaul. UPFRONT is what you do with your anger, your frustration, your compassion and your energy.??

Let’s go.