08/03/2022
We've been so lucky to work with outstanding entrepreneurs and Wine Lab is the best! In celebration of International Women's Day, check out her story, support her incredible wine business and other female-lead businesses today! We each have a story that explains our greatness, today is a day to listen and support!
The International Women's Day website asks us to imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. They ask us to celebrate women's achievement, raise awareness against bias, and take action for equality.
Women have come a long way in achieving these goals, and we still have a long way to go. I became an attorney at 24 years old. Even though it was illegal for interviewers to ask me my plans about children in the future, it still seemed I had "baby-maker" tattooed on my forehead, a struggle that male lawyers my age didn't face. At professional trainings and seminars, I was instructed to wear black (or other neutral colors) and not smile in order to be taken seriously. This was not the advice given to the men in these trainings.
My achievements, including graduating law school with two concentrations (litigation and employment law), chairing fundraising activities for my chapter of Phi Alpha Delta, or trying over 75 cases in my first year of practice seemed irrelevant to potential employers. I watched as a male attorney that *I had trained* had his salary increased above mine despite the fact that he had never once stood in front of a jury. When I raised this issue with my male employer, he responded that I shouldn't be talking with other lawyers about their salaries. Which, by the way, is against the law. As you can imagine, I left that job shortly thereafter.
Like so many other women, I could write a novel with my personal stories about being treated inequitably simply because of the gender that I was born with. In fact, ONLY YESTERDAY, I went into a butcher shop and asked if my dog could enter. The shop owner jokingly replied, "Sure, dogs are allowed, just not women". To be fair to the butcher, I'm not sure he has left his shop since 1955.
The time for complaining is over. The time for action is now.
Ilana Lowy A Creative Life Solution
