How Women Can Change the World (Part 2 of 2)
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Please note: Our workbook walks you through the process described in this article but in a far more helpful and in-depth way. If you’re really interested in figuring this stuff out, we highly recommend downloading the workbook.
In the first part in this two-part series, we discussed why women have so much power and the basics of how to leverage it. Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of where to start.
The best starting point is to focus on one or two issues you care about and do what you can, where you are, with what you’ve got.
Let’s break that down…
1. Figure out which issue(s) you want to focus on.
This should be a combination of what you care about and what you have access to. This does not need to define you and you can always pick something different. So take the pressure off!
This issue could be anything—from environmental and social issues to political, economic, or cultural issues. It could also be a group, like at-risk youth, people with disabilities, those experiencing homelessness, women, refugees, animals, etc.
For some people, this goes hand-in-hand with discovering and developing their passion. For others, like those who are passionate about a skill or talent or expertise of some kind, this means figuring out how to use your passion in a way that makes a positive impact.
Either way, you need to pick something to focus on. It’s way too overwhelming to try to address all the issues of injustice in the world at the same time. We get compassion fatigue, we get discouraged, or we end up doing stuff higgeldy-pigglety and not making any real progress.
Start by asking yourself these questions:
When was the last time you felt the urge to lecture or correct someone about something? What was it about?
If you could make the world different in one specific way by tomorrow, what would that difference be?
What was the last news story that moved you to tears or filled you with rage?
When was the last time that you heard about an issue and thought to yourself “Someone should do something about that!”
Once you narrow in on the general issue you’d like to contribute to, the next step is to…
2. Figure out what you can do, where you are, with what you’ve got.
The specifics of what each of us can do will be different because we all bring different things to the table, but there are three basic avenues for making effective social change:
You can use your spending, your voice, and your influence. The Spark Change page has an entire section of real-life stories and practical information about how to use each of these change-making strategies. I encourage you to browse through those stories and articles to get a feel for all the different ways these things can look and be inspired to make a difference in your community.
Now, you don’t have to do all of these yourself, you just need to find the one or two that work for you and the issue you care about.
Use your influence:
This simply means making change in a way that helps people around you understand what you’re doing and why. This could be as simple as suggesting a book written by a person of color for your book club, posting about a eco-friendly laundry detergent you found, or wearing a statement t-shirt somewhere it would challenge the people around you.
You can learn more about this middle-out change-making strategy in How to Use Your Influence to Spark Change.
Use your voice:
This means speaking up for something you believe in. The goal of this top-down piece of the puzzle is to change the rules and push the system towards justice and equality. This could be as simple as signing a petition or asking your local coffee shop to use compostable cups, or something as big as organizing a rally, asking your boss to change unjust company policies, or even running for office. Find more information, and more practical ideas, in How to Use Your Voice to Spark Change.
Use your spending:
This means learning how to use your everyday purchases (the things you’re going to buy anyway) to shape the world around you… while keeping in mind that the real power of this tactic lies in the message it sends to global powers and systems.
From learning to tell which products are unethical and rewarding companies for embracing diversity and inclusion, to practicing minimalism with kids, the articles on our Spark Change page will help you leverage your economic power to make a big difference with small changes. Learn more about this bottom-up approach to change in How to Use Your Spending to Spark Change.
Again, you do not have to do all of these!
Just do what you can, where you are, with what you’ve got, on the issues you care about most.
Need some suggestions for small first steps? Here are 12 Easy Ways to Change the World While You Shop.
