"Woman, catch that bacon" (Women in Business II)

(The Internet Debut of the Power Heels, photo by Joanna.)

I can't help flying up on the wings of anticipation.
It's as glorious as soaring through a sunset...
almost pays for the thud.
(Anne Shirley)

Inevitably, it happens.

I'll be in the middle of organizing my life. Entering new appointments into my phone's calendar, emailing potential clients, adding up the to-do list, or downloading new pictures to my harddrive. Its all good. I'm on top of the world. My life is full and happy and exciting and adventurous.

And then.

It starts.

The panic.

My chest tightens, the hyperventilating is thinly masked. My heart races.

This is too much! Where is the time going to come from to get all this done? Will I have to be a hermit and avoid all my friends? I don't want to do the college routine and stay up until 2am every morning!

And then, irrationally: "I can't do it! I'm a failure!"

A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell
how strong she is until you put her in hot water.
(Eleanor Roosevelt)

While acknowledging that I have gone through a phase of female superiority - and male inferiority - I have settled for a balance between conservative traditionalism and enlightened egalitarianism.

We are not inferior, but neither are we superior.

But, I'm not denying that women have a battle when it comes to the business world.

Its traditionally a man's world. No matter how much the world has changed in the past 50 years, despite how many women have advanced degrees and work outside the home and have worked their way up the corporate ladder, there's no denying that this is a man's world. We (the traditional among us, anyway) can't justify extra education when we will eventually hope to settle in with the role of mother. We (the egalitarians) are forced to fight for our equal footing without giving in to the pressure to be a man-basher.

Plus, I have to admit it: we are, um, emotional and, um, we can be irrational.

(Do NOT quote me on that. And, o ye boys who are reading this...don't use my words against me. Pleeeease?! :-P I admitted it. Isn't that enough for you?)

All pioneers are considered to be afflicted with moonstruck madness.
(Gilbert Blythe)

So there we are. Fighting for our place in the business world while battling our insecurities and the petty cat fights and irrational fears. In that way, no matter how many opportunities women have, we will always be handicapped.

Handicapped, I tell you. Especially when starting up our own businesses. We fight the negativity from the men around us, plus we fight our own momentary lapses of confidence. We have to be strong, empowered women ... yet we have to deal with the reality that we do have weaknesses, even if maybe we won't admit it.

And if it makes you feel better, insert "I" every time I wrote "we." I'm pointing no fingers, making no generalizations. Just sharing my journey.


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But, with all that said...I happen to believe that women have the advantage when it comes to photography. I'll explain that next time.