STOREYLAND COACHING FOR WOMEN
Changing the world for women one story at a time...
THE BIGGER PICTURE FOR WOMEN
There are 2 BIG reasons why women so often feel frustrated with their lives. Reasons that are NOT their fault.
#1 Society is not ready...
Our society is not ‘set up’ to CREATE, hold, support, value, and nurture powerful, fulfilled, visible women, living their full potential.
That means infrastructure, healthcare, politics, economics, leisure and culture are designed on outdated principles that don't entirely meet the unique needs of women from a diverse range of backgrounds.
This is because of centuries of sex and gender and cultural biases, and, generally, fewer opportunities for women and girls.
And so society is not ‘set up’ to BENEFIT from the full impact of powerful, fulfilled, valued, visible women.
#2 Unhelpful limitations...
Women are, unknowingly, shaped individually and collectively by old beliefs belonging to outdated social norms, stereotypes, limitations, and experiences.
So whilst women know that they are capable of more, or deserve better, they experience limitations not of their making that can be extremely difficult to tackle on their own.
This causes frustration that can feel like we, as individuals, are at fault. Women face challenges and often think, when they find it difficult to overcome them, that the problem lies with them.
My unique programmes help women to understand frustrations so that they can create new futures - for themselves whilst, at the same time, for ALL women.
The REAL Reasons Women Feel Frustrated
Women and girls today exist in a confused and tumultuous world where a historical background of sex and gender prejudice is coming up against a brand-new future of opportunity that has never been available before now.
There is tension between
'struggle' and
'opportunity'.
On the one hand, women (along with all people who are non-gender-binary or trans) have experienced discrimination, oppression and inequality because of their sex or gender expression for such a long time. And the more disadvantaged the woman, the greater discrimination or inequality she is likely to have experienced.
And that has left indelible scars, created deep rooted and unhelpful social attitudes and devalued women and their voices, ignoring and missing out on their power and potential.
Whilst on the other hand, there is greater equality in law than ever, more female leaders than ever, more and better opportunities for girls than ever and women are more visible than ever in sport, in the media, in politics and in science, tech and engineering.
In some aspects of life, it seems that, amid all the real opportunities that women face today, some women are actually facing regression in their rights, opportunities and voices: take abortion rights, body shaming, rise in mental health problems, sexual violence, the gender pay gap, the gender data gap, gender bias in healthcare. For most people, our society's infrastructure, attitudes and politics have not yet caught up with a 'notional' improvement in gender equality.
And it is for these reasons that so many women feel frustrated, blocked, oppressed, silenced and invisible. The problem does NOT lie with women themselves and yet so many of us feel there is something wrong with US.
We cannot change society overnight. But we CAN change the way we use our power as women to take up our rightful places in society. We CAN change how we 'ARE'; how we see ourselves, how we tackle our challenges, how we support each other and how we rise.
I offer unique coaching or mentoring programmes for women to do just that. I work with you to understand the challenges you face today by understanding the truths hidden in your story and the real reasons for your frustration. I work with you to find the '3 Keys To Unlocking Your Power' and guide you to find new ways to face the future. A future that is better for YOU and, inadvertently, for every other woman and girl in your life.
A WORD ABOUT MEN
We often use words like 'patriarchy' or 'misogyny' to describe the circumstances, or even the reason, for why so many women experience the inequality they do in our society today. And these are words that are very relevant for some people.
My approach in coaching and mentoring women is not founded in a negative view about men. Quite the opposite. I believe men are experiencing their own struggles with manhood, gender expression and masculinity in our society. Many men recognise, quite as ably as women, that sex and gender inequality is rife, unhelpful and outdated. Many men want to see change, want to be part of that change, and want to experience the benefits from that change. And it is my belief that THESE men outnumber those who do not.
But men cannot make the change that is needed in society FOR women. The days of men making change FOR women are over. That is not to say that, in my opinion, men should be passive bystanders. Which is why, part of my 'bigger picture' work includes working with, and alongside, men.
My Work in Leading Change for the Bigger Picture
My passion for creating change for women is two-fold. I work with women individually to equip, empower and enable them to use their power to step into their full potential. At the same time, I lead a project in my county that aims to change society as a whole for women.
The project aims to create a Women's Charter that will do 3 bold things. It will publish the evidence about the reality of inequality in our county (and beyond) so that everyone understands the facts and knows what needs to be done. Secondly, it sets out clearly, the standards women should be able to expect under 10 different areas of life:
- Identity & Inclusion
- Leadership & Politics
- Safety & Justice
- Health, Menstruation & Menopause
- Reproductive Health, Pregnancy & Baby Loss
- Raising Children & Caring Roles
- Education
- Economics & Employment
- Arts, Culture & Nature
- Movement, Sport & Leisure
Thirdly, the charter describes actions that need to be taken to achieve the standards and provides leadership BY women FOR women.
It is my belief that, to tackle gender inequality we need to change the society we live in to improve experiences and circumstances for women AND we need to enable and empower women to fulfil their true potential within that society in order that everyone benefits from their power.