Trauma Work Empowers Women and Changes the World
Trauma healing and women’s empowerment have always been one and the same battlefield for me. Both of them light a fire that burns deep in my belly, a mix of fury, rage, and passion alongside compassion, hope, and love. They are the causes that I devote my life to and have cried many tears at both the beautiful vision of what’s possible and the current version of reality. I’ve walked these path’s as both an individual who has experienced trauma, as a woman who has experienced disempowerment for being a woman, and as an activist who sees the possibility of massive systems change and a different future.
How do they overlap for me?
Trauma and sexism…
are disempowering and impact your sense of self worth
can put you in a freeze, fight, flight, fawn response in an instant
impact your ability to live and thrive
perpetuate inequality and discrimination
are both rooted in systemic oppression and discrimination
Healing trauma and fighting for women’s rights…
leads to empowerment and courage as well as compassion and forgiveness
leads to stronger relationships, organizations and societies
require national awareness, advocacy, and policy and cultural changes to create lasting change
They are inextricably linked in that they can both be the root cause of the other; some root causes of trauma are gender based violence and some gender based violence can be rooted in trauma. It’s hard to address one without running into the other.
A Culture That Needs Changing
Though women’s rights seem to have come in strides from Seneca Falls, the Suffrage movement, the right to vote, and fight for reproductive rights and against domestic violence, I find today’s statistics and underlying cultural acceptance of violence (emotional, physical or sexual) against women (and children) totally archaic.
According to the UN, 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. In some countries, up to 70% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Only 40% of women who experience violence seek help or report the abuse due to various reasons.
The prevailing attitudes and culture of acceptance of abuse and violence towards women is something we must work to change together as a society. It is a necessary shift in consciousness in order to reach greater global health, education, peace, and well-being.
Healing Trauma Empower Women and Changes the World
Working to heal trauma is the way I have chosen to empower women and change the world. As I witness women heal themselves, I see them become advocates for others. When they speak out for themselves, they help others recognize their own strength. Once a woman recognizes the path of healing trauma is inextricably linked to fighting systemic oppression, discrimination, and gender based violence, we cannot help but start feeling the fire to change the whole damn thing.
How does this happen on micro and macro levels?
Empowering others: We recognize healing trauma means empowerment, regaining control back over our lives, and the enablement of creating the lives we want to live. We become living proof of change and take on the role of helping others escape violence and oppression
Creating a more just society: We recognize that there are societal conditions that continue to perpetuate trauma and harm to women. We become advocates for change in our families, households, communities, organizations, and in policy
Awareness and education: As we heal, we bring awareness to the problems we’ve seen and experienced, we call for more education, better mental health treatment, and more resources to be focused on solutions
These outcomes are non-linear and happen on all levels simultaneously.
And this work of healing trauma and fighting for women’s rights is also for the world. Women, men, people who have experienced trauma, non-abled bodies, LGBTQIA+, all have differing perspectives, voices, opinions, and experiences. Standing for the values of a inclusive world where all voices can be heard instead of one dominant voice allows us to be a more representative society. This creates more compassion, collaboration, and social cohesion instead of the non-sustainable competitive and conflict ridden ways. This also extends into the treatment of our planet. The way we harm each other, the way we treat women, is a mirror to how we value the earth, our great mother.
For this Woman’s Day, I celebrate and honor the deep work that has happened so far in the field of trauma healing and women’s rights, all of the efforts of those who have come before us, and all of the efforts of those who are fighting, healing, growing, changing, and holding the vision for a more just, peaceful, and non-violent future and a thriving planet.
And for today, let’s work to help those who have been victimized to have opportunities for healing, health, thriving, connection, opportunities and loving relationships. And a tomorrow where being victimized is no longer the norm but a fading past.