The 21st century is the age when we witness the heightened determination of women to change the status quo. Feminism is at an all-time high, and women are beginning to push beyond the shores of what was initially considered possible.
We have seen a load of powerful women in various spheres of life – in leadership, career, wealth, education, science, technology, and so on. The number still keeps increasing, despite some unfriendly ideologies and mindsets against women.
On the topic of how to be a powerful woman in the 21st century, we tend to ask ourselves a few questions. What makes a woman powerful in the 21st century, and how can I become very powerful in the 21st century?
In this post, we will find out how you can be a super-powerful woman in the 21st century. These tips are simpler than you imagined.
There are several areas you can unleash your power as a woman. These include business, politics/leadership, career, etc. Let’s start with politics.
How to become a very powerful woman in politics
In recent times, we have seen women demonstrate exceptional abilities and efficiency in the area of politics. This is as against the previously known conception that only men should be allowed to hold public offices.
Here are some things to make you stand out as a woman in politics. Most of these qualities are also helpful to men who desire to lead well in politics. Only that, women seem to naturally lack some of these more than men.
1. Be confident
Because of an already-established social prejudice, many women may feel less of themselves. They may not be very confident in public because they are of the belief that women should act fearfully in public.
Of note, no one can take your confidence away from you. Your confidence should also not be defined by what you have or don’t have. For example, being a short woman (height) should not make you feel less confident all the time.
There is a clear divide between confidence and arrogance. You can be confident and still be respectful. If your confidence turns out to be arrogance, clear defiance, or rebellion, people might turn out to reject you more. This applies both to men and women.
2. Resilience
Being able to resist external pressure is one leadership attribute that most women lack. People will get on your nerves, and it is okay to flare up or become emotional but this should not be at the slightest occasion.
As a woman, if you respond to every action or word towards you in an emotional way, either by crying or expressing rage, you make yourself unfit to lead. People will automatically exclude you from receiving any leadership or political positions.
Once people see that you are a resilient woman, that becomes a big plus to you in your political pursuit because women are very efficient leaders once these minor setbacks are eliminated.
3. Avoid struggling with men for rights and sovereignty
I repeat, you don’t have to antagonize men to gain sovereignty. You, as a woman, need to understand your special nature and agree that there are differences among the genders.
The law of comparative advantage, which is a law in the international economy, talks about the need for nations to specialize in products/services that give them a higher advantage over other nations. You don’t have to compete directly with men for recognition.
You just need to focus on what makes you stand out objectively. It does not have to be a fight against the men because once you turn it into a battle, you will never get the support of men on the political stage.
4. Utilize your strengths
Nature has put women in a weaker state by default. I am talking in terms of physical strength. Beginning with the monthly ‘period’ that makes them lose a lot of blood, to responsibilities of childbearing and related complications.
Despite these, women have their own strengths over men, in terms of intellectual, emotional, and psychosocial abilities. Empathy, compassion, ‘motherliness’, and selective decisiveness (selective because women can act spontaneously, especially when it has to do with their children) are some qualities that are naturally seen in women in great doses.
Women are also loaded with a powerful ability of persuasion and diplomacy. They are loved by all, including men and children. These are innate strengths and abilities important for great leadership, politics, and peacekeeping.
Also from the law of comparative advantage, maximizing your strengths can put you at a more advantageous position.
With the rise of social movements to facilitate the active participation of women in every sector in the 21st century, women now have a better opportunity to showcase their built-in strengths and abilities.
How to Become a Powerful Woman in your Career
Exploring your career as a woman is not very easy because there are a lot of societal limitations to what a woman can do or not. Sometimes, society is right. Other times, they are wrong.
For example, encouraging a woman to do manual jobs like lifting heavy bags of load for the same amount they pay most men may not be an efficient use of strength. It would be constituting more harm than good in the long run. Women are not so fitted to do some kinds of jobs, no matter how much they desire to.
1. Be a go-getter
A go-getter is someone who goes for what they want until they get it. This demonstrates a high level of determination and resilience in achieving your desired goals.
To become a powerful woman in any career of your choice, you need to be determined against what anyone else thinks. No one will motivate you more than you motivate yourself.
You can do anything you put your mind to.
2. Have a clear goal in mind
Having a clear goal is central to achieving great results. Your goals give you direction and improve your focus. Without having a clear goal, everything can be overwhelming and confusing to you.
The majority of women do not have a clear sense of direction for their own lives in the future. Some of them believe that their future husband would be the one to direct their life’s trajectory. This can be counterproductive to a woman’s career.
Marriage is not a reason to give up your own dreams, even though flexibility is required. You have to align your dream plans with those of your partner. That is why you need to consider them before you decide to marry anyone.
Once your goals are crystal clear in your mind, there is really no limit to how much you can achieve them as a woman. Women are practical people once the vision is clear to them. Harness this ability.
3. Be independent
Having an independent mindset is crucial to becoming powerful in your career as a woman. This mindset emphasizes that you can be or get anything you want without relying on someone else.
Society has naturally placed men on the giving side and women on the receiving side of things. This is a good thing considering other biological changes a woman’s body goes through monthly.
However, as a woman, you can think about achieving your own financial and career needs without relying on anyone else.
4. Believe in yourself
Amazingly, many women do not believe in their own capabilities. They think they do not have what it takes to achieve great feats by themselves.
You need to accept that you are intellectually capable of doing anything you put your mind to. Physically, women might be weaker than men but intellectually, there is not much difference if you put in the required work.
It is true that women think differently from men. And while some would argue otherwise, studies have shown that women use their brains more efficiently than men do, and excel in several areas of the brain over others, including memory, speech, language, and imagination.
Men’s brains use one hemisphere at a time, thus more focused on their brain activity. Females, on the other hand, use a great portion of both hemispheres together making them better at multi-tasking.
In summary, women are capable of being productive if they believe in their ability to do so. You have all it takes. Just believe and think about how to go about it.
Social power is one’s ability to maintain composure in public, put up a good image, and influence people in their social cycle.
Here are some ways to become a powerful woman socially.
1. Learn to avoid worrying too much about the past
Everyone worries about their past mistakes but men seem to move on faster than most women. Your ability to stop worrying about the past is important in maintaining social composure in public.
Feeling guilty for what is past does not make you any stronger emotionally. It breaks you down into a cycle of guilt and shame that can affect how socially interactive you are.
This ability to let go of the past not only benefits you socially but also has immense benefits politically, and professionally (in your career), as well as in relation to health and wellbeing.
2. Keep your mouth to avoid sharing secrets indiscriminately
Women are known to talk more than men, which is one of their major weak points affecting them socially, politically, and professionally.
Your ability to control your mouth from sharing too much information is one quality that can make you stand out as a woman. This can improve your social standing/status anywhere you find yourself, as opposed to someone who talks indiscriminately.
Secrets should remain secrets because that is what they are. Imagine sharing someone’s secret with other people and they find out. This can ruin your social image before them, and your influence and composure may be impaired as a result.
3. Avoid overthinking
Attaching more meanings than intended is an aggravating behaviour that can spoil the moment, cause conflict, and make people avoid you as much as possible.
Overthinking makes you take unnecessary actions or give unwarranted responses to people in your daily encounters with them. This can affect how much influence you wield on other people in the social space.
Discipline yourself to take people by what they say and mean, instead of analyzing it too deeply. That way, you won’t condemn people you shouldn’t condemn.
Capacity is more than gender
There are many other domains where you can become a powerful woman, suffice me to end only with the three above. However, while it might be difficult to become truly powerful in certain domains like leadership/politics, the actual importance of capacity outweighs that of gender only.
Whether male or female, genuine people are more interested in what you can do than what sex you belong to. Becoming a powerful woman entails that you shed off the shells of gender or diffuse its effects, and then showcase what you are capable of.
Once people see your inherent capacity, they will come to respect you for who you are and you will become that powerful woman you have always wanted to be.
How to Develop The Skills Above
Now that you know the importance of the above skills in areas of politics, career, and social interactions, how can you develop these abilities?
First, get books to read. Read books about leadership, career, and/or public influence. There are a lot of books like that. A simple Google search for relevant keywords will show you a lot to choose from.
Secondly, to develop yourself and become a super-powerful woman, have role models who are women doing great exploits in their respective fields and learn about how they achieved such feats.
Last but not least, you need to be deliberate about your actions and their outcomes. Evaluate yourself. For example, in the aspect of self-confidence, how far have you gone? What are some things you have tried? How helpful are they? This way you can track your progress and improve faster.
Conclusion
Becoming a powerful woman in the 21st century is very possible and feasible if done the right way. This post highlighted some major domains to work on if you want to become a powerful woman in areas of politics and leadership, career and professional development, as well as social influence, in this 21st century.
If you have anything you have tried that is working for you, or you need any further clarifications, kindly drop them in the comment section below.
