Human TuneUp Column by Cath
Great news for the human race: public-speaking women!
It used to be thought that if a woman spoke in public, she was violating the God-given nature of women. Oy.
There was a time when girls were forbidden to speak in public.
There are women who talk of having to practice public speaking
secretly in the woods.
Among the first women to speak in public, for women’s rights, were Fanny Wright who was then described as a “red harlot of infidelity.” Ernestine Rose who also spoke publicly was described as “a woman one thousand times below a prostitute.”
Not exactly encouraging words. No wonder we were publicly quiet for so long.
We’ve been listening to the male voices among us for the last 2000 years.
Men fill the roster of speakers at conferences; use most of the air time in
management meetings; engage in unsought mansplaining. (Defined: explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as
condescending or patronizing.)
But, I’m encouraged. There are now out-loud-wonderings from conference attendees: Where are the women speakers? That’s a very good sign.
As a public speaker for decades, and often with a no-access-to-the-main-stage feeling in the past, I am glad to be alive and be a public speaker in these times, on the main stage at last.
Like most women speakers, I have so much to add: http://www.humantuneup.com.
The good news for our human race? Women are no longer in the woods with our voices. Women are out in droves speaking publicly more than ever with messages our world definitely needs now. Watch the world improve.
Cath DeStefano, Speaker, Author, Artist
Website: http://www.humantuneup.com
Email: HumanTuneUp@Live.com
Category: Education, Life Style
