A message for International Women's Day

What does it mean to be a woman.

Does being a mother make you a woman ?

Having a career ?

Having the perfect body or partner ?

Today we talk about women's rights and equality. Yet somewhere along the line rather than a women's community.. I see a prevalent women's divide. I see woman against woman.

We are our biggest critics, we continue to judge each other based on our careers , on our relationship statuses, our ability to hold our life together or the worst of all.. what we wear.. including the colour or our lipstick.

Last month, I had an unwanted experience with a man. When I spoke about it to another sister - I was told, what do you expect - with that red lipstick.

I was taken aback by this. What does the colour of my lipstick have to do with my experiences. Sure , I get colour psychology - but to say that every time I wear red lipstick I'm asking for unwanted attention is absurd.

Whats more absurd was this statement came from another sister. Had it come from a man I would have written it off, but that it came from a fellow of the same sex was hurtful.

I feel in our race for women's empowerment- perhaps we women have lost the fine balance of our femininity and masculinity.

We've become so aggressive in the race to prove how equal we are to the men- that we're crushing our own sisters.

As women , our strength lies in compassion and acceptance. Wisdom and caring. The other woman is not the enemy. Nor is the man.

The ego is.

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If we were to spend time empowering rather than comparing or overpowering, the world would be a different place. Kali has her place, but too much Kali will destroy everything you love and seek. Which is why the energy of Parvati is needed to balance her out. They are both sides of the same coin.

Take a moment to look at your sisters and try to understand where they have come from. What causes them to be the way they are ? Can you hold space , can you love them as they are ? Or can you only love if they are they way you feel they should be ?

As we come back to our feminine wisdom and compassion in which there lies much power, perhaps even the men in our life would feel more at ease. Men seem to have lost their sense of purpose, as we take over their place in the world. Leaving them with a lot of energy that they do not know how to express.

So lets do ourselves a favour this women's day - Lets look at our sisters as equals, lets accept ourselves - for it is then we can expect others to accept us, and we can accept them.