Editor’s Perspective: 28th February 2019 Issue
“I want every little girl who’s told she’s bossy to be told instead that she has leadership skills” Sheryl Sandberg
My daughter was pretty upset the day she found out she was getting a little brother delivered and not the little sister she had been pinning all her hopes and dreams on. “I’ll be honest mum,” she said to me on the way home from the scan, “I really liked the idea of having a little sister who would look up to me.”
“But honey,” I said to her, “don’t you realise how important your role as the sister of a little boy will be?”
“How so?”
“Well, that little brother of yours is likely to grow up to become someone’s husband, possibly even someone’s father, so that leaves you and me to teach him how to grow up to love and respect women and know the right way to treat them.”
Well I’m not sure how much she bought the hormonally-driven speech, but considering being Johnny on the spot isn’t my greatest virtue, I think I did a pretty good job of it.
It also got me thinking about the future and what I’m most excited about is how our worlds are opening up with possibilities; the fact that if through being a great big sister my daughter decides that leadership is her kind of thing, then she is going to have every chance she wants to nurture this.
That to me is one of the greatest accomplishments of women to this day – the freedom of choice.
