Three of the areas we need to work on are :
Lifting as we climb . That means we look around and , we say , who is not sitting within our circle that needs to sit within our circle . Who is not at the table that needs to be at the table ? Who else should we include in this conversation ?
We must have a pipeline for those coming behind us because someone went before us . As we think about the women behind us and within our peer group , we must facilitate and help ' her work ' and , if possible , make her visible . Being a woman is so unique . Being a woman and embracing that womanhood is powerful but also terrifying .
Photographer : Moses Worrell Photography Stylist : Leah Johnson Make-up Artist : Jackalyn Stepps
We also diminish each other by applying a rating scale , and some women will get more points than other women based on a patriarchal and colonial system . To provide some examples , If you sell in the coronation market ( Jamaican ground produce market ), never married , are more African in your phenotype , and the list continues , then you don ' t get as many points . We need to do better because we have womanhood as a commonality , and that binds us together . If we remove these artificial constructs , at the core , our struggles are no different . I have friends who are lawyers who have marital and emotional experiences that parallel a woman who is a housekeeper . We need to treat each other better and stop rating each other on what I call artificial scales . When I got married , women would say to me , " Oh Karren , I see you married Randall ." I had to correct them and say , " Wait up ! He is not the prize ". " I am the prize ," and I expressed that sentiment before him .