Photo Credit: Matt Sales
When was the last time you remember empowering another woman? Even if you struggle to come up with an instance, chances are you do it a lot more than you think! The act of empowering women may sound like it takes a lot of work, dedication, and energy, but it’s actually quite simple to empower your fellow sisters every single day—and we hope to show you just how! You can easily weave these tiny practices into your day to uplift the women around you. While many women compete with each other, we truly are better when we work together. Whether empowering other women comes easy or hard, hopefully, these techniques will show you how you can infuse empowerment into your day-to-day.
Give a Compliment
There are so many ways to support the women around you. A simple way to empower someone is with a compliment. Can you think of a time when another woman complimented you on your hair, cute plus-size clothes, or on a project you did at work? How did that make you feel? We bet you were on cloud nine for the rest of the day. Something as simple and easy as a compliment really stands to make a huge impact on someone, and you’ll also feel great making someone else feel good.
If you’re looking for an interesting experiment, try giving people compliments more often and notice how you feel throughout the day and how many smiles you put on someone’s face.
Show Digital Love
Whether you’re an influencer or your social media profile just for fun, women can uplift and support each other by sharing them with their digital audience! If you’re really loving a woman-owned business or you admire an influencer who is part of the body positivity movement, you can easily share their content or post a sweet little love note on your page to show them that you support them! While this post may seem effortless and easy, it has the potential to really help small creators and businesses you love.
Speak Up
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed another woman to speak on your behalf or amplify your voice? Women can easily step in to amplify another woman’s voice—especially in the workplace. If you notice a fellow co-worker has great ideas but never gets the opportunity to put them in front of management or speak up during a work meeting, you could always back her or ask for her opinion during a meeting. Putting your confidence in another woman can really make them feel confident and worthy, especially in the workplace.
Coffee on Me
Want to show your bestie or boss that you’re thinking about them? Treat them to a cup of coffee or Venmo them for Margarita Mondays. Something as simple as a gesture like this can let your friends know that you support and care about them.
Get to Know the Women in Congress
Learning about the women in congress who are constantly fighting for women’s rights on the front lines is incredibly empowering not only for you but everyone around you. Whether you follow them on social media or donate to their campaign, familiarizing yourself with their causes supports them directly. By getting to know the issues they fight for, you can determine additional ways to step up and empower women in your community.
Volunteer at a Women’s Shelter
If you like to give back and support women in need, you can always volunteer your time at a women’s shelter. If you can’t find a women’s shelter near you that is accepting volunteers, you can always assemble small baggies filled with important feminine items like wet cloths, tampons and pads, Tylenol, and bottles of water and distribute these to homeless women in your area.
Join a Women’s Leadership Network
If you work in an industry that is mostly male-dominated, you can either join or start a women’s leadership network to help propel the careers of women around you. Women’s leadership networks are critical in bringing women together and making a difference in particular industries. If your industry doesn’t have a network like this, try to create one! What better way to support women in your field than to let them know that they always have a place to come and feel supported?
Girl Group Texts
If you are a really thoughtful friend, you may want to start a girl gang group text! Assemble a group of women you love to keep in contact with and send them a note weekly or daily to start their morning off right. You can include inspirational quotes or graphics that inspire everyone to live their best lives. This text is sure to put a smile on your friends’ faces.
Shop Women-Owned Businesses
What are some places you frequently shop at? Do you know if those companies are run by men or women? Only 40% of businesses are woman-owned, which means we probably get our products from companies that don’t employ women at higher levels. But there are other alternatives! Empowering female entrepreneurs elevates the entire community and also ensures that women have products that are a better fit for them. Next time you shop at a big-box retailer for plus-size party dresses, see if you can find women-owned boutiques instead!
Donate
If you have extra funds to put toward a great cause, research charities or initiatives that back women and help propel them with a donation! For example, Girls Who Code helps empower young women who want to get into male-dominated fields like coding and programming.
There are so many ways you can uplift the women around you! So, whether you’re a pro at supporting your sisters or you’re just getting started, start off your day by paying someone a compliment!
