29 Nov The Misrepresented Diaries//Madina’s Entry

Empower’em is a platform for women of colour to share their experiences and so, with that being said, this will be a category on our blog consisting of small anecdotes in which women recall themselves being misidentified and underrepresented.

It’s almost 2020 and it’s crazy to think that the world has survived this long. Most people don’t seem to think that the earth will survive past 2030, which is scary to think about. But what is even scarier is that we have evolved so much, but very slowly; It’s not fast enough. A little more than 100 years ago, women were not able to work in high executive roles, if not at all. They were placed in demeaning roles such as being a housewife or a secretary; basically, anything that was under a man. We were always taught for hundreds of years that we had to make them happy and basically do everything for them; a definition of a housewife. Men are physically stronger than us, but women are emotionally stronger. We are able to manage all the challenges and adversity that we face throughout our lifetime.

It is hard enough to be a woman, imagine throwing in religion, having a different skin colour, culture, or disability. Being a woman alone is considered to be a minority, because of the adversity and challenges we face. Even though the female population is far greater than the male population. I am not trying to hate on men, I just wanted to articulate the challenges and differences that occur in a woman’s life vs. a man’s. In certain industries today, women are not taken seriously or face sexual harassment in the workplace. It can be a challenge to be a woman in the 21st century, no matter how far we’ve come.

Which is why we need more representation in the workforce, in jobs that are typically “male-dominated.” We need more black female entrepreneurs, Muslim female firefighters, Sikh prime ministers. Those are just some examples of industries that do not have those kinds of representation. Statistics show if a male and female gave the exact same pitch for a business idea to investors, the male entrepreneur would receive the funds 60% of the time, and the female entrepreneur would receive the funds 20% of the time. 

We also need to change the way of thinking that you can’t do something because of your age or race. Nothing is impossible when you live in Canada, there are opportunities for everyone. It may be challenging because you may get passed on the job because of the way you look. They may not tell you to your face, however, it is evident; I have experienced this myself growing up as a black female hijabi. When I used to wear a hijab, I was always told: “Wow you are actually so chill, I thought you would be judgemental tbh.” This never made sense to me. How could I look judgemental when I was always so friendly and easy-going? All I can say is that when I took my hijab off, I never heard anyone say that give me that comment. It’s like people put you in a box and categorize how you are going to act based on what you look like. The Muslim community is very much underrepresented by what is told in the media and by certain Muslims themselves. I can honestly say that even I was misinformed by the true beauty of this religion as well.

These changes tend to take time, but for those that are as ambitious as I am will make these changes happen. It takes more than one person to create a movement that will stick. But it is also important to keep the right attitude to be able to achieve these accomplishments. Let’s stop fighting one another, and start helping each other grow.

Sincerely,

Madina