Community - Why is it essential for women, people who identify as women and minority groups?

Community is an essential part of one’s life. Whether you believe it or not, you are surrounded and supported by a community or communities in many aspects of your life. From school to sporting teams, workplaces and your local neighbourhood. Women are a part of all these communities but are seen as a minority. These communities are not always built for us, sometimes they silence us, label us and put us in a box we struggle to get out of.

This is why purpose build communities are our saving grace and bring us closer together. They allow us to share stories and experiences, support ourselves and others, unlearn what we are told to believe about ourselves and build better communities to support future generations.

We’re seeing a rise in female-led communities, which, for the first time in a long time, has helped us expose our sufferings and challenges and allowed us to celebrate our triumphs. 

One example that comes to mind is we have always heard the saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’. But for so long, we have ignored this and been made to believe we have to do it alone- raising a child, managing home and work, etc. 

With the power of community, we have realised this is all BS. We are now stepping out to bring our fellow mums closer. And we support each other. 

We don’t have to tell you that women face significant challenges in everyday life. 

From discrimination at work, pregnancy (case and point, right here) and parenthood, health and society. Take a quick look around us and we can see the everyday things we use that aren’t built to save or protect a woman's life. You only have to read Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men Book by Caroline Criado-Perez to see this in black and white.

An example is the seatbelt, which is built around the male body. But thankfully, to lobbying and research, the first female crash dummy is now being used and tested. And this is all down to women coming together and fighting for change. 

This leads us to share with you why having a private, safe community space for your female lead brand - for women, people with ovaries and people who identify as women is essential to support the change we need in the world. 

Six reasons community is essential.

Female lead communities provide more empathy. 

Women have for years, too many years* have been made to conform to environments where masculine energy dominates the nature of how women have had to adapt and conform in society.

*To be exact, since the 1400s, when we were being burned at the stake for demonstrating witchcraft when all we were doing was working with our feminine energy and our cycles. Remember Joan of Arch!

So how can we reshape this? 

Creating female lead communities encourages women to work in a way that nurtures and flows with our feminine energy. 

Empathy is not a value you often come by in a masculine-dominated environment. Instead, it’s often dominated by aggression or a need to be assertive. Ego comes into play here. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern puts this perfectly, “One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow because I’m empathetic, I’m weak. I totally rebel against it. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate and strong”.

Her leadership style and empathetic nature have led to greater trust within the nation. As a result of her empathetic nature, stronger communities have formed in New Zealand, improving the lives of minority groups and allowing them to be heard. 

Communities provide safe spaces for women to be listened to and understood.

Women need more safe spaces. Forming safe spaces to facilitate open discussion will ensure women have their voices heard.

These safe spaces should be free of judgement to encourage openness about the woman’s experience. Communities can thrive by understanding and listening to others when provided with a secure space to share stories.

Communities are a place of trust and when people feel safe and trusted they open up. When they open up, we can hear their stories and make changes that can support women better.

Being simply open to listening will allow others to feel safe to open up. From here, we can make changes and support women better.

We see this in a community we run called Project Women by Abi Adams . A community that supports hundreds of women overcome their outdated, low energy and hard approach to health beliefs — changing the way they see, feel and treat themselves.

By having the community, they have a safe space to talk about anything from period health to menopause. The community have built trust with Abi and with our work and support, Project Women is one step closer to lobbying for more significant change in women’s health standards in the UK, because the are listening to their community! (More on lobbying and advocacy below) 

Communities empower women.  

Empowerment: “the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.”

When women have a sense of community, we empower them to do great things. No, actually, incredible things.

Sharing access to education and information to communities of women empowers them to learn and unlearn and create better opportunities for one another. 

We work in a community called Found and Flourish. Every day we see women coming together, sharing their stories, connecting and making a better life for themselves and their businesses.

Working in the Found and Flourish community, we have seen women start their businesses with little to no knowledge of being self-employed. But with the support of Lara, the Founder, and a cheers squad of other female founders, they have created a brand, concept and strategic direction for their businesses.

Shh, don’t tell anyone, but we are one of them… 

Communities provide a place of belonging.

When women are given space to have cheerleaders, allies and a support network, it provides a place of belonging. When we belong, we feel less lonely in the world. Loneliness can silence us and in the end, progress doesn’t happen. 

For many years women have been forced into a state of mind that we have to do it all and do it alone. From the maternal and nurturer narrative to beauty standards, we have been played against each other and sometimes by each other. We don’t feel like we belong anywhere.

Community allows us to come together and break down the barriers and the old ways of thinking. Unlearn the old schools of thought about women's place in society and form stronger bonds and friendships through a place of belonging. Community gives us a space to connect, relate to one another and break down the stereotypes and anxieties we may have been exposed to about what it is to be a woman.

They Facilitate Advocacy and Change. 

So how do we give women a voice?

being in a community gives women a voice when they may not have had one before. Breaking down barriers in collaborative communities will create change and help communities lobby for the change we need to see in the world. We must be there for one another and advocate for each other. 

Pregnant then Screwed are HUGE advocates and lobby to change the landscape of women’s health, life and parenthood. Their many fabulous campaigns feature the issues that a large number of our community care about or something that disproportionately impacts Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic women. 

“LET'S TALK ABOUT SIX” is Pregnant then Screwed’s recent campaign for better paternity leave. They’re calling on the Government to make new parents leave the norm. This would offer all new parents a minimum of six weeks of paid leave at 90% of their salary when they become new parents.

Without their community, without giving them the voice to be heard, pressing for change would be difficult. This is why we love Pregnant then Screwed as the perfect example for advocating and shifting the nature of the world women are ‘supposed’ to work in. The community has been a significant factor in allowing this all to come together and happen so successfully. 

Fundamental, right(s)?

So why is it essential to have a passionate community manager specialising in this space?

Building communities is one thing, but a commitment to always ‘doing the work’ is crucial to forming inclusive communities where change happens. And voices are listened to. 

Learning and researching important topics and listening to the stories of those in your community to influence change is a must-do role for a community manager. 

This article on Yourstory states, “Women often end up getting trapped in unconscious patterns of behaviour, which are detrimental to their growth and success. To put it across very simply, empowering women is about sharing your experiences with one another in hopes that your words and actions will inspire and more importantly, uplift them. It is all about helping other women enhance and enrich themselves.”

Here at Sense and Forum, we are dedicated to doing the research, listening in the communities we run and providing the best solutions to our clients so they can continue to create safe communities for women, people with ovaries and people who identify as women.

Many community managers focus on growth, engagement and strategies, we do all that. It is second nature to us.

But what we are truly passionate about is creating diverse and safe spaces for minority groups, especially women lead communities.

Ready to unleash your feminine superpowers and curate a community that rocks? Pop in a discovery call and let’s learn more about your community needs.