March 3, 2022
“You can be anything. & woman.” – our message for International Women’s Day
by Lena Severin
How do you describe yourself?
I have asked myself this question over and over again throughout my life. And I have explored it again and again. Some answers have always remained the same: creative, open-minded, friendly. Some have emerged over time: reflective, empathetic, thoughtful. Some answers have been formed from formative experiences: fragile, self-critical, combative. Some answers have taken time to really internalize: valuable, lovable, enough. Some have caused me difficulties: perfectionistic, erratic, questioning. And some answers have even become my greatest strengths: soft & emotional, unyielding & resilient.
When we listen to ourselves like this, each of us individually, and reflect on ourselves in this way, it can be overwhelming at first. Not everyone is used to dealing with their own identity so intensively. But it is an enormously important step in recognizing our own self-worth and finding faith in ourselves. So that we accept ourselves as and who we are. That is empowerment. And that is what we are all about. Each of us deserves to feel empowered. And each of us can pass on this empowerment. Namely by being who you are. Without apologies, without compromises, without belittling, without pretending, without fake, without constraints, without pressure. Just you.
Who are you?
You can be anything.
Being a woman. What does that mean today?
The words I chose for myself reflect exactly that: who I am, or rather, parts of me. Maybe you recognized yourself in some of the attributes, maybe you recognized someone else in them. The point is: we are all a kaleidoscope of characteristics, personality traits, emotions, behaviors and experiences. We have so many facets and they change depending on how we twist and turn throughout life. And yet the world we live in suggests to us that as women* we are less. Less competent. Less valuable. Less strong. Less significant. Less important. Less influential. Simply less. Sometimes even nothing.
But we are so much more.
At the beginning of the campaign, I wanted to collect myself. What does it mean to be a woman* today? What sentences and phrases are we confronted with? What should women* hear in order to be empowered? My thoughts gave rise to an emotion, a kind of inner rebellion. And that is exactly what I wanted to capture in my own words in a poem:
We are women
We are more than soft.
We are more than caring.
We are more than emotional.
We are more than beautiful.
We are more than devoted.
We are more than capable.
We are women.
We are more.
We are strong.
We are resilient.
We are courageous.
We are daring.
We are vulnerable.
We are divine.
We are thoughtful.
We are aware.
We are women.
We are more.
We are risk takers.
We are adventurers.
We are fighters.
We are leaders.
We are innovators.
We are doers.
We are women.
We are more.
We endure.
Who is it.
We create.
We survive.
We provide.
We are women.
We are more.
- lseve
These lines could go on and on; they never have to end. They are meant to serve as an impetus for us to explore ourselves. They are meant to serve as inspiration to be so uncompromisingly ourselves that oppression finds no hold within us and rolls off us as we continue to grow. These lines are meant to encourage us to find empowerment in what we have experienced, achieved and created. That we find strength in what has challenged us, what we have grown from or failed at. That we find strength in how we have shaped our lives, who we are today. These lines are meant to tell you: Be who you are. Don't let yourself be made into less. Be proud of your facets. Show your colours, show your patterns, show who you are.
Because you can be anything.
& Woman.
We want to inspire you with our message for International Women's Day. Watch our video, which we spontaneously recorded in Munich:
But we don't just want to get our message out there on International Women's Day. We also want to bring about change in other ways. This year, as part of International Women's Day, we are supporting the organization Women for Women International. For this occasion, we have created our own canvas bag with which you can carry your empowerment over your shoulder into the world. With every bag purchased, we donate €5 to Women for Women to enable women from crisis areas to lead self-determined lives again. You can find more information about our bag, the donation and the organization on our website:
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to follow this post up to this point. For us on the team at JUNLGLÜCK, International Women's Day is a particularly emotional and important time every year. We are incredibly grateful to be in a position where we can spread the message of empowerment that I was able to give space to in this post to you and our community with a wide reach. But I and my colleagues are also aware that each and every one of us can contribute in small ways to empowering ourselves and others. Last but not least, that was the idea behind the design of the bag. A silent but loud message that finds its place in everyday use - to inspire, to make you think and to empower. How do you describe yourself? How do you continue this chain of words? Which verses do you add to the poem?