Episode 307 | Author: Emilie Aries

If you’re a longtime member of the Bossed Up community, you’ve probably heard me use the phrase “lift as we climb” a lot. It’s such a perfect articulation of our desire as women to ascend individually in the quest for gender equality while also turning around to leave the door open and make the climb a bit less steep for the women who come after us.

I don’t remember where I heard the phrase originally, probably on some “feminist” mug in an Etsy shop somewhere. So you can imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon this banner while strolling through the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture a few years back.

Turns out, “Lifting as we climb” was the original motto of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC), established way back in 1896 by Harriet Tubman, Margaret Murray Washington, Frances E. W. Harper, Ida B. Wells, and Mary Church Terrell. The NACWC is still active today, too, and made up of women of color dedicated to uplifting women, children, families, the home and the community through service, community education, scholarship assistance and the promotion of racial harmony among all people, so that those they serve are better able to take their proper and rightful place in society as citizens, community leaders, parents and family members.

How to Lift as You Climb

Choose collaboration over competition

There’s a long history of internalized sexism in our patriarchal world that’s caused too many women to view other women as competitors for the single seat reserved for a woman in the halls of power. Why do we view each other in this limited, hyper-competitive way? Well, look at the upper echelons of power across every single industry: there aren’t a lot of women around! We internalize that unfortunate reality to mean there simply isn’t room for more women at the top, so we’re more likely to see other women (more so than other men) as competing with us for those limited seats.

Instead of this limited view of power, let’s take a page from Shirley Chisholm’s playbook. As the first African American congresswoman, the first African American to run for president, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, she once said: "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."

Now, to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, or striving to do your best. But there is something unfair about viewing other women as your rivals, and men as your teammates.

It’s time to break the cycle of woman-against-woman rivalry, and embrace collaboration over competition instead. It’s time to apply lessons learned about active allyship to our fellow women in the workplace.

Embrace intersectionality in your feminism

I’ve written before about the long and enduring history of white supremacy in feminism, and I’m excited to be interviewing Koa Beck on the podcast soon all about her new book, White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to Influencers and Who They Leave Behind. The bottom line is, we’re all biased by our own limited worldview, which means we must do more to bring an intersectional lens to our practice of feminism by acknowledging this irrefutable truth: different women experience vastly different realities and have diverse needs, wants, and challenges. For many women, raising the minimum wage may be the most pressing obstacle in their path towards financial success. The gender investment gap between men and women might seem like a faraway, irrelevant issue to those who are struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck, much less investing for retirement.

We must not see women’s differences as a threat to the cause. Rather, we must expand “the cause” of feminism to take up the issues that matter most to women whose lives might look vastly different from our own.

Advocate for yourself and others

As a former political organizer, you know I am all about self-advocacy, right? Hell, that’s what the entire Bossed Up book is about and what all our programs here at Bossed Up are designed to help you do.

But let’s not forget that lifting as we climb means advocating for ourselves and others. Should you negotiate your own pay bump or raise? Of course! And we must also advocate for more pay transparency and pay equality at work, too.

In other words, get clear on what you want, and get busy bossin’ up without apology to make it happen. But don’t forget to give back in the form of collective advocacy as well.

What does lifting as you climb look like?

I’d love to hear from you in the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook, where we’re always continuing the conversation with one another, strategizing together, and supporting one another in our quest to lift as we climb.

Got a career conundrum you want Emilie to cover on the podcast? Call and leave us a voicemail NOW at 910-668-BOSS(2677).

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