Be a Renaissance Woman: we Are Back to the Middle Ages

Lists don't do it

Not really - even the ones created with the best of intentions can have unintended consequences. Lists don't tell a story, they are merely a compilation of different things grouped with the specific intent of cataloging.

When the list is hierarchical, it highlights at best one characteristic of the items in question thus potentially reducing the intrinsic value or worth (to you) of each to that item's relationship to the others. What happens when there is really no equivalence? You get lost in compilation.

Statistics don't do it

Even though there are more women than men online and women are well on their way in the career realm, women are still under represented everywhere. The truth is that women are catching up to men in school and from there on in most fields.

I look at Gen Y representatives, even at people much younger than that like my niece, who is turning 18 this year, and what I see is the deliberate practice and pursuit of interests as wide ranging as music, chemistry, medicine, jurisprudence, and research. What happens when you consider only the tip of the iceberg? You find that what is and what you believe is are two wildly different realities.

Stories don't do it

The ones with the vested interest in keeping the usual suspects front and center keep things that way. We cannot worry about those. This kind of propagation is akin to taking statements such as "that's the way we do things here," "that has never been tried" at face value. What happens when you take what you think you know as the norm? You miss the future.

We are back to the Middle Ages, when chaos and change where the norm. What we thought we knew is being challenged regularly today. And that is good. From the Middle Ages blossomed the Renaissance, a period of tremendous growth and cultural change. This is a Renaissance were all individuals can find opportunity and meet their possibility, when we let them.

It is in periods of tremendous transformation that old assumptions are challenged. I smile at the thought that it was heresy to put the earth at the center of the universe. Yet, if we do not do that today, if we do not put the earth at the center of our universe, we are in for a surprise and it may not be a good one at that.

Today's polymaths, the individuals who are well educated and excel in a number of fields, those who can do all things they put their mind to, those who understand the textured and interactive process built in modern learning, those who thrive on the human connections that new media tools afford to develop knowledge, physical and mental fitness, social accomplishment and the arts are increasingly women.

Mothers and earth have always had a special connection. Society was matriarchal at some point as a consequence of that connection. Today we do not discount men - we celebrate women. For all they have given and done and all they have still been untapped to do, for we can accomplish much more and we will. Happy Mother's Day.

Comments

[Jane Quigley]

Fantastic post - I feel strongly that we need to make ourselves and experience available to the women who need it. I like to take the women in my company to coffee and talk about challenges and find out about their lives, what's important to them. Doing this creates a mesh - a support system where we become stronger together.

Thanks for including me in the collage - we keep missing connecting at different events (we were steps away at Blogger Social) but I look forward to changing that soon. Take care.

[Rebecca Thorman]

Thank you for the inspiration. Perfect for today.

[Toby]

Valeria - Once again you provide us with a different way to view the world. I'm honored to be included in your Renaissance Women Collage.

[Joanna Young]

Valeria, I'm not sure about the assertion that women are better at some of these things, but I am very touched to be included in your collage, and really enjoyed your analogy of middle ages into renaissance.

"This is a Renaissance were all individuals can find opportunity and meet their possibility, when we let them."

We're not there yet, but isn't this a hugely exciting possibility?

Joanna

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Jane - I like your practice of sharing and being available to each other. With the loss of community because of lack of time, that support network has been missing.

@Rebecca - glad I could be of service. Hope you are well.

@Toby - the collage started as a curiosity, to see how many talented women I knew. It turns out there are many already in my network, and I hope I have not forgotten too many.

@Joanna - we cannot be all best at everything. From my personal observations, women have a better way of holding many things together. In an age of connection and conversation, those are skills that get greater use and are in greater demand.

[Sarah Wurrey]

Very moved to be included in your collage. I try to include as many strong female voices as I can on Media Bullseye, it's very important to me to highlight blogs like yours and Toby's as well as all the other Renaissance Women out there!

[Aruni]

Wow. Thanks for including me in your collage! This is a really interesting post. As you said we can't worry about those 'with a vested interest' in keeping the status quo. I think we keep doing and experimenting and trying and change will happen slowly but surely.

Aruni