When we think about all we’ve learned from the women in our professional lives, we are profoundly grateful we’ve had the chance to work with them. Not because they offer a different perspective than a man might (though they often do), or because “it demonstrates our commitment to diversity in the workplace” (although it does). It’s simpler than that: We want to work with women because we benefit from working alongside great people, and at least half the great people we’ve known are women.
That simple math is complicated by our culture: The “pink” toy aisle at the big box store; male-dominated engineering courses; female-dominated professions like education or nursing. Social media. Tradition. Expectations.
We don’t mean to say that girls shouldn’t embrace the things they like, pink or otherwise. We want them to follow their passions wherever it leads them. So we’re happy to see great women in our community inspiring others.
A celebration of female entrepreneurs in Cortland County is taking place from 5 to 8:30 p.m. tonight at Homer Hops Brewing. Hosted by Experience Cortland, or the Cortland County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the second annual “She Shines” event features female vendors who, in addition to offering their wares, will have crafts, tastings, workshops or experiences for attendees.
The event was created with Brave Women FLX, a tourism campaign that celebrates the Finger Lakes’s female trailblazers and women-owned businesses. “She Shines” will also serve as a fundraiser for the Grace Brown House, which was designed to help people leaving abusive relationships get back on their feet.
More than 500 people attended the event last year, including visitors from outside the county. Vendor Cindy Johnson, owner of the Nipotina Herb Farm, told the Cortland Standard that such support can foster financial independence and help close the gender income gap. It’s also an opportunity for networking and socialization, which we expect will lead these women to make deeper connections, and spur them on to even bigger and better things.
Another celebration will be Saturday, International Women’s Day. The YWCA Cortland’s 23rd annual Girl’s Day Out will host 100 girls and enable them to meet career-oriented women, learn new skills and spend a day learning and having fun. The theme this year is accelerating action. The day will begin with a career fair, where girls can speak with more than 20 local women in a range of fields, including farming, engineering, art and nursing, a news release from the YWCA says.
After the career fair, girls will split into groups to complete three activities. During the tech and design session, girls will create and design art, and use a sublimation printer to print their work onto a bag. The girls will then fill the bag with hygiene products, so they can have an emergency kit at school. Girls will also build, make music and play in the college’s pool.
The message isn’t that every little girl should want to be a doctor, engineer, CEO or future president. But they can be. They can be entrepreneurs, or nurses, or teachers, or astronauts, or business moguls, or whatever else they want. By doing so, they inspire other little girls or young professional women. We’re excited to see what they do.
