What is Femininity?
Thanks to the media, the word “femininity” conjures up the image of a woman who faints on cue, lace gloves, bashful looks, high heels and well controlled laughs. True femininity is inner strength. Michelle McKinney-Hammond has the best definition of femininity:
Femininity is definitely strength under control. Femininity is strength wrapped in a velvet glove…It is an inner quality that emanates from a woman who knows her calling and her value. Feminine women are strong women because their influence is deeply felt. This influence gets beneath the surface because it is invited in. It is invited in because it is attractive and non-threatening. It is non-threatening because it doesn’t seek to intimidate. You see, the feminine woman knows who she is and celebrates being all woman.
Confidence is rooted in knowing who you are. Being feminine has nothing to do with the outer life as much as it does your inner life. A confident woman can change the atmosphere of any room by her presence alone.
For a period I faithfully watched the show “What Not to Wear.” What’s fascinating is not the make-over they performed, but the transformation of the woman from insecure to confident woman. Week after week they take a woman who doesn’t understand what looks good on her body and show her the potential she has. They never fought who the woman was! That is, if she was a swim coach, they didn’t make the suggestion of wearing 3 inch heels and a pencil skirt to work. They show the woman what looks good on her body and why.
The point is this: we women can be anything we want. Once we know who we are, it’s easy to find the clothes that will fit for the environment we are in. In my next post I will start discussing the male /female differences and how to use them to our advantage. Understanding ourselves helps us accept and understand men. This puts us in a position to no longer react to men, but to respond to our leadership instincts.
what page of McKinney's book is that quote on? I cant seem to find it and I'd love to use it in a paper of mine.
It's a great quote. It's pieced together from pages 42 & 43 of her book "The Power of Femininity."
Hey, Female Leadership is great. I'll follow a woman somewhere before I'd follow a dude. I think one of the best things I have seen effective women bosses do is "be themselves". When leaders, women or men, are insecure, it makes it hard to deal with. When women act extra tough to compensate for what they think men will respond to, it is a bad situation.
I work at a school and the principal is clearly intimidated by men. She emasculates them and micromanages to keep people under her thumb. She doesn't trust anyone to get anything done. She wants everyone to report to her and get clearance about every detail. She is hard to work for. A lot of the teachers are apathetic and there is absolutely no school pride on the campus.
People respect respect. We also respect rules that the leaders follow. If I have those clearly set out, I'll follow a skirt anywhere. The shorter the better… In some cases.