Women Tend and Befriend

My mom sent me an article a few months ago that helped re-inspire me about being purposeful about gathering women together. It talked about a study which had been done by some women who were scientists who noted that when they were under stress in the lab that the women would gather together to talk, whereas the men would hide away by themselves. They decided to look into this phenomenon further, and found that research showing that the "normal" response to stress was fight or flight was overwhelmingly done with men as the subjects--and when they looked at how women deal with stress, it seems that by nature, we are driven to gather together, and protect the children. I certainly know this to be true about myself, that when I am feeling stressed out the best antidote is to talk with someone about what's going on--and also that feeling alienated and left out is one of the most stressful things I can experience.

The article went on to say that for women it is especially vital that we cultivate relationships, because not having strong relationships may cost us our health and curtail our lives by decades. Yet many of us with jobs and families are so busy that we don't take that time to reach out to one another.

I went out looking for this article online, and I found many references to it, but in my search, I also stumbled on an article that was even more interesting to me. It's on the Women in Higher Education website, and it's entitled "Meg Wheatley Preaches a Revolution Led by Women. " I won't say too much about it--I'd just recommend that you read it! Basically she's saying that it's time to change the way we do things on earth--that the balance has shifted too far in the direction of "command and control"--of dominance, oppression, and exclusion. And that the female energies-- of community, inclusion, and care--will be the ones we will need to save ourselves on this fragile planet Earth.