I Broke the Eggs
Empower Yourself for the Right Reasons
Written by Tatiana Moreno
It is nearly the end of 2018, another year of great inventions such as the development of virtual reality technology to buy your groceries online, AI robotic microscopes that can monitor and analyze marine life 24/7, crypto anchors and different kinds of robots among others. And yet we are still discussing topics such as inequality and discrimination particularly against women and girls.
You may wonder what is the relation between the two, to me it comes down to one word: mindset. And though the facts are inevitable, as highlighted by the MAKERS team[1]:
· In 2016, just 57 percent world's working-age women are in the labor force, compared to 70 percent of working-age men.
· Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 percent of their male counterparts' earnings.
· 62 million girls are denied an education all over the world.
· Around the world, only 32 percent of all national parliamentarians are female.
· More than 43 million people around the world are forcibly displaced as a result of conflict and persecution. Half of all refugees are women.
I strongly believe in the power of the mind to generate change. Change towards developing new technologies and change towards adopting new perceptions, attitudes and behaviors in our daily lives within our communities. As Mahatma Gandhi once said: “Be the change you want to see in the world”. It starts with you, me, getting to know ourselves deeply; do you ever wonder what shakes you? What moves you? Or what motivates you?
Life is constantly giving us opportunities to generate positive change but we are not aware, we are distracted, busy or perhaps we fall into believing that a small action does not have a large impact, therefore, why bothering? Let me take you back to a realization in my life, when I was pushed to take action, I could not stay there not wondering, not believing, not doing.
It was October 2013, I had moved to Mumbai the previous month, not knowing that my life would change forever. Having lived in 5 countries in the past 9 years, I was used to moving to a new city, you unpack, check your surroundings, establish your circles and just live. But my conditions in Mumbai were slightly different, I was provided with an accommodation in a beautiful complex with all luxury standards met. But how could this possibly be an issue?
When I was settled I decided to walk around the area, just at the doorstep I found myself surrounded with inequality and people sleeping on the street. Less than 500mts away, I found a tiny market. I bought some eggs that were packaged in a newspaper bag and started making my way back to the building. I was so focused on my thoughts, strongly looking ahead, with anger to make my presence be noticed and to avoid all the looks of the people who viewed me differently due to my looks, what I was wearing or the simple divide we had.
I sometimes walk with a closed fist, to react in case of any incident; well that day, I broke the eggs, only when I reached home I noticed that they had spilled on my pants. I asked myself: Does inequality mean that I am rich in a world of poor people or poor in a world of rich people?
I was mad to see a lot of people sleeping on the street living at the doorstep of rich people. I used to wonder how each party feels. I realized then that poverty lies within ourselves, when we limit our mind, our hearts, when we remain with crossed arms, quiet, and do nothing to change. We may possess all material things and still feel empty inside, because what makes one rich is the essence of thyself; living in a state of gratitude for today and contributing towards a better tomorrow.
Hence, we must constantly feed our mind with positive thoughts, big dreams, knowledge and the belief that we are capable of achieving the unimaginable by doing the impossible. It starts with ourselves by then impacting our families, communities and everything that surround us. Only by doing so, we will help change those statistics and we will continue to innovate: do no wait any longer to take action, the future is now.
[1] MAKERS team, “21 Facts About Gender Inequality You Need To Know Now”, March 1 2018, <https://www.makers.com/blog/21-facts-you-never-knew-about-international-gender-inequality>