Ep. 21 Standing on the Shoulders of Women Who Came Home to Themselves - An International Women's Day Reflection

Today is International Women's Day. And I want to tell you about a woman.Her name was Mary Dora Ballantyne. She was my great-great-grandmother. And she was a right-hand woman to Kate Sheppard - the woman who led the suffrage movement in New Zealand, making us the first country in the world to give women the vote in 1893.Mary Dora fought for women's rights. For women's voices. For the right to BE who they were.And 130+ years later, here I am - still talking about women coming home to themselves.In this episode, I explore:My great-great-grandmother Mary Dora Ballantyne and the NZ suffrage movementKate Sheppard and the fight for women's right to vote (first in the world!)The lineage of women who fought so we could BEWhy coming home to yourself as a woman is still revolutionaryHow the battles have changed (then: legal rights, now: internal permission)The 5 Chains that keep women from coming home to themselvesWhy we're not just doing this for ourselves - we're creating shoulders for the next generationReflections from my Zonta talk this week on "Coming Home to Yourself"The responsibility we have to honour those who came before AND be the women the next generation needs to seeThe truth: They fought for the right to BE. We get to claim it.The invitation: You're standing on the shoulders of women who fought for your rights. AND you're creating shoulders for the next generation. Come home to yourself - not just for you, but for all of us.Duration: ~12 minutesHappy International Women's Day to every woman who came before, every woman here now, and every girl who will come after. 💚