The "infinite pie" for Women: We Don't Have to Fight Over Crumbs

We don't need to be fighting over pies as women. We can just make more pie. Younger women get this, banding together with their small group of women who can be their confidants and friends, and those who have achieved top leadership roles often credit this small group of confidantes, friends, or business partners for their success. The smart money is not fighting anyone, but being yourself and being good at what you do.  Co Founder of Take the Lead Gloria Feldt shares with This Delicious Life that there is an "infinite pie" for us as women. This mindset comes from her from her book, Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take the Lead for Everyone's Good, which emphasizes limitless resources and the need for women to redefine power positively as the energy to improve life for themselves and their community. To me this sounds like a very succinct definition of the "divine feminine." Alongside stepping into a leadership role at Planned Parenthood at 54, Gloria has won many accolades -Forbes 50 over 50, Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year, Vanity Fair's Top 200 Women Legends, Leaders, and Trailblazers. So I got right into asking what changed in her career after winning awards. How did they increase her own personal worth and what did it mean to women who were not winning awards? She said for her "basically nothing changes" professionally as a result. The value of these accolades lies in their ability to help her advance her mission of achieving equality for women, particularly in leadership, power, and pay. It's not a place for women to be more competitive but add more places at the table for every other woman. No one has the golden ticket! Which goes back to the infinite pie! There are not scarce resources! We don't have to fight over crumbs although we have been socialized to believe this narrative. Gloria suggested that many women are choosing entrepreneurship over the corporate world to create their own culture and flexibility, despite having to work harder. She noted that the number of people starting businesses is now almost equal between men and women. She also emphasized the importance of encouraging women to "think bigger" about their business ventures to shift the culture surrounding money and power. Gloria concluded by stressing the necessity of having more women in AI leadership to prevent the technology from programming existing cultural biases. Gloria's Delicious Takeaways: Have authority and agency over your own body. Earn your own money (and at least have a baseline to support you and your children if you need to.) And get involved in AI!