Read on Twitter
1. A thread about things.
I& #39;ve been blessed enough in my life to work with amazing, inspirational women. Too many to mention but all of them left a big impression on me. I realise now that my "impression" was hideously malformed by my own prejudice.
I& #39;ve been blessed enough in my life to work with amazing, inspirational women. Too many to mention but all of them left a big impression on me. I realise now that my "impression" was hideously malformed by my own prejudice.
2. I was fortunate enough to have a long call with an old colleague in which she relayed some harsh truths about our former, shared place of work. I& #39;d asked her to do this and she was gracious enough to afford me another learning opportunity.
3. During our conversation, a number of things struck me - mainly my own failures. But the one I want to share here was the most powerful. I wanted to write it down not because it& #39;s novel, but because it& #39;s so obvious I can& #39;t believe I missed it for so long.
4. And if I missed it, you may have too. So here& #39;s the deal. You go to work somewhere. You go in the door. Except, if you& #39;re a white man (like me) chances are your door is almost certainly not the same door as others. It& #39;s definitely not the same door as your female colleagues.
5. But you& #39;re in the same space, right? Wrong. You might think you are, but as soon as you came in your entrance the staircases, doors and offices arranged themselves in a certain way. Your female colleague may inhabit the same space, but everything is configured differently.
6. And not just different, but harder. You& #39;re route to a place may have 10 steps. Hers will have 20, or have no route there at all. I could go on, but you get the point.
7. So you see the people in the same space and you think "you& #39;re here, right?" but they& #39;re not. They& #39;re not where *you* are. It& #39;s not that their perception is different. Reality is, at a fundamental level. Their experience is not yours.
8. Sometimes, you might get a sense of something that invites you to cross over and to see that reality. You can& #39;t live it - you can& #39;t ever walk through the other door - that& #39;s impossible. But you can understand it& #39;s shape and contours, and you can do that by listening.
9. And when you hear, and see that version you may want to make things fairer, and equal. I hope you do. Perhaps one day we might really be able to all walk through the same door together, but until then, I& #39;ll try to make damn sure the building is identical. /end
