Power. Grace. Wisdom. Wonder. The list of female strengths is endless. Contrary to a male-dominated world, women provide the foundation of compassion, justice, creativity, and hope. Why is so little known about all this? Three (of many) powerful reasons:
- Males take credit for female strengths. Thanks to something called “patriarchal reversals,” the mainstream narrative consciously obscures the accomplishments of women and girls.
- The frailty myth. Thanks to that same mainstream narrative, we can’t accept most female strengths because we’re conditioned to believe they don’t exist. In a more equitable society, girls would be encouraged to develop their strengths.
- Stockholm Syndrome. If you’re oppressed long enough, you can begin accepting it is as normal. Therefore, the first giant step to recognizing that every woman is a wonder is to reclaim your power!
8 Female Strengths that Make You Amazing
1. Intuition
Let’s start with some clinical realities. Research has regularly found that women are better at:
- Nonverbal communication skills
- Reading the facial expressions of emotions
- Picking up on subtle emotional messages
But, outside the lab, any woman can tell you it’s about trusting their gut. Something allows them to call on past experiences and blend them with current reality. The result is an intuition that should never be downplayed or ignored.
2. Pain threshold and tolerance
Of course, this is subjective in many ways. Men may seem to deal well with pain because they are conditioned to “tough it out.” But studies have found that:
- Women are quicker to seek help for their pain thus not let it control their lives
- They recover from pain more quickly
- Also, women are more likely to combine coping skills to effectively deal with pain
Of course, much of this resource—much of all research—is male-centric so more and more objective work must be done. For now, I’ll just leave this one word right here: childbirth.
3. Patience
Among many other things, women have to regularly deal with mansplaining, manspreading, and being interrupted. Their ideas are silenced or stolen. Females have to wait for opportunities that are simply bestowed upon males at birth. But through it all, women and girls persist.
4. Emotional focus
More often than not, women are the emotional anchor of a home or community. They are resilient yet giving. No structure can last without such a foundation.
5. Compassion
The statistics tell an ugly story. The vast, vast majority of violence is perpetrated by males. From misdemeanors to murders, criminality is primarily a masculine domain. Women often bear the brunt of this reality. Even more often, it’s female compassion that facilitates the healing.
6. Networking
We call it networking now. But it’s basically a modern form of “it takes a village.” This requires careful juggling of personalities and needs. One of the most enduring female strengths is nurturing bonds and making connections.
7. Creativity
Females are the source of life. It doesn’t and can’t get more creative than that. Patriarchy strives to out-create women but, as stated above, it often goes awry. This leaves female creativity and compassion to once again have to heal and rebuild.
8. Part of female strength lies in asking for help
We all know the cliché about men refusing to ask for directions. But where there’s smoke, there’s often fire. Women understand the power of seeking counsel. It is one of the most essential female strengths. Part of may involve choosing to try therapy.
In a world heavily skewed to favor males, females can find peace and guidance in their weekly sessions. Consider it a metaphorical way to ask for directions when lost!
