So much good comes from empowering women, and not just for women themselves, but for all of us. Empowered women leads to more education, lower poverty, reduced child mortality rates, stronger relationships, and increasd happiness. And of course, empowered women leads to empowered choices. It takes the lid off women and girls who strive to realise their full potential; to do and be whatever they want, and prove themselves just as capable as any man or boy. But empowerment is not just about astronauts, engineers, and boss bitch CEOS, because studies have also found that empowered women, making autonomous choices, are also more likely to choose… violence. Ouch. And there is goes, the fist raising gang, and the feel good vibes af women’s empowerment instantly vanish. But it’s true. So what is to be said about the research that finds that societies with higher empowerment of women, have higher rates of violence by women too? Yup. This is the other half, to the feel good statistic we all know too well… ‘Empowerment of women, leads to a reduction of violence against women’, politicians and journalists endlessly remind us, and it’s true… But what is left out of the conversation, is how violence by women also increases. Is that the kind of autonomy we are even willing to acknowledge? Will we challenge all gender stereotypes, to no longer see women as sugar and spice, all things nice, and as passive members of society? Will we allow the veil of benevolence to slip from the faces of our women? Will we talk about the ugly side of women’s empowerment? ~ Images by Kiwi Hug, Black Kiwi Hug, Codioful, Olena Sergienko, Maxime Caron, Antonio Visalli, Jimmy Fermin, and Ray Zhou from Unsplash. Sources Study 01 Study 02

2023-06-20