Dr. Barbara Green: Shero Nation

I love the word shero. Grammarly, Microsoft Word, and many dictionaries do not have it in their lexicon. The urban dictionary defines it as a man or woman who supports and respects women’s issues and rights.

Women continue to face reticent foes across their path on their journey towards gender equality. The bias and preconceptions are intrinsic and inbred. These innate and congenital injustices are a hindrance to women who want to rise up and make a difference.

I have always raised my daughter to be independent financially, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. I have empowered her to make her decisions from an early age. I have told her that she can become whatever she wants. She wants to pursue art. I have told her to go for it and become a professor and teach. I want her to build a dynamic and vibrant social capital that will be the spring that will take her to another level. I am intentional in everything I do with and for her. I am real and vulnerable around her. I have cried in front of her.

Dr. Barbara Green is the author of a fascinating book called The Inevitable Rise of the Shero Nation. Her thesis is brilliant. She lays the groundwork. I cannot remember the last time I was trembling when I read a book. She talks about the ‘silent adversaries’ that women battle on a daily basis. I love how she talks about female world leaders fighting COVID versus that of their male counterparts. The book is riveting.

I ask Dr. Barbara Green some questions. Read this interview a couple of times. Learn from it. Dr. Barbara Green is talking about women and the daily challenges they face on a daily basis.

Dr. Green, it is a pleasure to have you on Four Columns. Talk to me a little about you? 

I am a mother, author, financial advisor, and advocate for the furtherance of gender equality. My book, The Inevitable Rise of the Shero Nation is an evidence-based book that reveals the silent adversaries that we have relentlessly battled over the ages in our quest for gender equality. It also charts a historic timeline of key events and phenomenal women who masterminded them.

The Inevitable Rise of the Shero Nation is a fascinating book. Please walk me through the book? What is it about? Why should we read it in the 21st century?

Deeply ingrained gender-role prejudice continues to play the most significant role in how women rise to positions of power and influence. Even women of ordinary status find themselves faced with gender-centric challenges and hindrances. The way we raise our daughters plays a major part in the perpetuation of these role prejudices. This book examines how gender-related influences have evolved throughout history reflecting on social and cultural norms. It is a roadmap that depicts how 21st-century women can rewrite the playbook and take control of their destinies and become modern-day Sheroes. Today, women can crush socially manufactured stereotypes by building social capital from birth. My book explains the idea and power behind social capital and how to use it to change stereotypes and micro-inequities.

I want to understand the concept of being divinely selected and divinely favored?

Because we are the birthers of life, we are divinely selected for that task. A woman is divinely selected to be the emotional stability for the child, she creates their first bonds of love and influences them even in the womb. Deliberate parenting is talked about in my book. It expresses the power parents have to give children the tools they need to succeed, boy or girl!

You talk a lot about identifying pain points and the social and cultural challenges that women face. Are those still prevalent in Western society?

The pain points that women face are still relevant today. Take microinequities; Some men (even some women) may not even realize that they treat a woman leader differently than a man. For example, in a meeting when a man is speaking, all the men in the room are more likely to pay attention. When a woman speaks, men tend to start looking at their phones, get up and get coffee, and zone out. Micro inequities are subconscious yet still prevalent! Another real pain point is the theory regarding emotion. Men seem to think that women are too emotional and let their emotions take over in certain situations. The evidence shows though that both men and women are emotional, they just have different ways of expressing it outwardly.

Are you describing leaving a legacy when you talk about passing a wealth of self-reflection, responsibility, and family tradition to our children?

Yes. For me, wealth has many forms. The wealth of traditions, wealth of knowledge, financial and spiritual wealth. We need all of these in my opinion. My motto for my family is called “3-deep” This means that each generation is to pass “wealth” 3 generations deep and teach the next generation the same motto. This means that I am not done until I have provided for my children’s-children.

Millennial women are outperforming their male counterparts in high schools and universities across North America. Please explain why this is happening?

Young millennial women are more focused and determined than most of the men at their age. This does Not mean men are not intelligent, their focus in their twenties tends to be laxer. Also, women are no longer being raised to want to get married and have families like in the old days. They also know that there are gender inequities, and they have to be as strong and educated as possible. That same pressure is not often felt by men. This is showing up in the number of men versus women who attend college.

You have a Doctorate and master’s in business. Was the theory based on diversity, women empowerment, bringing women to the table, and giving them a voice?

The theories described in my book reveal gender inequities that exist as cultural and societal norms. Understanding these theories will empower women to avoid traps and make more deliberate steps in the eradication of gender-related inequalities.

Women are breaking the glass ceiling in every area of society. Are there any gaps?

There are still gaps but not the same types of gaps. The gaps now appear in the form of the “glass cliff”: the placing of women in leadership positions with companies that are in precarious positions with a high degree of probability of failure.

My daughter turns 17 in March. Talk to this generation of women about the capability to do anything they want?

Not every woman will realize right away that she is destined to be a shero while she evolves into her place. But like that woman, you should travel your individual path with confidence. Rest assured that your past, present, and future experiences will cultivate the shero in you. Therefore, continue to work hard, stand your ground, push through all the obstacles, and support fellow sheroes while pressing forward to get to your destination. When added to the collective shero movement, your individual perseverance strengthens the force of evolutionary tides making an even more formidable force. I challenge every person who reads this book to search deep within and find yourself in the words on these pages. Broaden your view of the challenges we face. Recognize that we (you and our fellow sisters) are destined to overcome and stand in our rightful place in this society and the world. Bring your shero within to the surface!

After 2020, many of us are hurting. Give my audience hope?

I take pleasure in knowing that I used my voice to acknowledge and salute the shero in you and the inevitable rise of the Shero Nation. This evolution can be likened to a wave-building momentum far out in the ocean. When it is moving towards land with the pull of gravity and a force only God can stop, it will certainly reach the shores! I am glad we are joined together as women in this evolution! Let this book be our roadmap, an eye-opener, and our epiphany to what is going on right in front of us. As we fully engage in the movement, the momentum will increase. As we engage in our journey, it is best to see the road clearly before us. Let this book be your guide to seeing and facing obstacles with deliberate purpose as you better understand the hurdles that may cause you to stumble.