Barbie

There’s a moment in the Barbie movie when a low-ranking corporate man says:

I’m a man with no power. Does that make me a woman?

I gasped.

Many people in the theatre gasped.

Over the last year or so, I’ve grappled with the tension between two things:

Growing up, I never felt less than a male. I was raised to believe I could do what I wanted and achieve right alongside men.

At some point, maybe in college, a “woman’s role” started to make more appearances in my life. And I feel it and see it more as an adult than I ever did as a kid, tween, and early adult.

I think what is poignant about the Barbie movie is not only the portrayal of what women overtly face, but the subtleties of it.

The way women can and do achieve and still bump against the … patriarchy.

In ways, I am Barbie: a female attorney and without children (although I did marry my Ken).

And I very much live in the real world, where I’ve had to come to terms with my place in corporate America and the biases in my profession.

I’m proud to be a woman. I’m grateful for those who came before me and opened the doors and lengthened the ladder.

And: I’m grateful for all the Kens that have supported me these 37 years (and well into the future, I know).

Even so: women still face a lot—overtly and subtly. Both can be true.

#lawyerwellbeing #professionalwomen #corporateamerica #barbie