Building Powerful Women’s Communities
By Nancy Cantor

Women are relational and realize the importance of community. In ancient times, we had the Red Tent, where we shared our cycles, joys, concerns, and love. In the ’50s, we gathered for coffee and conversation.

As the world moves headlong into the future, the culture for women is changing. There are fewer opportunities to gather in the old ways. Two-income families are a necessity and our professional expression is important. Women of the sandwich generation are caring for their children as well as their elderly parents, while bringing home their share of the bacon.

What does this do to our hearts and souls? Author Adrienne Rich states that we are “split at the root.” We want to matter in the world, yet the traditional feminine expression is in nurturing and caring for those around us. How do we nurture others when even caring for ourselves is challenging? How do we honor our innate gifts when we live in a world that requires so many things from us? 

Like a canary in a coalmine, the modern woman is losing oxygen. Our self-loathing results in breast and ovarian cancer.  Fifty percent of us marry and then divorce, leaving our families broken and our lives more stressful. Our sons and daughters are going to war and there is no peace in sight.

What is the answer? It is time to gather and rediscover what ancient societies knew. Women are sacred—they channel spiritual energy to their families and communities, and they create and nurture life itself. It is time to honor each other as sacred beings. It is time to gather and empower the communities in which we practice the ancient rituals of sharing our cycles, joys, concerns, and love. In achieving these connections we will find our true power and share it with a world that desperately seeks what we most want to give.

We need to gather and make ourselves whole again, to fill our hungry souls with the nourishment of our camaraderie. It is only from this fullness that we can authentically care for the world.

In the song it says, “He’s got the whole world in his hands,” and that’s been true. But now it’s time to shift and remember our responsebility. The lyrics should read, “She’s got the whole world in her hands.”

It is now up to us.

Nancy Cantor, principal of Cantor Consulting and the Dream Factory Community supports women entrepreneurs in building communities, fulfilling their lives, being successful, and contributing to those around them. www.dreamfactorycommunity.com

First appeared in aspire… Magazine Apr/May 07 issue.