Last Thursday, we attended a panel discussion about power — specifically, how women can attain and redefine power.
The event was based around Gloria Feldt’s new book, No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think about Power, and was co-sponsored by the Women’s Media Center and American University’s Women and Politics Institute. The panel featured five fabulous, powerful women from different walks of life: Feldt, Karen Finney, Amanda Hess, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), and Jennifer Lawless. Each woman had her own story to share about the moment she knew she had power, no matter what the situation may have been — anything from running for public office to hiring for a job.
Feldt talked about all the organizations out there that help support and train women to run for elected office (such as AAUW). Part of the problem, she said, is that many women feel ambivalent toward power, and one of the things women need to do is embrace controversy. Don’t be afraid to have opinions and stances, and certainly don’t back down when those are challenged or criticized. Instead, speak up!
Lawless provided statistics that speak to some unfortunate truths about women in power. Not only has there been a decrease in the number of women in the House of Representatives, but we pale in comparison to other countries. She suggested two things we all can do to help: Let women know they’re qualified to run and continue to suggest to women that they run for office.
Hess focused on women’s representation in the media. She made an excellent point when she said that women are “othered” in the media. For example, men’s clothing and shoes are rarely, if ever, discussed in news articles, yet women’s fashion choices are. Hess said articles that talk about women’s clothing and shoes are inherently sexist because it distracts readers from the important issue at hand.
Sewell spoke about her experience as a new member of the 112th Congress. She commented on the positive uses of power in the public sphere, such as controlling a budget, that can be used to make a difference in people’s lives. She also talked about the role she plays in mentoring women and girls and recruiting more of them for public-service roles.
Finney recognized that women need to change how people think of women’s roles and how women are perceived in general. There needs to be a societal recognition that women can serve in a diversity of roles. She also said that women have to believe that they deserve the power they have been able to achieve.
Feldt helped wrap up the conversation by letting women know that they need to define power by their own terms and redefine power so it’s not seen as a finite pie. Instead, we need to think of power as an infinite resource. We need to change the current mode of thinking that if one woman gains power, then there’s less for other women (or men) to have.
A great thing that came out of this event was the beginning of the end of the stereotype that women don’t help other women. The thread running through the discussion was how women can achieve power and how women can help others achieve power, too.
This post was co-written by AAUW Acting Senior Media Relations and Marketing Associate Katie Broendel and AAUW ally Sean Crosbie.
AAUW Dialog 
I think a lot of how women can begin to reclaim their power is by learning (or re-learning) to evoke and listen to their deepest wisdom and come from an embodied place of knowing rather than just a head place. When there is more recognition of how women know and understand things and a respect for these different ways of knowing and connecting, then we can stand firmly in our individual and collective power. When we can do that, we also speak more clearly, take action more effectively and work together so that one woman’s strength and success enlivens us all.
The time of power-over needs to give way to a time of power-from-within and power-from-the-heart — we have to access and affirm the strength of compassion and love, rather than see it as a weakness.
I recall an AAUW national convention many years ago where Letty Cotten Pogrebin was the speaker. She talked about women and power. I have never forgotten what she said. Women need to change how we think about power. We should not think about power as “power over” but as “power to”. Power to has so many more possibilities, power to change, power to improve, power to make things better for women and girls and thereby the world. Power to opens up a whole new world.