How Meaningful Connections Can Help Women During Challenging Times
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started, we’ve learned how women are affected at home, at work, across the globe, even historically — and we’ve seen how Black women especially are hit the hardest.
There’s a long road ahead of us before we achieve gender equity in the U.S. (and longer before we do so across the globe). While the pandemic may have set us back some, it has also highlighted gender inequities in ways that fuel progress. Times of crisis can stimulate awareness of what our priorities should be and where we need to focus our resources.
For me, an aspect of my pre-COVID life that became more important during the pandemic was valuing the relationships in my life that promote my mental health, that stimulate my personal development, and that provide me with economic opportunities. As the co-President of The Walnut Club, a nonprofit networking and social organization for professional women, it may come as no surprise that I find the majority of these valuable relationships with other women.
In fact, meaningful connections between women are vital to both our personal and professional growth and stability. Female friendships are essential to our health and happiness as we age. Bonds between women make a significant difference in our career success. And, to summarize Beyoncé, these relationships nurture our personal development:
“I love my husband, but it is nothing like a conversation with a woman that understands you. I grow so much from those conversations.”
— Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
As the pandemic changed the way we were able to connect with people, The Walnut Club quickly pivoted from in-person networking and social events to online equivalents. We’ve hosted everything from virtual happy hours to game nights to webinars on both personal and professional topics.
What I noticed during these events was that interpersonal communication, empathetic listening, and mindfulness –all crucial strategies to building meaningful female connections — were not negatively impacted by the group-focused format of virtual events. To help promote greater intimacy in these virtual events, we often begin with mindfulness practices such as breathing exercises, affirmations, or personal check-ins.
Women use the chat feature in Zoom to have side conversations and if in a larger group, we use breakout rooms to split into a more intimate setting for conversation. Our members are prompted to share tips on how they are dealing with pandemic challenges in our private Facebook Group. We even had a Zoom “Coffee Break” that evolved into a thinktank to help a bride-to-be effectively transition her ideal wedding into a socially distanced one.
Women also volunteered to run webinars that were empathetic to what members were dealing with in these current times. Webinars included titles such as “Help! I’m Stuck in the House with a Kitchen Full of Food (and Wine)!” and “How to be Proactive with your Finances in a Time of Uncertainty.”
It is beautiful and inspiring to see a community of women come together to support one another –in good times and more challenging ones.
It’s difficult to discuss “women” as a group, as if there’s some magical wand unifying all of us together based on our gender. The truth is our experiences and views are as diverse as we are — different levels of privilege and upbringing creating unique challenges and advantages. Those differences, and the ability to find common ground, is what makes meaningful connections between women so profound. Organizations like The Walnut Club and WOMEN’S WAY bring together women of diverse backgrounds, ages, cultures, economic status, mindsets, etc. in ways where we benefit from our diversity personally and professionally.
Building a stronger network gives women an advantage in the workplace. As men have had the advantage of a longer, more accepted history of networking in our society (think: “old boys club”), women’s networking and empowerment groups are important to building meaningful connections.
According to the 2019 study by McKinsey & Company of Women in the Workplace, women are still underrepresented at every level in the workplace. Companies that have had the most success in building strong pipelines encourage the use of women’s business networks, mentorship, and creating a supportive culture for women to thrive.
The key to successful networking is recognizing that quality connections are more impactful than the quantity of them. It’s not about how many people we know, or how long we’ve known them. It’s about how deep, authentic, and meaningful the connections we build with them are. It’s about building strong foundations, friendships, business connections to create an impactful support network.
Building meaningful connections –especially those between women — will further promote our health, our wealth, and our well-being. It will help us as individuals and, as more women help other women into positions of power and influence, we will collectively make strides towards gender equity so ALL women can thrive.
***Disclaimer: This is a guest post. The author’s views are entirely his or her own, and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of WOMEN’S WAY.
