The New Economy for Women

I had the privilege of speaking to a group of homeschool teachers last month about the affects and opportunities of living and working in this new economy.  The “new economy” being that of uncertainty, innovative technology, and a digital socially connected world.

As women, we have the opportunity to step into it boldly as supportive wives and educated moms, but also as talented and passionate individuals.

Supportive Wives

If we have the privilege and luxury not to be the primary “breadwinner” in our family, the least we can do is be the best cheerleader and teammate we can be. Our husbands face the daily challenges of translating their skills into revenue in an economy that is continually reassessing value. We can show our appreciation and care by keeping our head in the game to understand not only their industry and global economy in general, but their own specific strengths.

Study him – what energizes him most; how does he make a difference most? Be prepared to engage in diaglogue around career decisions or moves. The more educated you are about his personal uniqueness as well as his overall industry, the greater opportunity for trust and collaboration.

Educated Moms

We can learn almost anything we’d like to!  From digital books to how-to videos, most information is immediately accessible, and usually very affordable. Our children are so lucky to have a wealth of knowledge available from just a quick Google search. We can guide our children towards literature and activities that allow them to hone their unique skills and pursue their own interests.

For one of my boys, that’s included natural history books on everything animal, art lessons, guitar lessons, and horse-care/riding lessons. For my other son, it’s meant keeping up with the newest literature and technology, biographies of influential people throughout history, chess club, and Lemonade Day. We are seeking to give them a broad range of opportunities and skills in order to make their own way and make a difference in this world.

They should be able to type fast, solve problems, make decisions, and engage others authentically. In addition, they should consume content intelligently, formulate their own opinions and convictions, and articulate them clearly with others. As educated moms, we can lead the way and model these habits for them.

Talented Women

They can watch us confidently step into new opportunities – learning a new skill, teaching or coaching others, selling a product, charging others for our services, writing books or blogs, speaking to groups.  All because we can. We have many so resources available to us because of the internet, particularly access to others around the world.

I loved asking the women I spoke to, “What do you love?”  What do you love to do, to read, to learn? One woman loved making cake balls for others, another admitted starting about 10 different websites in the last year with a variety of new ideas.

Every woman has some wonderful talent(s) or skill(s) that they were designed with to share with the world. Sometimes fear (of failure, the unknown, being overwhelmed or tired) might hold us back from living into them.

But the neat thing is that when involve ourselves in new or growing pursuits, some natural by-products occur – confidence, creativity, new connections and friendships, revenue and future opportunities to make a difference.

We live in a most special day and age. The idea of a “working mom” is morphing. Today, it can look like a mom in her athletic clothes coming back from a run, taking her kids on a hike, reading aloud to them The Wheel on the School, publishing a blog post in the afternoon, having an online meeting at 4, and taking orders at 10 PM over her internet site. Our hours our certainly different than the 9-5 traditional workday – we work when our kids are sleeping or in school or playing with others. But the work can get done, and our families and others, including ourselves can gain much reward from it all.

What does this “New Economy” look like for you as a woman? How can you better live into these roles as a result of this special day and age?