Afghanistan and Women Entrepreneurs

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved with mankind. And therfore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." John Donne

It seems appropriate to begin today's post with the John Donne poem. I know you have all heard parts of it, and some of you may be familiar with the entire poem. But, seeing it and reading it (maybe out loud) makes the message so much more concrete, that I wish more people would quote it completely and not rely on the "for whom the bell tolls" line, or the "no man is an island" line. And, to be politically correct, "man" stands for all... WOman and Man. I do not plan to defect to the feminist side that wants to dispense with "woman."

Onto the reason for today's post about Afghanistan women entrepreneurs...

Janet I. Martineu of The Saginaw News wrote a wonderful article on Friday, August 8th, titled, "Chance encounter with 12 Afghani women changes perceptions forever."

While this blog focuses on marketing to women online, here in the U.S., I do like to look at other countries and cultures, and see how women fare outside of the U.S. This article is outstanding in its ability to bring the personalities of these 12 Afghani women to life.

So says Janet, "It was one of the most fascinating four hours of my life -- listening to the Persian language with an occasional English word popping in amongst it and doing what all journalists love to do. Just observe, silently, humanity in action.

"Among the 12 women were a bee keeper, the owner of a carpet-making firm, an oil importer, one who ran a road construction and building company, and (bless her soul) a woman who has created a shopping mall JUST FOR WOMEN."

She follows this with a startling statement - that in their homeland, women are thought to have only  half a brain. Despite my readings about Afghan culture and how women are treated in countries beyond my own borders, this made me sit up and blink my eyes. To be thought of as "less" is a concept and practice well-established, even here, in the U.S. But, to be considered as having only half a brain - the idea is astonishing! At least, to me .

And yet, these women, living with that knowledge, were able to laugh, chat, talk about their businesses, and try to comprehend something we women of the U.S. take for granted: trusting our intuition. To these women, there is no translation for the word "intuition." Nothing the group of professionals from Midland Northwood University's Creative Spirit Center, the sponsor of the event, could tell them seemed to break through.

Could you do your business without that intuitive trust? Could you understand your women customers, without knowing they depend on intuition? The thought of women in other worlds, cultures that are so vastly different than the free to be you or me of the U.S., not understanding or tapping into their inner samuarai, as Susan Reid calls it, is so foreign - my brain cannot fully process it.

In the half-day session at the Creative Spirit Center (blog link), women in "fancy shoes and lovely pieces of jewelry" - having come from a land a world away from ours, amused by the center's dog and cat art show that day (how kewl is that?) joined spirited U.S. women in the art of communication, speaking a shared language that exists in our intuition - and that, perhaps, the Afghani women who attended will learn to embrace, before by the time they return to their homeland.

If you are doing business with women, or for women - are you tapping into our intuition? Do you understand that you and I may not, necessarily, speak the same language? But, we can connect by learning to use art as our translator.

A picture is worth a thousand words - in any language. And, because the picture I see may be different than the picture you see, think of the wonderful conversations we can have.

 

Comments

[Cindy Moore]

Good info
Thank you.

[Cindy Moore]

Good info
Thank you.