Staring a girl down and rolling your eyes at her because she has the car you always wanted. Judging a woman on her past and putting her in a box because of it. Not speaking to someone because you think she thinks she is better than you because of her complexion. What happened to sisterhood? Flirting with another woman’s significant other to spite her. Belittling someone’s accomplishments because you want what she has. Gossiping and spreading rumors about someone in hopes to ruin her reputation. What happened to sisterhood?
Ladies, we have ALL got to do better. So many times, we fail to embrace our fellow woman. So many times, we rather see a woman doing bad than to see her doing well. It’s disgusting. But why do we do it? Out of curiosity, I decided to ask a few people I know about their thoughts on our cattiness. One woman says “Women are very jealous – like crabs in a barrel.” Another woman says “Women just want what other women have, especially when men get involved. That’s why we can’t get along. We don’t stick together.” And a man I know says “We [men] don’t do that.”
I stumbled across a wonderful quote by an American journalist that seems to get at an answer- “To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, dissatisfaction with self.” I firmly believe this is the root of our problem. We aren’t happy with ourselves. When there’s something lacking with ourselves, we tend to compensate for it by putting someone else down – this is the wrong way to go about solving the problem; it’s YOUR problem, not theirs. Look at your self for a solution. If you aren’t happy with yourself, take the necessary steps for improvement. Make yourself better. And, let’s not forget to be each others loudest cheerleaders. Like Maya Angelou says, “When you know better, you do better.” I think we can do better, ladies. Don’t you?
Dr. Kiara Shanay Lee 