Women are making history every day, often in spite of remarkable challenges, obstacles, restraints, and biases.
The Scriptures talk about giving honor where honor is due. More specifically, honoring looks like to esteem, value, or show respect for the one deserving of honor.
If you’re a man, these are written with you in mind. From our coaching of hundreds of women, we’ve identified 5 distinct ways you can honor the women in your life—partner, daughter, co-worker, boss, or friend.
If you’re a woman, we can do a better job honoring one another, instead of competing, comparing, or commiserating with one another.
1. Proactively learn from her.
As we grow up, we increasingly learn from the voices of men. Once we pass elementary school, the majority of authoritative voices we learn from are men.
In our coaching, women have disclosed their desire for a male to deliberately learn from her and other women (virtual and personal, contemporary and historical). Honoring women looks like asking her what she thinks, believes, or feels. It looks like taking a curious posture to see the world through her eyes. It feels like an authentic willingness to take her viewpoints seriously and as valid as another man.
2. Give her credit for her ideas.
A common experience for women at work is for her idea to be shared and then taken by a male counterpart as his own. The lack of honor is demoralizing and infuriating. Pay more attention to ideas that are being shared and acknowledge where they came from if you get to present them. When an idea is accredited to you but originated from a women on the team, be intentional about re-directing the credit back to her.
3. Support development opportunities.
Women are given a less opportunities for personal and leadership development than their male colleagues. At Ezer + Co., the majority of women who invested in coaching pay for it out of their own pocket (also, keep in mind, the gender pay gap). Supporting her development more than a “thumbs up” approval; it includes a financial investment. When women are invested in, the return on investment is remarkable. Investing in her development elevates her confidence, contribution, and commitment.
4. Take more household responsibilities.
While men are stepping it up at home and claiming less often to “babysit” their kids (praise the Lord), women still carry a majority of the household responsibilities, regardless of both partners’ work status. Honoring her work in every sector looks like stepping up the basic tasks required to run a household. (As I write this, my husband is scrubbing dishes from the dinner I made for our family. It’s hot.) Honoring her work inside and outside the home looks like taking on more of the day-to-day realities of life together.
5. Share opportunities with her.
Men tend to run in circles and make influential connections more than women. One of the best ways to honor women and elevate her to her rightful place is to make introductions, invite her to the meeting, and extend your influence to her. Sometimes equity feels like loss to the one who embodies more power, but sharing opportunities is the way toward wholeness for us all.
A beautiful outcome of honoring the one who deserves the esteem, value, or respect, is that the one who extends the honor is equally transformed.
Give honor where honor is due.
Transformation happens when we do something with what we’ve learned.
Which of these 5 ways will you practice in the next 7 days that will honor the women in your life?
May you honor an Ezer (or ten) who surely deserves your attention.
