BAOJ Gynaecology Celia M. Ross, BAOJ Gynaec 2017, 2: 2 2: 015
Letter to Editor
Musings on the Women’s March: is Social Entrepreneurship, a Route Around Roadblocks and a Path Towards Wellness? Celia M. Ross*
among feminists on various objectives, as well as their unity in the goal of improving the lives of women despite roadblocks that they about the best route to take and which issues to spotlight – pointing the vibrancy of the women’s movement [3,4,5,6,7,8]. Diversity
wisdom can be gained from the literature about getting around some of my thoughts.
such as STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), too
unconscious bias. Human brains are geared for quicklysorting vast amounts of information via unconscious stereotyping [18,22,23,24]. Researchers at Harvard University, using fMRI,
individuals and unconscious, stereotype bias [18]. Even human[25]. In some cases, stereotypes can lead to women’s voices being quashed and their talents denied the opportunity to become a popular buzzword; however, sometimes it doesn’t go as planned [26, 27]. Bias can enter into teamwork interactions and supervision, muzzling women, suppressing their talents, and push
mundane “chore” work [21,27].Such underemployment (“status incongruity” based on educational status and income group) has been linked to higher cortisol levels in women [28]. Higher cortisol BAOJ Gynaec, an open access journal
levels can have adverse health consequences [29]. How can women get around such roadblocks? Could taking a career detour, through social entrepreneurship, be a path towards real talent development?
The Journey: Exercising One’sTalents for Prosocial Good As any gardener knows, living organisms strive for growth and development. Having aninvigorating sense of purpose in life, to which one can direct one’s attention and develop one’s talents, supports wellbeing and health [30,31,32]. A chosen vocation can be one of the routes toward exercising and growing talents [33,34]. Exercising your cognitive and creative talents reduces stress and helps promote healthy ageing [35,36,37]. Additionally, prosocial, other-oriented activity (exercising one’s talents to help other people) can give meaning and purpose to life [34,38,39,40,41,42,43]. Individuals whose vocations involve helping others and / or utilize [41].
The Journey: The Need for Respite Are bodies are designed for short bursts of activity in response to an immediate stressor followed by longer periods of relaxation [44]. However, in today’s society, many people feel constant social One chief form of respite is family time relaxation and play.
*Corresponding author: Celia M Ross, Founder, Delaware Gerontology
[email protected] Rec Date: August 17, 2017, Acc Date: September 05, 2017, Pub Date: September 14, 2017. Celia M. Ross (2017) Musings on the Women’s March: is Social Entrepreneurship, a Route Around Roadblocks and a Path Towards Wellness?. BAOJ Gynaec 2: 015. Copyright: © 2017
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medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Volume 2; Issue 2; 015
Celia M. Ross (2017) Musings on the Women’s March: is Social Entrepreneurship, a Route Around Roadblocks and a Path Towards Wellness?. BAOJ Gynaec 2: 015.
social capital of family time helps to keep us happy, healthy, and rejuvenated [38,45].Additional factors that provide respite include moderate, recreational physical activity and nature therapy [38,50]. Sometimes a walk in the woods with family members, relishing the prescription needed. Allostatic load is the wear and tear on the body due to chronic overloaded with mundane tasks, and ordeals such as discrimination [52,53,54,55,56].Protective factors include: a perceived purpose in life, stimulating cognitive activities, physical activity, autonomy, social capital, and time for respite [28,45,46,57,58,59,60,61]. Imbalances between stressors and protective factors (imbalances resulting in high allostatic load)contribute toa wide range of health that promotes wellness [38,67].
Moving Ahead: The New Women’s Movement Entrepreneurship has been called the “new women’s movement,
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could lead to revolutionary developments in gerontechnology by future women entrepreneurs [77,80]. Social entrepreneurship can be a wellness win/win – for the woman entrepreneur and for the community she serves.
Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31describes the ideal female archetype. She is a highly successful entrepreneur (Proverbs 31:16 – 31:19, Proverbs 31:24). She is wise (Proverbs 31:26). She is socially aware and is active in her (Proverbs 31:25, Proverbs 31:31). Her family respects, loves, Proverbs 31:28 – Proverbs 31:29). Could this be a description of the new women’s movement, social entrepreneurship? Dr. Ross is the Founder of the Delaware Gerontology Institute, LLC, a Public Health / Social Entrepreneurship venture. From her work as the institute’s Founder, Dr. Ross has found the greatest opportunities for utilizing her talents & education while also
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BAOJ Gynaec, an open access journal
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