You know the email you write every day. The overly apologetic, excessively nice email. The email with words in it that most men don’t care to add. The f-email.
Let’s mix it up.
International Women’s Day 2021 is focusing on the theme of #ChooseToChallenge, celebrating people who make the decision to shake up the status quo and make the world a better place through tackling sexism, inequality, racism and stereotypes.
The stories being shared are incredibly inspiring and motivating – but I want to focus on the small ways in which we can challenge things.
This poem, titled Re: Your Last Email, asks us to explore the language women use in their emails; the overly apologetic and careful wording often taken adopted, compared to the more assertive and direct messages often sent by their male counterparts.
The three parts of this prose poem explore how we can translate what’s written; how we can edit down to what we really want to say, and then further decipher the hidden message in that edited email. This is what we really mean when we choose our words carefully.
Through choosing my words carefully, I can choose to challenge every single day, bit by bit. And that’s pretty amazing.
To read this poem, scroll through the slideshow below, or head over to my Instagram post.
Jo Fisher Writes 