Last updated on November 3rd, 2024
Featured image: Let’s step into the future not the past | Photo by Shutterstock
This is our time as women to participate
by Carolyn Ray
Whether you’ve been out travelling or at home, you may have noticed some distressing shifts in how women are being treated in the world. These changes are not positive. In too many countries, we are witnessing the dismantling of women’s rights. In others, we see a relentless restriction of women’s freedom.
Unless the most vulnerable among us is free, none of us are free.
I believe that women have the right to be free from violence, make choices about their own body; be able to walk in public without fear and have the ability to go to school. We should have the right to own property, start a business, work at a job of our choice and be paid equally for it. We should have the right to vote freely, without anxiety about our personal safety. We should have the right to love and be with whomever we choose. The protection of these rights allows women to live the lives they want and to thrive in them. And when women thrive, the world thrives.
As travellers, we have the privilege to see more than most people. Our perspective is shaped by our experiences. Through travel, we witness first-hand the consequences of inequity, poverty and climate change. Our wisdom is what cultivates the qualities we share with others: kindness and empathy. Courage and civility. Gratitude and respect. Hope and passion.
But this all starts with participation. If we don’t participate, we are powerless.
At JourneyWoman, we want to hear your voice. For 30 years, we have invited women around the world to share their perspectives through the gathering of travel tips, wisdom and advice. Our editorial features are all written by women to ensure our voices are heard. All the businesses we highlight in our Women’s Travel Directory are led or owned by women. Our Women’s Speaker’s Bureau, Soul of Travel Podcast and Awards for Women over 50 are all designed to give women a voice and platform. Soon we will be launching a survey to get your perspective on solo travel and how the industry can better meet your needs. We’ve also announced a new book, intended to highlight the influence we as women have. All of these show that when women come together, we can make a difference.
We are a platform for women, by women.
Far too often, women stand on the sidelines, wondering what to do. We question our abilities, our power and our influence without realizing that WE are the ones we have been waiting for. As women, there is a universal connection that supersedes borders and nations. If there is one thing we can do right now, it’s to stick together. Support each other. Lift each other up. Understand the impact of our decisions on the world. To our sisters in the US, you have an important decision with your vote in the weeks to come.
This is our time. This is our time to use our voice and influence to help create a more just, safer world for everyone, traveller or not. The world needs you.
Please don’t sit on the sidelines. Let’s make our voices count.
Let’s not return to the past
Protesting violence against women in Gadhinglaj, India 2014 / संजीव बोंडे, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Carolyn Ray
In 2023, Carolyn was named one of the most influential women in travel by TravelPulse for her work advocating for women over 50 in travel. She has been featured in the New York Times, Toronto Star and Conde Naste as a solo travel expert, and speaks at women's travel conferences around the world. She leads JourneyWoman's team of writers and chairs the JourneyWoman Women's Advisory Council, JourneyWoman Awards for Women 50+ and the Women's Speaker's Bureau. She is the chair of the Canadian chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), board member for the Cultural Heritage Economic Alliance (CHEA) in support of Black and Brown businesses, a member of Women's Travel Leaders and a Herald for the Transformational Travel Council (TTC). Sometimes she sleeps. A bit.
Add to the list: we should be free to practice whatever religion we choose without fear of personal attacks, or general attacks against our religion !
Thank you for writing “Don’t Stand on the Sidelines.” No matter where we are geographically or politically, we must stand together for women’s rights!
I returned to the US last spring after a year traveling abroad. Seeing the growing turmoil in my home country, I’ve started using my biweekly Substack as a voice for democracy as much as a way to document my experiences as a digital nomad.
The worst thing we can do is nothing.
I was elated to read your message today! It spoke to my mind & my soul…thank you so much.
100%! Thanks, Carolyn.
Dear Carolyn, Thank you for your beautiful, eloquent and powerful words of strength and encouragement for all, all of us who collectively share the path for more, more you, more me, more they, them, us and beyond. The time is now dear sisters. Let’s unite to flip the world where light can take its humble and radiant place and offer us ALL endless possibilities filled with boundless love, freedom and compassionate connection!
Totally agree and Love this article so much! Thank you for sharing. When women come together we are a powerful force. We have sadly been suppressed in so many areas past and present, but it’s time to reclaim our power and champion ourselves ❤️
Totally agree. Your words truly spoke to my soul. Another suggestion is to encourage and promote activities designed to lift women in developing countries. My company, Travels with Talek initiated “Bras for Babes” to bring gently used bras – the most requested article – to women’s organizations in Cuba in awareness of Breast Cancer Month, in October. The initiative was very successful and we will go to Cuba to distribute the donations.
Too often women in midlife and beyond are marginalized, ignored or overlooked. But not anymore! We stand tall and proud during this election and feel the support of all our JourneyWoman sisters behind us. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Thank you for writing such an eloquent article! It’s so important for women to fully participate in this election and make sure that our freedoms are protected.
Thank you for leading the way with this piece. I couldn’t agree more. Were in this together.
To my sisters in the USA, I have met so many of you beautiful women on my travels. We, your friends from around the world, hope that you and your friends and families will stand strong, vote well and welcome a new style of leader for your country. Someone who believes in the power of women in their own right, not as pawns for men to control. So many times previously, you have introduced yourselves to me as “Hi, I’m Sandy from Florida and I didn’t vote for him”. Vote, vote, vote and please ease our minds, because if the USA has a Trump presidency again, Australia is doomed.
Totally agree I have a 19year old gay Granddaughter whom I’m extremely proud of she traveld to China for 3 months on her own this year , is very involved with woman rights and politics, she and others like her will hopefully make the world a much better place for girls,women everywhere. It’s about time !!
Thanks for using this powerful platform to put this issue in the forefront Carolyn. Being a traveler is far more than exploring another place – we can use our experiences to make a positive impact on where we travel and our own home. Taking action is key – let’s do this!
It is long past for women to be regarded as second-class citizens. In the West it is not so bad except for the attacks on women on the streets. We must not forget that in the early beginning of civilization women were in charge and life was peaceful. Then men took over as pastoralists and wars were started over who had the most livestock and that was the beginning of all the wars since then. When women were treated as babymakers, claners and cooks with no voice, they became, degraded.
It’s a frightful day in the U. S. but we stand together and work to turn the page. I’m exhausted from working all day and texting voters all evening. Less than two weeks to go so I’ll stand strong with my comrades to ensure our rights are preserved, strengthened and protected. We feel your support from around the world. Thank you.
Carolyn,
Thank you for this post! You describe how women’s rights and freedoms are being curtailed, and I am so relieved to have found this group. I’ll add that it is also hard to experience the cultural ways that women of a certain age (I’m 54) are unseen, overlooked, and ignored in daily life. And what a relief to be asked to weigh in on the travel industry that feels like it has been taken over by young people seeking the male gaze. Traveling solo some days, I enjoy being incognito and able to navigate the world anonymously. Still, in work and society, it is tough to be reminded daily that the default is male-oriented, whether that is online content or their voices being privileged. Melinda Gates was recently interviewed and described being wholly ignored in Gates Foundation meetings with VIPs, as they exclusively focused on her husband.
I cheer your mission—to inspire women to travel for their well-being, encourage travel by supporting women-owned businesses, and facilitate travel by providing women-friendly travel groups and excursions, as well as conferences and webinars to help women connect.
Carolyn, thank you very much for that strong message. I join my fellow Journey Women to endorse and echo your message. This election is critical, as is the mark we leave as we travel the world. Go Kamala and candidates at all levels working for our rights, freedom, and peace, and, more so, setting the stage and creating a better world for those who come after us.
Thank you for the inspiring post. I am voting by mail today in the US and cannot wait for election day. We need to stand together and support all women.
You are so very right. Thank you for this powerful article. Not only do we need to leave the sidelines, it’s our time to LEAD THE WAY. ♥️
Carolyn,
As I read all these comments, and deeply view the details of these photos of our sisters who fought for our VERY BASIC RIGHTS !!! my eyes well up with Pride and Gratitude!
I am overwhelmed with the courage of our sisters who fought for us more than a century ago and ongoing over the decades. I am forever in awe of those sisters today who continue to fight for our rights, our freedoms, our education and our SAFETY!!!
Thank you for uniting us all on this human journey where we are just that; Humans. Not divided by sex or race or so many other things people want to use to divide
us.
I hope these comments can be posted worldwide on the front page of papers and newsletters and blogs, so that sisters everywhere know that we are for all, we are for one.
Is there a way to share on our FB personal pages? It is a message all my friends need to know and share. I cannot bear the thought of going backwards. So many brave people have fought to love who they choose, to be who they are – everyone deserves that.
I think about the women before me- less than a generation ago and I am thankful for the progress we have made in my lifetime. It is not enough.
Your message is important now. We are a
Strong organization of women. Our message should be heard . If not now, when?
I’m deeply proud of Jouneywoman, Carolyn and all the women who contribute their wisdom, power and light to its mission and efforts. It’s a honor to stand with you. Racism, misogyny and homophobia thrive in spaces of silence and inaction. Our individual and collective actions can truly make a difference. Thank you for not standing by but instead choosing to courageously stand up for women and the historically marginalized.
I am writing from Australia and feel it very important to remind all Americans to not stand on the sidelines in the coming days you have very important decisions to make remembering the world looks to your country for guidance especially for women’s rights .We all want to live in a free society where all people are treated with respect and equality
I am so thankful to stand in the midst of intelligent and motivated women. But I am extremely disheartened that yesterday’s election in the USA has the potential to set women and minorities back by huge strides after all the brave progress that has been made by generations before us. This is a time for us to really band together and not let our bravely-won progress be attacked and degraded. We, together, must stand up to the misogynist, racist and hateful rhetoric and actions that are taking place. We are only as free as the least among us.