By Rebecca Ingram When people hear the word patriarchy , they (particularly men) can become defensive and feel personally attached, as if the structure of patriarchy is a group of men sat around a table consciously designing systems to suppress women. That image makes it easy to dismiss the idea altogether because of course there is no secret meeting where men gather to plan the structure of society. We hope. Regardless, that misunderstanding misses the point entirely. Patri

By Rebecca Ingram I began noticing something in meetings several years ago. A woman would raise a point, often a thoughtful, well-considered one, and begin her sentence with an apology. “Sorry, can I just say something…” “Sorry, I might be wrong but…” “Sorry, just a quick thought…” The apology came before the idea . Once you notice it, you see it everywhere. Women apologising before asking questions. Women apologising before disagreeing. Women apologising before expressing a

By Rebecca Ingram For a long time, I believed that many of the struggles women face could be overcome by personal effort; healing unresolved childhood trauma, low confidence, protecting boundaries and so on. We are told, and tell each other, that if we can just work on ourselves; become more assertive, more resilient, more empowered, that we can step powerfully into our next up-level. And of course, personal development is essential for everyone. But over time, through my