Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Women and Emotions: Strong Women Focus Group Analysis November 2021

How does society dictate how women should be in the workplace?

This week our Strong Women facilitator Laura Connelly and I talked about what we heard in our strong women focus group last week. Here's some of the things we were wondering as we began:

Navigating the social dynamics over the past two years has been challenging to say the least, and being able to process all of it with our best girlfriends has proven time and time again to be a healing force like none other. We asked ourselves why that is. And immediately we knew that it is because in those special times women are free to be as vulnerable as they want, to cry, to rage, to rant, to laugh, to be real, and to be strong without judgment. They are the moments in time when being emotional isn’t seen as a weakness or a bad thing.

The notion that women are more emotional than men is one of the strongest, longstanding gendered stereotypes in our society. Why is that?

What are the social “rules” about how much emotion women should display – at home, at work, in the grocery store? What kinds of emotions are acceptable to show and when? Who decided and defined those rules?

Heidi Holtan is KAXE's Director of Content and Public Affairs where she manages producers and is the local host of Morning Edition from NPR. Heidi is a regional correspondent for WDSE/WRPT's Duluth Public Television’s Almanac North.