The Elephant in the Living Room: Women Supporting Women

In this course, Caroline Miller Adams, M.A.P.P., sheds light on the vexing question of why women tend not to support other women in their achievements. Global movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp are empowering women and casting a light on their unequal treatment in many professional and personal settings, while starkly underscoring the difficulties they continue to face in achieving economic parity, reproductive rights, and political freedom. One of the most important, but least discussed, problems that holds women back is the well-documented issue of "mean girls" and female bullies who kneecap and undermine other women – often their friends and colleagues – who are bold, ambitious, talented, and successful. Why do women do this and how can the psychological research on relationships, happiness and success teach us a new way of identifying the right cheerleaders and supporting each other so that all women thrive? During this course you will learn about "The Disney Rule," which primes girls at a young age to believe that only one woman can sparkle at a time, and how a matriarchal society in southern China belies the idea that women are biologically wired to destroy their competition. The course will offer useful insights and information for therapists working with women.