Ammon – Obstacles to creativity among women
Personal obstacles to women’s creativity
There are many personal obstacles that may hinder creativity in women, including the following:
Diversity of women’s priorities: Many women have diverse priorities that may affect their ability to pursue professional and creative endeavors. Women may spend time caring for people they value as more important than work; Caring for a sick child or elderly parents who need special care, along with many other personal issues that make talented women care more about them than the issue of creative work,[١] Many of them also face difficulty in balancing their social relationships and the field of their creativity, and many of them consider caring for their husband and children and helping them to develop socially as one of the most important priorities, noting that some women try to organize their time and divide it between those priorities and creative work, despite the difficulty of that.
Fear of success: Some women may suffer from the syndrome of fear of success that was discovered by the psychologist Matina Horner in 1972 AD, which hinders their creativity, as this syndrome makes women feel rejected by their peers in the event that they achieve outstanding successes, which leads to the shaking of their self-confidence and abilities, And if this syndrome affects girls in the educational stages, it may have negative effects on them. It is worth noting that the discovery of this syndrome helped to understand the problems that talented women may face in a large way.
Poor planning or its absence: The inability of talented girls to plan realistically may affect their future, as many of them have not learned how to plan well, as they do not think about the correct way to reconcile family, job, and study, and many of them ignore economic reality. Some of them do not realize that they may need to work throughout their lives in order to be able to support themselves and their families, bearing in mind that good planning contributes to enabling talented girls and women to make the right choices in their lives.
Lack of self-confidence: Some women doubt their ability to perform a specific job, and this condition is called Impostor syndrome, and it represents one of the factors that negatively affects a woman’s self-confidence, as a talented woman believes that she is not qualified for a specific job or that she will be exposed to people’s disbelief of her efforts. and accusing them of fraud or forgery; So she gives up her achievements and talent in some way, which misses many opportunities that help her advance.
Societal obstacles to women’s creativity
There are many societal obstacles that may hinder women’s creativity, including the following:
Societal culture: As the culture in which women grow up affects their creative potential, the customs of some cultures may make women not have the required degree of confidence and self-belief that would enable them to commit to important creative work, and instead accept work within the less important work and be satisfied so; Many of them turn to easier work and implement creative ideas for other people.
Stereotypes about women: There are some traditional opinions about confining the role of women to some traditional roles, and not involving them in the fields of science, technology, business, and the arts. In those areas, given that these businesses require long and flexible working hours, and continuous training to achieve success in them.
Patterns of women’s education: The prevailing patterns of education affect creativity, as women usually seek to obtain a general secondary certificate and the certificate that follows it, but the number of women begins to decrease in the case of pursuing higher education because of the need for this stage of time and energy from women, and on the other hand The number of girls studying scientific, technical, engineering and medical subjects is lower in some countries, and this in turn affects the number of women working in those fields that have a primary role in producing most of the technical innovation.
Other obstacles limit women’s creativity
There are some other obstacles that may hinder women’s creativity, including the following:
Lack of self-esteem: A woman puts herself at the end of her priorities, so she usually refuses to do something for herself and considers it selfish, but if it comes to her future, she should make decisions that contribute to improving her life.
Not asking for help: It is difficult for some women to do many things on their own; Because this will lead to a feeling of exhaustion, which in turn puts pressure on them, but in the event of obtaining help from others, this will lead to a reduction in pressure and fatigue and a better performance of work, and it is indicated that many women do not mind asking for help.
Impatient quickly: some women want to see the positive results of their work quickly and soon, and sometimes it is difficult for them to wait; So women are advised to appreciate the small achievements they achieved during those times of patience until the great achievements are achieved.
Women’s belief that their isolation from others facilitates their creativity: This idea may hinder women’s creativity, as women are supposed to possess basic skills such as conflict resolution skills and maintaining relationships in order to succeed in their lives.
Absence of a role model: In the event that there is a person whom the woman emulates in the field of her job, this will help her set more reasonable goals related to success in her job, but some women suffer from the absence of a role model that increases her motivation and encourages her to succeed in her work, or provides advice and guidance to her when needed. .
Eliminating obstacles to creativity in women
The role of women themselves in overcoming obstacles to their creativity
The woman herself can overcome the obstacles to creativity, and here are some tips that will help her in that:
Women are independent, understanding and overcoming prevailing cultural stereotypes and biases.
Participate in leadership roles and extracurricular activities.
Dialogue with others, ask questions, repeat attempts, and benefit from mistakes that have been made.
Participate in discussions that raise the topic of challenges related to creativity and identify the elements of success in creative work.
Learn effective planning for the future and its importance for women, and learn different methods of communication.
Complete formal education.
Get to know friends who help women set their goals and support them to achieve them, especially academic goals.
Determine women’s goals, then develop a plan aimed at achieving them.
The role of society in eliminating obstacles to women’s creativity
There is an important role for society in overcoming the obstacles to women’s creativity, through the following:
Creating awareness among entrepreneurs of the importance of innovations prepared by women that meet many needs.
Identifying the most important obstacles and challenges facing women in creativity, entrepreneurship, and technology; To study how to overcome it.
Cooperation between various institutions in order to take a set of measures aimed at solving these obstacles and challenges.
Recognizing and encouraging women’s creative talents by highlighting their creative achievements.
Encouraging women to express the challenges they face in several ways
Understanding and resolving the personal obstacles that hinder women’s creativity or reduce their success.
Encouraging talented women to form relationships with other talented women.
Introducing women to future professions, encouraging them to choose a field in which they excel, and effectively planning to achieve success in it.
Training women on creative thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making.
Providing continuous support to creative women in any field, and avoiding negative criticism.
Helping women develop their self-confidence, self-belief, and creativity.
To learn more about the role of women in society, you can read the article Article on the role of women in society
The importance of eliminating obstacles to creativity in women
Creativity and innovation are of great importance in any society because they result in many unique ideas that bring many benefits to society, and if they are restricted, this negatively affects the support of the economy. Therefore, it is necessary to benefit from creativity and innovation of both sexes. Research has shown that companies and organizations that include employees of both sexes are more innovative and creative and thus achieve more profits. It is indicated that increasing the participation of women improves innovative performance in those companies and organizations. This is because providing opportunities for women to participate in creativity increases the chances of new visions and valuable ideas emerging, and women can provide a different perspective than what is prevalent, in addition to that creative women are able to ensure that new products and processes meet the needs of all customers.
Women and creativity
Creativity is defined as the production of something useful and different from what exists, which in turn leads to innovation that results in new ways of doing things and access to new products, and together they form the engine of human progress; Because of their role in changing the state of the world for the better through the power of the imagination of creators of both sexes. Despite the role of women in creativity, few studies have discussed the role of creative women, their creative products, and the challenges they face during creative work. However, some books and articles discuss how to develop Creativity among women, and during the past five decades, focus has been placed on women in terms of creativity, their role in providing creative products in society, and the forces that strengthened that role.
