Why the archetype of the childless woman is powerful for us all
This week’s show is with Jody Day. Jody, known as the ‘voice of the childless generation’ and less often but more memorably as ‘The Beyonce of childlessness’, is a 57-year-old psychotherapist, an author and the founder of Gateway Women (GW).
Gateway Women is a global friendship and support network for childless women established since 2011 which have been featured have been featured regularly in the UK press and internationally such as France, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia and NZ. She is the author of the famous book ‘Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children’ which just released a fully updated 2nd ed. last year, published by Bluebird/PanMacmillan UK and with 50 prestigious endorsements including The British Medical Journal.
Aside from being a TEDx speaker, a global thought leader on female involuntary childlessness and a social entrepreneur, Jody was chosen by the BBC to be one of 100 Women to celebrate 100 Years of Feminism. She is a founding and former board member at Ageing Well Without Children, a former Fellow in Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School, a World Childless Week Ambassador and also a PLICA (Australia) Ambassador.
This year, Jody she was chosen as one of Digital Women’s 40 Women to Watch and was nominated by the UK organisation Digital Women as a finalist as a ‘Digital Role Models’. A life-long Londoner, she is now a ‘blow-in’ in rural Ireland where she is working on a novel and her new Conscious Childless Elderwomen project for Gateway Women.
In this show, Jody and Lian spoke about the archetype of the childfree and childless woman, why this archetype is so dismissed and demonised, the hidden Feminine power held there that’s actually available to all women – and is the medicine the planet needs right now.
I’d love to know what YOU think about this week’s show. Let’s carry on the conversation… please leave a comment below.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
Jody’s explanation of grief of the childless woman and how unseen it is, really hit me – grief is a potent alchemical force, already so misunderstood in our culture, and even more in this area – and one that affects so many in our world.
The archetype of the childless or childfree woman is so often seen only through the lens of the shadow, when we look at the light aspects of her, we see an incredible power that can be reclaimed for her good but also for the good of all of us – this is wisdom, love, energy that is so needed right now.
I so agree with Jody that it’s our lack of understanding and fear of differences that are at the heart of so many of the issues in our culture – with love and willingness to understand the experiences of others that we can begin to bridge that gap.
Resources and stuff that we spoke about:
Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children
Jody Day’s social media account you might want to check out
Thank you for listening!
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Thank you!
Lian & Jonathan