Introduction

My name is Bazal Morani, and I am a Muslim Female born and raised in the United States. I have been raised to believe our country represents freedom and equality, and I traveled the world with those ideals, representing our country with statements of women's rights and freedom of speech.

As I got older however, I learned that a lot of what I understood to be the ideals of our country, were just that; ideologies. In practice we have failed to honor our country's codes, and have failed our people. We are a nation of many colors, of many beliefs, of many cultures, of many religions, we are the nation that was built to empower other nations, and we, as the people, have failed.

I am an American in heart and soul, and I believe in our country. It is time we bring those ideologies to reality—it is time for another revolution. In my blog I want to focus on women's empowerment, because no one will stand up for us until we stand up for ourselves, and it is time we fight. Women need to stop standing against each other, and start standing with each other.

Before I start with my blogs I would like to share a story:

When I was 19, I had joined a company as a QA (quality analyst). This field was male dominant, because apparently only men are good at testing technology and apps to see if they work well, and to determine what the problems are. In my classes, I had proven to be quick and efficient, and had outperformed everyone else, which is why I was also the first to get a job interview.

I had passed the phone interview, and the initial interview with HR, and was going into my third interview, which would be with the manager and two of my future coworkers. Naturally, I was nervous, as this would be the first interview I would go to in my life, and I wasn't sure what to expect. I showed up to the interview, ready to do what I do best and impress all those that were going to be sitting there judging me.

The manager was a female, and the coworkers were both male. I already felt more confident thinking that my gender wouldn't hinder the decision, after all it's illegal to discriminate against race, gender, or religion right?

The interview was going great, I was nailing every technical question and all the management questions, I had this one in the bag for sure! But right at the end when we were finishing up, the manager said "Look I don't do well with emotions and drama, and that is why I don't have any females in my team. I don't do hugs and stuff either. If you can accept that then that's good." My mouth dropped open! Here is a female stereotyping another female! I felt lost for words, but I managed to swallow my pride and say that it wouldn't be a problem.

I left that interview feeling confused and disheartened. How could my gender be held against me, especially when the one interviewing was a female herself?! I was sure I wouldn't get the position. But someone at the office must have reminded her of the law, and to avoid legal issues they hired me. Now I should've declined and looked for a better place, but I was young and eager to work, so I decided to turn a blind eye to the situation and accept. That would prove to be a huge mistake.

My short time there was nothing less then torture. The manager disappeared when she was meant to train me, then didn't give me any real projects, but time fillers to make it look like she was utilizing me, I was constantly called into her office to be told that I was either not asking enough questions (because I knew what I was doing and didn't need to), or I was asking too many questions (due to not wanting to lose the job for being too smart). I thought that in time I would win her over, and get her to diminish this sexist behavior towards me, but instead I got fired. I got called into the office the day before Christmas eve, and was told that I was being let go due to lack of performance. The letter was unbelievable! First paragraph: You didn't ask enough questions, failing to learn. Second Paragraph: Asking too many questions disrupting other employees. And get this—the HR manager accepted this as q reason for termination and sent me packing. I was both furious and broken from this experience, I never wanted to work in the IT industry every again.

I went on to bigger and better things, so it isn't the end of my story, as I would never let anyone break me like that, but that experience stuck with me, and I have become a more outspoken feminist because of it, and have grown to resent women that undermine other women due to that experience as well. So to all the women out there trying to put down others to feel good about yourself—STOP! We have enough disadvantages and struggles without causing more problems within ourselves. Support each other, encourage each other, and as Ellen DeGeneres would say: "Be kind to one another."

I will cover lots of topics revolving around women empowerment, and will welcome any feedback on topics you would like to see discussed on here as well.

Now lets get EMPOWHERING!