Neuroscience and Women

DemocraShe uniquely incorporates brain science into its curriculum to help make a woman’s whole brain her ally.

Why?

A young woman walks into her local city council meeting to speak on an issue important to her. The photos and portraits that line the walls are almost all men. The history books she sees reflect men. The clerk, the staff, are mostly men, and older. 

She feels a bolt of worry and the ancient limbic part of her brain trained to look out for threats starts saying in a panic, "I don't belong here! They're not going to listen to me!" At the same time, the more rational prefrontal part of her brain is saying "I want this! I prepared for this and I'm ready!" 

The ambitious prefrontal and anxious limbic parts of her brain are in dissonance. This bright, strong young woman doubts herself: what the world calls “imposter syndrome.” 

And when she notices a dismissive look from one of the staff, that same threat system of the brain lights up - once again creating dissonance with that ambitious prefrontal that knows she has something important to say. Out of her control, her limbic pings that something is wrong. She hesitates on her way to the city council meeting - even though she can’t consciously articulate why.

And across all the diversity that makes up the spectrum of women, more threats will be picked up by limbic and the dissonance will sound even stronger.

Women are amazing leaders. To unlock their full potential, we need to make their brain their ally - but how? 

Bring the right tools for the right problem. The limbic system can’t be “convinced” with reason. Have you ever said to yourself, “Stop worrying!” And did it work? No! You're trying to use conscious skills to deal with something that's happening largely in the unconscious. Women blame themselves for not being able to “think away” imposter syndrome or hesitation when part of the noise is coming from the unconscious limbic.

The good news is there are specific neuroscience skills that psychologists have used for decades to communicate with this unconscious anxious limbic part of the brain, skills like grounding, self-compassion, and gratitude.  We just don’t typically include the neuroscience in early women’s leadership training 

To unleash the full power of women, DemocraShe provides teenage girls with the critical evidence-based practices that research shows speaks to the limbic system and lets them integrate it to support their ambitious prefrontal cortex. DemocraShe uses brain science to launch confident women leaders, adding key limbic tools as well as prefrontal tools to their toolbox.  

DemocraShe gives young women the tools to make their whole brain their ally -

so they can thrive in life and leadership.