Women Leaders - The Rising Tide
By John J J McDonald- Poet
Once, where doors were closed.
Ideas were whispered in rooms that would not listen.
Voices were softened,
visions were dimmed by raised hands,
that said ‘not yet… not here… not you!’
History, has a way of remembering those who refused to be silenced.
The resolute pioneers, steadfast and tenacious.
Those who stood when standing meant they would be standing alone.
Those who spoke up when the world preferred their silence.
Those who carried inextinguishable fires,
only to have their flames mistaken for flickers.
And then…
The awakening began.
The once towering barriers,
began to crack under the weight of those rising voices.
Not one voice.
But many
In waves.
Wave upon wave rising above it all.
And those moments – this moment – this movement,
is never just a single step.
It is a journey.
Like a train leaving a station long ago,
driven by relentless burning fires.
Along the steely tracks, laid by the courage of those unflinching pioneers, who refused to remain seated
when the world told them their stop, their time, would never come.
And still, along the platforms of progress,
the all too familiar announcement echoes through the system:
Mind the gap
The gap in pay.
The gap in opportunity.
The gap in recognition.
The gap in justice.
But today we do more than notice it.
We challenge it.
We close it.
We rise beyond and continue to rise above it
Women forged by adversity,
carrying the courage of those who came before,
and the vision of those who will follow.
They rose
You rise
We, are rising
Not quietly.
No longer over cautious and hushed
But with leadership that builds companies from the ground up.
With innovation that rewrites the roles once written for us.
With resilience that turns every fall into another foundation.
Because a woman knocked down
is not a woman defeated.
She is a woman awakening.
She rises again and again,
with determination etched into every single step,
with strength carried in the quiet places
where doubt once lived.
And when she rises,
she does not rise alone.
She lifts others as she stands.
She builds bridges where once stood walls.
Creates opportunities where once only closed doors remained.
Changes industries that once refused to change.
She leads with vision.
Not just for herself
but for every voice still waiting to be heard
Because true leadership is not just a spotlight.
It is a torch.
A beacon.
And today, this room shines bright with them.
Beacons illuminating paths never so proudly walked before.
Stars lighting the sky for the next generation to follow.
A constellation of courage, collaboration, and power.
Women who refused to turn away, who refused to give up on who they are.
Even when the world pushes back.
Even when the roads grow steep.
Even when the weight of expectations try to bend their spines.
They stood
You stand.
We, stand together.
They fought
You fight
We fight, together
They rose
You rise
We, have risen together
Among us are mothers.
Grandmothers, daughters, Aunties, sisters, cousins and friends.
Women who build empires in boardrooms
and still build worlds at home.
Mothers, who balance dreams on one hand
and little hands in the other.
Who lead companies by day
and shape the future by raising it at home.
Teaching courage in bedtime stories,
resilience in scraped knees,
determination in quiet words that say
try again, don’t give up.
Women who carry both the weight of
responsibility
and the light of possibility.
Women who give endlessly,
love fiercely,
and still refuse to step away from their own fires.
Because motherhood and family does not dim ambition.
It strengthens it.
It fuels the same unstoppable force
that says:
for them,
for ourselves,
for the world they will inherit – we will rise!
And let it be known, too,
that this journey is not walked by women alone.
Progress is strongest
when hands meet.
When men stand not ahead,
nor behind,
but beside us.
As allies who understand that equality
does not take power away but only multiplies it.
Because the future is not built by one voice.
It is built by the many.
And together,
the train keeps moving forward.
We keep on rising, and in doing so ignite something unstoppable.
A future where leadership knows no boundaries.
Where innovation carries the fingerprints of those
once told they did not belong.
Where our daughters look up
and see not barriers,
but pathways.
Because the truth has always been this:
The power of a woman
is not measured by the battles she avoids,
but by the battles she survives and rises from.
And when women rise together,
they do not simply follow the path that was pathed.
They illuminate new ones.
They forge the future.
And the world rises with them.
A Gift to Women Leaders UK
This poem was written by John J. J. McDonald, Poet, and gifted to Women Leaders UK. We are pleased for friends, members, and alumni of Women Leaders UK to quote and share the poem. When doing so, please acknowledge both John J. J. McDonald (Author) and Women Leaders UK as the organisation to which the work was gifted.
