“This competition might not be for you, but for thousands of women across the region it shows that leadership and professional success are demonstrably achievable aspirational goals.”

Can women compete—against patriarchal corporate structures, against social norms and familial expectations, against pressures of time and financial limits, even (gasp) against other women—can we compete, and still be nurturing, uplifting supporters of others? My short answer is a mighty “hell, yeah, we can.” More than that, we need to compete. We can win, too.

Here’s the backstory.

One of the nominees for this year’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Business awards responded to tell me she was humbled to have been nominated again this year—but she wasn’t going to move forward with her application. (FYI, being nominated is step one; to advance to the judging round, nominees have to complete a nominee information form.)

Her reason for not proceeding?

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