This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Pi Phi Leadership Institute. This institute has changed my perspective on so many things. It was empowering to be with a group of around 200 women all sharing their visions, dreams, and desires in life.

I have never considered myself to be a 'feminist'. Some of you reading this are probably shaking your head because all women should be feminists, but I have just never thought of myself that way. With this being said, I do believe in women empowering each other, and standing up more in society.

Oftentimes, women do not voice their opinions. We simply keep our mouth shut due to the fear of being wrong about the subject or being made fun of if we simply mess up one thing. This may should silly but if you think about it, I bet a lot of you women reading this have in fact done this. You wanted to speak up on something in class or a conversation but did not because of the fear of being wrong. This is called "sitting on our hands", one of the many things I learned at the conference.

Women need to stand up more in life. Women need to speak their mind and stand up, without the fear factor we often hold.

But most importantly women need to help other women out.

Women are the cruelest species on planet earth. We often gossip horrible things about each other and act fake towards one another. This needs to end. There have been hundreds of encounters in my life that I have come across a rude woman or received the "bitch face" look. I mean this happens on the way to class, while pumping gas, literally everywhere. There's this mindset that we have that we must tear each other down in order to succeed in life. This is NOT true.

Instead of believing that we need to tear each other down, we need to offer a hand out to the person below us and help them gain the success level we are currently on. Women need to work together, not against one another. We need to change our mindset of being mean girls and just turn into helping girls. I know it sounds cheesy and you may think you are not one of these people, but we really all are.

I am a very compassionate person, but even I cannot help but to gossip. We make fun of those who are different than us and believe we are better than one another. In truth, we are all equal as a person. It does not matter the income your parents make, your income, where you grew up, or the designers you wear, we are equal.

You are not better than any other woman.

It's time to change. Women need to stand together and help change the way society is. Look at the statistics of how many women hold political office or CEO positions, it's minimal. It's time for more women to become high positions and stand up for what we believe. No more sitting on our hands, no more saying sorry twenty times a day, create a profile for yourself and set high goals. You can accomplish what you put your time and determination into.