Harness hope and make opportunity happen

Opportunities for women can be enhanced in alternative contexts derived from the positive focus of appreciative inquiry. Rather than dwelling on initial negative images, beliefs and expectations, the appreciative inquiry philosophy promotes focusing individual and collective effort on positive experiences and future outcomes. It has been shown that how one has been constructed through discourse, as well as how others have been, affects one's ability to do what one aspires to. This paper expands on positioning theory by exploring the impact of adopting an appreciative inquiry approach in co-gender situations. It demonstrates how that approach might help in positioning the self and realigning the mood of such situations so as to create a more appropriate culture in which one can achieve what one aspires to.