March is (and has been all month) National Women's History Month. More than that, March 8 was International Women's Day. I have been meaning to blog about this because as a woman it's important to me for these to be acknowledged. Yet, I was too busy and distracted to sit down and craft any kind of a well written blog about it. But it remains important. Daily the news brings us stories of women and girls subjected to attack, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological and emotional abuse. I have some (female) friends who claim we live in a post-feminist world.
We know this isn't the truth.
Just watch the news.
Just. Pay. Attention.
Yes, we've gone through the first, second and third waves of feminism, but we aren't on the other side yet. Women are still only a tiny percentage of CEOs in this country and around the world. The United States still has not had a female president, even though other, more conservative countries, have had female leaders. And when I see the official lists of writers and editors and artists and musicians taken seriously in our country and around the world, those official lists seem to be lacking in the women writers, editors, artists and musicians that I know are out there kicking ass.
Women still can't walk down the street in the cool night air without wondering if the footsteps behind them are friend or foe.
And people say rape isn't a hate crime.
Still.
Moving on....part of the point of
National Women's History month is to make sure people understand and acknowledge the place women have had in history. Make sure people see that the world wasn't put together by only half the population. For example, women who were part of the
WACS,
WAVES, and
WASPS during WWII contributed to the war effort, and yet that contribution wasn't even truly acknowledged until 1975. It was 2009 before WASP received a Congressional Gold Medal.
There's a saying I heard on tv the other night. The house doesn't rest on the ground, it rests on a woman. It acknowledges the part a woman plays in keeping a home together, although it relegates her silent partner. But we can't always be the silent partners who nod and smile and keep our mouths shut for the sake of male egos around us and in the mean time hold up half the sky (and why should we walk on eggshells around those male egos when they haven't had the same regard for our egos and esteem).
Our role in the running of the planet needs to be acknowledged and respected. What we have and do and can contribute to this world needs to be acknowledged and respected.
More than that, however, as women we need to take our responsibility for our own lives and the life of the planet seriously as well. Too often, we shrug things off and say, "that's just the way it is" or "that's a woman's lot" or something like that.
We know better than that.
Now, take a look at that news again and at the history books and at your life and look at the affect women have had on it. Acknowledge it and be glad. And maybe do what you can to make sure future women and girls have a chance to make that same acknowledgment. Check out the
Girl Effect,
Girl Scouts,
Camp Fire, or some of your other local girls and women's organizations. Take part add your part to the legacy of women's history. Don't let the world or history pass you by.
