So it’s International Women’s Day according to social media and elsewhere on this planet. At first, when I heard about this, I was a little taken aback because I don’t vividly recall “celebrating” this in years past…so maybe it was like “international best friend day” or “love your dog day,” aka all of the artificially conjured days social media and clever calendars lead us to believe are actually real.
However, I did look it up, and today is a thing, and has been for a number of years (since like the 1970s). Some are taking this day very politically…which, dude, the election is over…calm down. I definitely think it’s important to recognize women and the role they play in everyone’s lives (hey, you were created in one!), but I don’t think we need to go a whole day and leave our jobs, neglect our families, etc. just to prove a point about how “valuable” we are. To all the teachers who didn’t show up for work today, you’re sending a great message to your students that education and commitment to show up every damn day to your job is secondary to your feelings and your political beliefs. To all the waitresses and servers skipping out on your restaurants today, bravo on expecting your male counterparts to pick up your missed shifts and extra tables.
You get my point. There are men and there are women, and we both need the other in order to make this world go round and round. Yes, you need ovaries to make a kid, but you’re also kinda hopeless without a sliver of a sperm. Yes, stay at home moms are great…but not every woman has the option or desire to do that. What I’m trying to say is that I think today is a great day to reflect on all of the progress women have made, specifically in the last 100 years. However, I don’t think it’s appropriate to bash men as the sole reason why we haven’t had a female president in the United States (yet) or that they’re the ones causing pay gaps, etc.
Today should be about reflecting on your own contributions, aspirations, and goals. It shouldn’t be about “sticking it to the (literal) man.” Maybe I’m all hot and bothered because I’d be super frustrated if I ran a business or a school today and literally half, or more than half of my employees decided they didn’t need to show…or worse, not give notice they weren’t going to show.
I’m thankful the women in my family fought for what they believed in. My mom was one of five women, in a class of hundreds, who went to dental school. At the time, it was unheard of for a woman to seek a professional degree and not want to be a stay at home mom. My maternal grandmother worked from her early teens until later in life because she never wanted to answer to my grandfather about how much she could spend on shopping (probably where I get my sassy attitude about earning my own money from). My paternal grandmother ran her own jewelry business and at times made more than my grandfather who was the ONLY DOCTOR in their town.
Zoom out of my family genealogy for a second and what I’m trying to say is that society can make all the barriers it wants, but there are people, women specifically, who will turn their noses up to expectations and pave their own ways. Don’t take today to feel sorry for yourself-take today to think about how much women have contributed to society and how much we’ll continue to do so every damn day. Hell, we may not have had a female president this last election, but (as ridiculous as she might be), Kelly Anne Conway did become the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign. I wish more people would talk about that…and the fact that Hillary Clinton WAS NOT the first women to run for President of the United States (nope, it happened before, but it was before the time of Instagram and Facebook…so, like, did it even happen?).
Ah, so on that note, I’m off to enjoy the sliver of spring break I have left this week and start reading up on some of the AMAZING titles I have coming in the queue to review for y’all.
Until Soon,
kissed.with.a.quip.
