Happy International Women's Day to one and all. 100 is a milestone that should not go unnoticed.
I was watching Isabel Allende in a TED Talk video (if you don't know TED Talks, you need to. They're awesome. Full stop). She was talking about the importance of passion, how the women she met on her walk during the Olympics were women of passion, living and working for a cause they believed in, and how essential that was.
Then I was reading Michelle Bachelet's speech at the official launch of UN Women.
Then I listened to Courtney Martin in another TED Talk about 'feministing', and how the young generation of feminists have changed the face and name of the game, but still toil for the cause that has not, in 100 years, lost meaning or validity.
Then I remembered a talk I had with my coworkers, and how they laughed at me for calling myself a feminist, and for proposing very unorthodox views about equality between men and women ... and I remembered my mother, and the pillar of strength and resilience that she has been. What if there was no women's movement? Could she be where she is today? Could I be who I am today?
It's been 100 years. But it's been a battle well worth it.
So here are is the final stanza of a poem I wrote as an ode to my grandmother:
'I am not weak-willed. I am strong.
The blood of a thousand warriors flows through my veins.
Long live indomitable woman.'
2 comments:
I do like to think the world's getting better - it's no longer news that if we want to improve the world, empower women. Educate girls.
Well said from one feminist to another
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