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Monday, March 7, 2011

I Am Woman

Tomorrow is International Women’s Day and it is the Global Centenary Year, or in plain language the 100th anniversary of the celebration of International Women's Day. This piece is in honor of all the women across the country, and the world that will gather, march and observe this day. It is most particularly for those who will do so in the Mideast, especially the women of Iran. Bravery and courage barely describe their characters. (They will be marching from 6-8 PM Iran time which is about 7-9AM CST)

The theme the UN has set for its marking of this day is, "Equal access to education, training, and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." Yes decent work would be a good thing as we know that the majority of those in poverty, or marginally above poverty, are women and children.  As noted on 60 minutes last night, 23% of those homeless in this country are children, and given that it is primarily women who do the job of rearing children, it means their moms are homeless too. Shameful, but I digress.

Hail to all women, we hold up half the sky, we make the peace, we are most ravaged in wars and despite it all we keep on keeping on building a better world in our own corner of the world. I hope you will find inspiration in this quote from Sojourner Truth, at the First National Women's Rights Convention, October 1850. "Sisters, I'm not clear what you be after. If women want any rights more than they've got, why don't they just take them and not be talking about it." So let us go forth into the next 100 years armed with all we have done, propelled by our passion, steadied by resolve and strengthened by a sisterhood that stretches across not just a century but millennia.

I dedicate this piece to my dear sister Louanne who left this earth walk in 2007, and to my sisters of the heart whose love, caring, and support keeps me keeping on.  Louanne gave me a plaque that reads, Chance Made Us Sisters, Hearts Made Us Friends.  Well dears, hearts makes us friends and sisters, and I hold you all close in mine.

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