Today is International Women’s Day. Each year on March 8 we celebrate the “…social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.” (internationalwomensday.com/about)
This year’s celebration seeks to draw attention to the contributions of women in the workplace. Women around the world have been asked to stay home from work today if they can to show what they contribute to the workplace. Several school districts in the US have closed because so many teachers- a predominantly female field of work- have indicated they won’t be working today. Parents are pissed because they now have to scramble to find child care. But child care is also a predominantly female field of work. Or they can try to get their housekeeper to double as a child care provider, but they’re mostly women too. So good luck with that. Feeling our importance yet?
I took the day off too. I think I’m the only woman in my majority female office that did. What does that say about where I work? And will my co-workers get the message that I respect myself as a woman and a valuable employee, or label me as an uppity woman?
Critics are dismissing our efforts by saying we’re a bunch of affluent women who are just thinking of ourselves and aren’t considering the needs of poor women. This is not new. Phyllis Schlafly berated us for years for aspiring for more than marriage and motherhood. Ann Coulter wants to repeal a woman’s right to vote. Many religious leaders, who, by the way, make a living off of the donations made by mostly women, seek to keep those women thinking that men are stronger, smarter, and sanctioned by God to run things.
Women make up only 21% of the Senate and 19% of the House of Representatives (CAWP). Women make up 50.8% of the US population (US Census).
Women own 9.1 million businesses in the US and employ almost 8 million people. Women own one/fifth of firms with revenue of $1 million or more (NAWBO). However, only 4% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women (Fortune).
Women make 85% of all consumer purchases in the US (Bloomberg).
We are a force to be reckoned with. So why don’t we act like it?
I am reading Testosterone Rex by Cordelia Fine. In this book she debunks gender myths we’ve bought into for years by using science to show us that gender inequity is cultural. I highly recommend it.
It’s time for women to embrace that we are not less than any man. We are just as smart, just as capable, just as cunning.
Let’s show men (and women who aren’t woke) just how much we contribute.
Dogpaddling Through Life 
No comments? What gives?
The site keeps failing! Maybe that’s why? Anyway, gender myths are killing all of us but especially women yet I still have to catch myself from going along with them in my work with kids. Some coworkers are still very entrenched in them. It’s definitely a battle worth waging though! And, oh yeah, I had to work today but was thanked by several moms who needed me to be there.
I think it was an attack. I got lots of spammer comments on old blog posts. Hopefully it’s over now. Thanks for going to work and hopefully teaching our children a different way to think about the roles of women and men.
It’s pretty sad that – in the second decade of the 21st century – we have to designate a special day for women in this country, just like it’s pathetic that we have to have a “Black Lives Matter” campaign to highlight racism in connection with police aggression. As far as I’m concerned, every day is “Women’s Day.” It’s “Women’s Day” for the millions of women who drag themselves out of bed every day or every night to get themselves and their families ready for the day. It’s “Women’s Day” for whichever women have to fight against violence and oppression, whether it’s in their own neighborhoods or their country.
Just as with racial and ethnic discrimination, gender-based discrimination impedes a community’s growth. If no such discrimination had ever existed, humanity might have invented vehicles a thousand years ago and placed someone on the moon in the 18th century. But we’re here now and we have to deal with what’s occurred in the past and move forward. Social conservatives and religious zealots keep wanting to take us back to some distant period where they felt everything was just fine, but humanity has always had only one real choice: move forward. And that’s just what we have to do; keep moving forward and keep fighting.
I’m tired of it all, but until the masses change, what can we do? I’m sure not going to just suck it up anymore.
Had to work but red was in my heart all day.
Glad to hear it!
Mmmmmm, I can imagine some places I’ve worked likely fell over when I wasn’t there any more. And my home isn’t as efficient when I take a single day off! Can’t wait to hear the fall-out from this .😀
It’s official: I am an uppity woman!
You go! We must stand strong. This fight is far from over.
I don’t know if you have it in the US, but I went to see Made in Dagenham on Wednesday night. If you get the chance you must go and see it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgVbVQd_vZA