Beauty is more than skin deep, and an issue that impacts us all as human beings. We long to be seen as the beautiful creations we are. We ought to be treating one another in ways that celebrate each human being's unique beauty. This world is filled with beautiful people who treat others and are treated by others in truly ugly ways, which is why we need days like International Women's Day.
My contribution to the conversation is a short piece on feminism, which I hope you will read. Additionally, I encourage you to take part of International Women's Day today, March 8th via links at the bottom of the post!
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As a self-proclaimed feminist, I embrace today and the message about the importance of gender equality. I do not understand feminism to be something that is anti-men/ anti-male. Rather, for me, feminism is the desire to see the end of oppression within human relationships.
I understand patriarchal ways in which society functions to be equally detrimental for women and men. As a brief example, demands upon men to be the "bread-winners" holds them to standards that are, by and large, completely unreasonable in today's economy. The expectation that men always go to work can stifle the desires of those fathers who want to be stay-at-home-dads!
The fact that women across the board are paid less than their male counterparts is inherently problematic. Especially in our US society where one of the ways in which a human being's worth is determined is by the size of their paycheck, our economy declares that women are less valuable than men. This is one of many variables that create situations in which women are marginalized in our capitalist economy. Pair the reality of women with the reality of persons of color and we end up with a situation in which those who are the most vulnerable in our society are women of color. Even within women's struggle for equality, our struggle is not equal. It is imperative that women continue to lift one another up, even across political, socio-economic and racial boundaries. It is only together that we can continue the dialogue. Action requires communication. Both require mutual understanding and a willingness to work together toward a mutual goal. I hope that today is a day in which the complexities of the struggle for equality are lifted to the surface just as the need for equality itself is highlighted across the world.
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I've included lots of logos and links to various ways to connect with today's celebration! May today be beautiful for you!
Today we celebrate the role of women in our international communities while reminding ourselves and the rest of the world of the need for equality!
PLUS, Tune in for an Amazing Presentation by Emma Watson as part of Celebrating International Womene's Day for a HeForShe and Gender Equality Conversation Live on Facebook!
I hope that you've found a way to plug in, participate, and be inspired to #MakeItHappen; we all need to work toward a greater awareness of gender equality!
