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Celebrating Women Everywhere

International Women's Day  is celebrated on March 8 every year. It commemorates the ongoing fight for women’s equality.

While the first observance of a Women's Day was held February 28, 1909, in New York, March 8 was suggested by the 1910 International Woman's Conference to become an "International Woman's Day." In 1975, it was adopted by the United Nations.

For most people, this day will pass quietly without much fanfare. Make no mistake: Women are organizing around the world to bring justice, fairness and equal rights to the front of the conversation.

This fight is aided by Intersectionality, the movement that crosses causes to reach a common goal; the #MeToo movement, whose courage has fueled a boldness in women whose voices have long been silent; and, most stunningly, a president who believes the barroom behavior of touching, degrading and dismissing women have a place in the Oval Office.

I salute Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, the Grimke Sisters, Alice Paul, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Billie Jean King, Mahalia, Michelle Obama; the nameless women murdered at the hands of lovers; the thousands of women raped without justice; the millions of women objectified and degraded by sexual slurs.

I pray for the day when equality is more than a word on a sign -- when women are treated with fairness and their cause as righteous. 

This quote: “To the women give the vote, for the hand that rocks the cradle will never rock the boat.” Wrong.

I’m Lou Ness, and that’s my perspective.

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