Today is International Woman’s Day. It is not a day to mock or protest or scoff at. Today is a day to appreciate the impact women have on our society. Today feminists gather all over the world. Together they chant, “A day without a woman is a day without me.” Someone asked me why this, of all things, was the slogan they chose. They chant this because a day without women would be horrible. Women are such an enormous part of our society, and a day without their impact is something no one wants to see.
Today someone asked me, “When is international men’s day?” I said, every day. Every single day. Men are respected and seen as equals every day, and they always have been. Women have had to earn their place in this world. Women have seen everywhere and everything to earn something as human as respect.
Women across the planet are beaten, raped, bullied, tortured, and even killed because of their gender. There are people out there who believe that women are weaker, dumber, and less than men. We are living in the twenty-first century, and horrors like these still face us.
Women and men all over the world are striking because women will no longer be ignored. Women will no longer be silent. We must speak up, rise up, and stand up against the evil misogynistic humans that live among us. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and men must join together now. Now we must fight the racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia that face us.
International Women’s Day exsists to honor the women who have been pushed to the side and hidden in the shadows. Women will be hidden no more. Women will be silent no more. Today we join hands as humans to appreciate how women have so incredibly affected our world.