I have to admit to you… International Women’s Day feels a bit trite.
I struggle with celebrating the one day of the year where straight white men everywhere post things like
“Behind every successful man is an amazing woman.”
“So grateful for the women in my life…”
“You’ve come a long way, baby.”
“I don’t know what I would do without women in my life…”
I mean… where do I even begin with this?
It feels like a pat on the head. It feels like a brush aside. It feels like putting Baby in the corner.
And as women rise to the occasion, over and over again, with Grace and strength, we continue to get lower paying jobs, less time in the board room, less room for growth, less space for actual feminine energy.
Because women aren’t here to just exist in the man’s world. We’re not here to just take up a little space. We’re not here to assimilate.
We’re here because we are not men.
We have different views, a different perspective, a different way to move through this life.
We tend to respond differently from men. We tend to think differently from men.
You see? That’s why we’re here. That’s why we are here on purpose by purpose for purpose.
It’s not to take on a male role; it’s to take on the feminine role.
And men don’t get to decide what that is, how that looks, or what it feels like.
It’s the only way forward. It’s the only way to live in a society that finally moves away from a top-heavy toxic masculine space.
A New Earth is not based in power-over but power-with. And as long as we deny women basic human rights and basic positions of decision making, we will remain stuck in this world that is quickly dying.
I guess that’s why my heart hurts on International Women’s Day today. Because we are the ones who save the fish. (Jason Reynolds)