March 08th, 2017

I'm confused why people are upset by women supporting each other and taking one lone day to remind the world how essential we are to its functionality and beauty, and that we all deserve the full respect that many of our fellow females do not receive.

This especially goes out to the women who feel like a day of acknowledging and supporting other women is somehow an attack on them or some political statement they could never agree with.

Why is that so threatening?

Why does it make you angry?

Why do you feel attacked by empowerment and unity?

This is not about politics. It is not about disrespecting the men that we love by reminding them how much we are and do. It is not about whether or not you personally choose to wear red, or take today off work, or not spend money to make your dollars heard. It is about some of us choosing to take one single day to say loudly and clearly, We Are Women And We Have Value.

How is that harmful to you or your way of life?

I’ve seen women posting that they would never take today off work because women fought for years to work and not just stay home as housewives. Yes, yes they did, and I’m so glad that you recognize that. But their dreams for equality in this world have not yet been fully accomplished; even if some of us have earned or been given the comfort of such balance, not all of us have, but they should too.

Too many women doing the same job as a man still earn only 78.6% of his pay (as of 2014), and this gap is getting better only at a snail’s pace. In ten years, it has only gone from 76.6% to 78.6%! For women of color, the gap is far worse, earning 62.3%, and Hispanic women earn even less than that, just 54% of what a white man earns. For doing the same job! 

If you earn great money, awesome! Keep on keeping on! But please don’t assume that your experience is everyone’s experience. Please don’t think that pretending these statistics are just myths that it will make the numbers just go away or change by the denial of them.

Statistics and math have no opinion, no bias, no political affiliation, and no gender. Truth does not care if you dislike it or if you want to disavow its existence. Things simply are what they are - acknowledge it, even if you do not wish to help us change it.

To let ourselves believe that today is just about political resistance to a new administration, or about staying home just to have a day off work, or about disrespecting the women who fought for the rights we have so far is a cop-out. You do not have to justify to anyone else whether you chose to participate or not participate today. If you choose not to wear red in support of other women around you because your own personal life feels perfectly equal and blessed, that is absolutely ok, and the rest of us are happy for you.

What is not ok is to condemn another woman as if they’re attacking you or judging you simply by making a choice that is different from yours. What is not ok is to speak or behave as if the women who do chose to participate, in solidarity with the women who do not have so blessed a life as you or I might have, are somehow wrong or worthy of scorn, that they are to be looked down upon or are doing something “wrong” to you, to our society or our way of life in 2017.

We who wear red today, who may not be at work or may not be spending money to make our presence felt and voices heard, we are doing it out of respect for all women.  We are not criticizing anyone for their beliefs, whatever they may be, so please don’t act like we’re somehow being self-righteous over others by desiring that for one day out of 365 a “woman’s place” should be fully recognized as equally important to a man's.  

Please don’t turn this into women versus women, today of all days.  Please don’t promote division when today is about the exact opposite. Women are so judgmental toward each other, we all are. For one day, just ONE DAY, can we try to not be?

Simply smile at the women around you both in red and not in red, and let that be the end of it, because we are all women, mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, lovers, friends... Because this world needs a little more love and kindness, and women can be the best at those things, when we want to be.

Today is a day we come TOGETHER. We support all the other women around us, those who have everything and those who have nothing, every color, every faith, every age and location, in every job and every home, even if we have nothing else in common with them other than the fact that we are all women. 

No matter what color you are, nor what color your clothes are today, we are women.
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We create life, we teach love, we bring balance. It is what we do, it is who we are.

Be that. At least for today.

Hope

For more statistics about women, click HERE.

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