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This morning I rolled out of bed just after 6:30 a.m. I curled up in my favorite chair and opened my prayer journal — with my husband and I deciding which job he should take, I had a lot to say to God this morning. A lot to pray about.
Some time later I closed the journal, replaced my Bible, and turned on my phone. Facebook happily reminded me it’s International Women’s Day.
A Woman’s Day
I got up and started cooking eggs and toast — my go-to breakfast these days — because the tiny baby in my stomach was rolling and kicking and begging for mom to hurry up and eat. The food cooked while I opened my laptop and started scanning through emails, deciding which client’s work to attend to first.
Yesterday was one of those days where the demands of home overshadowed the demands of work and I simply didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to. Today meant catch-up.
After a half hour I snuck back into our bedroom and nudged my husband awake, giving him a quick snuggle before turning on the lights and starting my “beauty” routine. When you’re pregnant and work from home, that means put on maternity jeggings and make-up and brushing your teeth.
Then I sat back down at the table, reopened my laptop, and resumed my work for the next eight hours. When I was done, I cooked an enchilada chicken casserole so baby and husband (and me!!) could eat.
Why I Worked
Why did I work on Women’s Day? Because I have a husband and baby-on-the-way who are relying on that income. Because I work for three wonderful clients who rely on me to make their websites run, get research completed, and post to and manage their social media accounts. Because reliability and efficiency are two character traits I admire in others and aspire to emulate.
Today I didn’t protest, because I have nothing to protest.
I have a loving husband who shares household chores with me (he just pulled out a load of all my pink clothes and washed all the dishes in the sink from dinner — chores he does every day, not just today). He tells me he appreciates the work I do that’s making it possible for him to get his master’s degree. He never shoves chores on me because I’m a woman, but he does some chores (like taking out the stinky trash!) because he’s a gentleman.
Two of my clients are men who consistently appreciate the work I do and tell me so. One of them gave me a raise at the start of the year that I never even asked for. They’ve never belittled me because I’m female. They have been more than supportive of the time I’ll need off when baby comes. When I put off work because I had an ultrasound appointment, they congratulated me. Now I realize some of that is because I only work part time for each of them and have a very fluid schedule, but it’s also because these are decent, normal human beings, not monsters.
Today, I chose to honor women by being the best woman I could be.
The Women Who Deserve To Protest
But don’t get me wrong: There are women who deserve to protest today. Women we should protest on behalf of.
It’s the women in Lybia who can’t travel without a male guardian. Or the women in Iran who can be imprisoned for failing to wear a hijab. Or the 200 million women alive today who have had their genitals mutilated. Or the 19-year-old Nila who told her husband she wanted to continue her education and was left crying out in pain after her husband threw acid on her face. Or Sumaira, who was stabbed to death by a male relative because at 20 years old she dared to talk to a man on the phone.
There are real human rights violations across the globe. Terrible, unfathomable women’s rights violations that we shouldn’t ignore.
But by lumping the wage gap in the same phrase (women’s rights) with honor killings, we minimize the real atrocities happening to women today. We ignore what we really need to be fighting for — who we need to be fighting for.
Happy to Celebrate Women
I want you to know that I’m so happy to celebrate women today. Women are awesome. We can do awesome things. We can be writers, engineers, scientists, lawyers, surgeons, CEOs and moms. We are powerful and unique and goodness gracious we can give birth to tiny humans!
So on Women’s Day, lets celebrate womanhood and mourn for those under oppression. Let’s rejoice in being female, and empathize with those women whose sex makes them targets of brutality. Let’s smile because we have so much to smile about, and let’s cry because there’s still plenty wrench our hearts.
Let’s enjoy being women, because it truly is a gift.
Beautifully said 🙂