But to be honest,
I'm a little disappointed. No, I'm miffed. National woman
's day
was celebrated a few days ago. Social media posts were all but
nonexistent. The things on the news were all about encouragement. We can do
this. Keep Climbing. Strong as hell. –
No shit Sherlock. We work harder and hold it together. We get things done because we must. There is no other choice. We are women.
Guns have more rights than we do.
As if all women needed to be considered equals, treated as colleagues, and have our rights protected by law, is a pep talk. If only we had the right, motivational speakers, everything would be grand. Women just need to be told how strong, worthy, and independent we are. They need to be told this by men for the man to feel woke or better or something…. Motivation is rarely on the list of problems women have.
It is not the lack of motivation that requires us to be paid less. It's not the desire or the lack of goals that keep us from achieving our dreams It is the inbred societal mindset, that says women are worth less. It’s a mindset that says women don't need to be heard, considered, or have the same rights as the other ½ of the population. Maybe it's the lawmakers that need a motivational speaker.
But we have come so far. Look at all that has been accomplished.
Why did we have to accomplish anything? Have we gotten anywhere?
My grandmother was a factory worker in the 50s. (She wasn’t the only woman) She retired somewhere in the late 80s. The stories my uncle tells of the way she was treated in the factory, by the men, the managers, and the people she worked with prove just how strong women really are and so much more. They stood their ground with their heads held high. They got the jobs done. The women provided for their families when the men disappeared.
Almost 60 years later, I have the same story to tell. It's been 60 years since my grandmother (and her generation) started working in a factory. I was in the factory, as an engineer, with a degree. I was treated the same way. The stories from my uncle are Word for Word what has been said to me, The same bathroom or lack of bathroom problems. (Just for reference, peeing on a tree or changing your tampons in a work truck is NOT ok) Word for Word, story after story, everything that happened then is still happening today. Not just to me. Not just with my grandmother. All women. From then, to now, it is continuing.
We were building a new factory, a multi-million-dollar operation for the pharmaceutical industry. There was a question on the table as to whether they needed two locker rooms. “Yes,” girls don't shower with the boys. (At least not willingly) The entire room, full of men, looked at me dumbstruck. They really were not going to build a locker room for the girls. It had never occurred to them that a woman would be working in the facility. It's 2018 boys. Where have you been? Women have jobs too. Including your wives and daughters.
We are not bad luck in the press room or on ships. We don’t need a short skirt to pass the test. Our lives do not revolve around babies and cooking dinner. Women don’t need a special month, a pep talk, or justification. We need better men. We deserve a better society.
History is full of women on the front lines, on the battlefield, in factories building tanks for the war effort, saving lives, nurses, and teaching our children. Yet we must have a special month for people to recognize women's contributions to history. After all only 0.5 of written history is about all the women standing next to all men. We have to have a special month because we are NOT in HIStory book.
Women don't need motivational speakers. Women need to be treated as equals they are. After all, without them, you would not exist.
Photo by Photo by Luwadlin Bosman on Unsplash
For more information on how Woman’s History came to be check
out the link below.
Women's History Month. (2023, March 9). In Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_History_Month
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