On Monday, March 8th, the world will mark International Women's Day in 2021. According to the site internationalwomensday.com, the theme for 2021 surrounds the hashtag #ChooseToChallenge which is explained as, "A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we're all responsible for our own thoughts and actions - all day, every day. We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women's achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let's all choose to challenge."
Riddle me this, Batman ... CLICK ... After you've watched, ask yourself if you thought the same way or did you immediately see the solution?
Why should we pay attention to International Women's Day?
Ask Wyomia Tyus.
You don't know who that is?
That's part of the problem ... And why IWD is so important.
At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Winomia Tyus became the first person in history — man or woman — to win two consecutive gold medals in the 100-meter dash. It would a full 20 years before anyone matched that feat when Carl Lewis defended his 100m gold in 1988, and nearly 50 years for anyone to break that record when Usain Bolt won his third straight 100m gold in 2016. Over 52 years later, she has largely been forgotten. Although she also protested racial injustice in her own way by shunning the USA track's uniform of white shorts for her own black ones, she was overshadowed by John Carlos' and Tommie Smith's raised fists on the podium. Even more curious, when Lewis won his second straight gold in the 100m in 1988, the media celebrated him as the first athlete to do that, 20 years after Tyus had actually done it.
In 1968, there was no media machine to trumpet her landmark accomplishment on TV and the Internet. There was no live post-race interview with an American flag draped around her shoulders. There was no Twitter to pass around quotes and videos. There were no sponsorships from Corporate America to boost her post-Olympic coffers. After her record-breaking Olympic triumph, Tyus did what was expected at the time ... she got married, had a child and became a teacher and housewife.
*Thanks to Yahoo Sports for the info!
A simple Internet search will point the way to a number of posts, sites and resources that will provide a host of information about IWD and it's historical significance as a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It provides a focus for accelerating gender parity by celebrating women's achievements, raising awareness about women's equality, and lobbying for fundraising efforts with female-focused charities. Since it's birth in 1908, marked by a 15000 strong march of women through New York City with the aim to point the injustices surrounding working hours, wages and the right to vote, IWD underwent a host of changes from 1909 through 1917, before it was globally agreed that March 8th would from then on be reserved for it's observance.
Interestingly, IWD is a national holiday in a wide variety to countries around the globe, but has somehow been missed by the government of Canada, although traditions of the day involves men honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc with acknowledgement and small gifts. In some countries, IWD has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children shower their mothers and grandmothers with gifts of appreciation.
IMHO, we don't need a National Holiday, although that would be an awesome thing to have happen! What we need is a collective effort to to eradicate so much archaic thinking, solidified over 1000's of years of gender bias thanks to perceived genetic advantages attributed to having a Y chromosome, and the resulting testosterone boost. When I pause to reflect on the women in my immediate bubble, their sheer awesomeness is overwhelming, spurring a swelling sense of gratitude that they choose to include me in their lives, but I honestly don't see my relationship with any of them as a competition where one of us holds more value than the other.
I've written on a number of occasions about my best friend and wife, Joyce, the amazing woman who said YES and her SuperMom powers, but I have rarely publicly stated how deeply impacted I am by all that she is. From where I stand, there is not a more caring, loving, compassionate, selfless person ... male or female ... that I know of. All humans, regardless of gender, have strengths and weaknesses, the effects of both Nature and Nurture, but it has never once entered my mind that I am more worthy, more deserving or more valuable than her, simply because I am male. Those who don't understand what IWD is all about might view the fact that I worked outside of the home through some misogynistic lens (while Joyce worked inside it) granting me elevated value to the family. Quite the contrary! When we chose to have children ... obviously something she was going to be highly involved in ... and we both felt strongly that raising children was the most important facet of family, requiring someone's full-time efforts, so we had to decide if the primary care giver was her or I. After much discussion, we agreed that since I had chosen a career with longevity, security, and lucrativeness, she would choose the career of SuperMom. Little did I know, way back then, that she had not made a concession with this decision. This was 100% what she wished for! My point here is that there was never any notion that one of us was undervalued for our part in this family, regardless if it fit some antiquated definition of gender roles.
A very strong influence on who I have become is my mother. My parents had the same discussion as Joyce and I, early in their lives, and with my father's chosen career in medicine, it made perfect sense for mom to take on the primary care of "The Four Warts". Without selling medicine short, I would venture that the task of raising 4 very differently interested and talented young males was Herculean in comparison, and I am not at all sure that it would have worked out similarly if the roles were reversed. With my father regularly working 80-100 hour weeks in those early years, mom was tackling the task more or less solo. As an impressionable young lad, I was awed at the way my mother held it all together with the 4 hellions going this way and that, then astounded when she willingly embraced the added responsibility of running my father's medical office. She was the rock foundation that our family was built on and I will tell you that I don't think there are many more better than my mom ... maybe on par, but not better.
Another incredible female in my life is my daughter, Maddison. Much like her mother, she is an incredibly loving, compassionate, caring, and supportive person who brightens the room each time she enters with her massive smile and warm personality. She has a keenly intelligent mind, and inherited/learned my obsessive work ethic, always striving to bring her best to each and every challenge. This combination that will serve her well as she navigates this life.
My dream is that she will be free from bias and inequality within her lifetime. To all of the women of the world, I promise that I will not relegate my efforts for your equality to only March 8th, and I will endeavour to free my thinking of unconscious, yet limiting, bias. All women deserve at least that.
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