Women in the News on International Women's Day

Today is International Women’s Day. I’m thinking about the best way to observe the day, and the morning news gave me a lot of ideas.

When I opened the paper at the breakfast table, I saw a photo in the Cape Cod Times of two burqa-clad women who had just braved multiple bombings to vote in Iraq’s parliamentary elections. My lovely math-whiz ballerina daughter, who was sitting next to me, asked, “What are those black things?” I explained to her that women in some religious cultures wear burqas to cover themselves, because they believe women shouldn’t show their faces or any parts of their bodies, or in some cases because men in their lives or religious leaders in their governments require them to. “But why are their fingers black?” “Because they just voted, and that’s how they keep track of voters there, and make sure they don’t vote twice.” I went on to explain how Iraqis, including these women, were willing to face the possibility of being killed to participate in a democratic process that so many of us here take for granted, but I’m not sure how much sunk in over her bagel and cream cheese. That’s ok – we’ll keep talking.

Then I turned to the Boston Globe, and learned that Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win Best Director for her film, The Hurt Locker. In a story later on NPR, I heard her say that she hoped to be known not as a female filmaker, but as a filmmaker, and she hoped some day that qualifier wouldn’t be necessary. Fair enough, but the fact remains that she boldly broke new ground.

Finally, I fired up Facebook (yes, I know not exactly a news source, but I do get lots of info from it these days), and noted that lots of my local friends would be eating at the Dan’l Webster today, and 15% of our bills will be going to The Emancipation Network. Two awesome women (shout out Janell and Tammy!) in our community recently traveled to Kolkata as volunteers for this organization, which works to end human trafficking (also known as slavery) of women and girls, and to promote education for girls who might otherwise fall prey to this crime. Educating girls is the key, and may be the cause of our lifetime. If you don’t believe me, read Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl Wudunn and I dare you not to feel grateful for your life and to take action.

So what will I be doing today? I’ll be celebrating my life, and the lives of women all over the world. There was a time when people said we couldn’t “have it all.” Well, many of us do. We may not have it all at the same time. We may not have it all when we want it. But we have choices, and so we have everything. We can work, we can play (thanks Title IX!) we can learn, and we can choose our leaders – or be our leaders.

And so on this International Women’s Day, be grateful for the choices you have, and commit yourself to working like hell for the women in the world who don’t have them.