Channeling Harriet Tubman: International Women's Day 2024

March is the month designated to celebrate women's history; March 8 is International Women's Day. We might ask ourselves why we still need to set time apart to pay attention to women. Haven't we enacted laws so that women are equal and now we can just go on with our lives?

Sadly, no, that is not the case. If we look at basic statistics, like how much women earn compared to men in the very same jobs, we see that the U.S. has still not achieved equality. If we look at who is running corporations and institutions large and small, those people are usually male and white.  If we look at violent crime rates across the past 100 years, we discover that most violent crime rates have fallen--except for rape. If we look at representation in local, state, and federal levels, we see that members of government are still mostly white and male.

And that's in a first world country. The picture for women in developing nations is bleak.  And these past few years have reminded us that legal protections can be stripped away, in every country.

Most of us understand why a world where more women have access to equal resources would be a better world for all of us. Many of us have spent years and decades working to make that world a reality.  Many of us are so tired at the thought of work left to do--and worse, work that needs doing again.

As always, my brain shifts to apocalyptic possibilities, the fact that I may think it's bad now, but worse days may be coming.  In times like these, let me channel Harriet Tubman.  

I picture her appearing in the fields where we're enslaved.  I picture her saying, "Wake up. We're going for freedom, and we're going tonight. I've been there, and I can get you there. But we have to leave right now."

Sure, I could channel Winston Churchill or FDR, but I like Harriet Tubman.  I like Sojourner Truth.  I like the vast assortment of female ancestors of all colors, most of whom are nameless, who never gave up, or if they gave up, only allowed themselves to give up for a day or two.

Let us have the courage of Harriet Tubman, who led so many to freedom.  Let us have the spirit of Sojourner Truth, who worked tirelessly for social justice, even when she envisioned a better world that many of her contemporaries couldn't see as possible.  Let us have the fortitude of generations of women who never stopped believing that a better world was possible and who kept working to make the changes in society that opened doors and broke apart barriers.