Although there are roughly the same amount of women as there are men on planet earth, it's safe to say that for more years than not, women have been treated as though they are a minority.
Our thoughts go out to anyone who is considered a minority, and who is treated differently because of that minority.
I don’t have all the answers but I’d like to express that my wish for the world one day is that we are all equal in some way, shape, or form.
Today is a big day in history, and I want to talk a little bit about it.
National Women's Day was first observed across the United States on February 28, 1909. For the next 4 years, women continued to celebrate in America on the last Sunday of February until 1913. In 1910, Clara Zetkin, while at a conference in Copenhagen with over 100 women from over 15 countries, brought to the table that there should be an International Women's Day. For the first time, in 1914 that IWD was celebrated on March 8th and that tradition has continued on to this day.
In 2000, I think we all realized that even though the world had recognized IWD and the importance of equality for women in our communities - the changes everyone had hoped for had not actually happened, and there was a need to re-ignite the fight for us all. For you all. For ALL women. In 2001, the platform internationalwomensday.com was launched for this exact reason and all the information you’ve read so far has been sourced from this online platform.
So much has changed in the past 100 years of this day, but there is still so much work to do. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health, and violence against them are worse than that of men. However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so each year the world inspires women and celebrates their achievements.
(internationalwomensday.com, para. 11)
In saying that, I want to first say thank you for being here. We are a women-owned business that exists to help empower women. We are a team of women, and not because we don’t like men and anyone who does not identify as a woman - we do, but because we’re allowed to be a team of women and lucky for us - our team is incredible. We’re excited for the fact that we’ve gotten this far, and we can’t wait to see where we end up - together.
We also know that there are a ton of different ways to be a woman. We acknowledge that maybe not everyone feels a sense of safety in their life to be who they truly are. There are trans women all over the world who are currently not receiving the love and recognition that we believe they deserve. There are femme women and masculine-presenting women. There are women who are proud to be women, and there are women who are scared to be themselves. There are women in the workplace who are too afraid to speak up, and women in our households that have no courage to use their voices. Women who spend countless hours trying to hide who they are, as well as women who are shouting from the rooftops that they are happy with their identities. Women are amazing, and undeniably, we are all very very different. To expect that a woman looks or presents a certain way is not something we stand for here at Dunnebells. To expect that all women feel powerful and connected to being a woman would be ignorant, so today (and every other day of the year, for that matter) we want to make it clear that we see you, we hear you, and we respect you - as you are. You are welcome here - as you are. We will forever celebrate you - just as you are.
To keep it light and full of fun today, I want to highlight a handful of women who I truly believe need to be highlighted. Not because they’re better than you or I, instead simply because they are women out in the world doing incredible things that I want to shine some light on.
Feel free to go and love on and support these women as they make their way through life, one step at a time. If the women named are no longer with us, then feel free to think of them and send them your thoughts. If these are women you want to simply admire from afar, remember that that too, is acceptable. We are all in this together.
In 1937, Virginia became the first female board-certified anesthesiologist and the first woman to achieve the rank of professor at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, where she was the first professor of anesthesiology. In 1952, she presented a five-step system for assessing the condition of newborn babies within a minute of birth and periodically after that. Prior to the development of the test—in which nurses or other delivery room staff assess a baby’s skin color, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone, and breathing—babies weren’t typically given much attention after birth, which could lead to problems being missed until it was too late.
The test eventually became a backronym for appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration. The APGAR test soon spread through the U.S. and around the world, and today, according to the National Library of Medicine, “[E]very baby born in a modern hospital anywhere in the world is looked at first through the eyes of Dr. Virginia Apgar.”
(source: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618992/women-who-changed-world)
Award-winning producer, transgender rights activist, and trans model, Geena Rocero, has established herself as the first of multiple border-breaking roles. She was the first trans woman to be part of the iconic 2020 Playboy Playmates of the year. In 2014, she made history as the first transgender person to speak about trans identity at TED. And now, she’s the first openly trans ambassador for Miss Universe Nepal, an honor that’s been bestowed to her as part of the Miss Universe pageant system accepting trans women into the competition.
“Being a producer in and of itself is power because for so long transgender stories or transgender people have always been looked at in media, especially the way we're being represented as sort of the butt of the joke, or we're not believed as the women that we are,” shares Geena. “It's always predicated on the idea that you have to prove yourself that you are the woman that you are instead of just, ‘Let's just tell our story as women and what we go through.’
(source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissarowley/2020/07/23/why-this-transgender-rights-activist-wants-us-to-evolve-from-being-allies-to-accomplices/?sh=38c843df109a)
I first heard about Em’s story on the Shameless Podcast while I was nannying for a family with triplets a few years back. I can remember being in the kitchen, organizing baby food and putting away clean dishes as the babies slept, listening in awe to the story that Em was telling. She had been on a trip to Switzerland when she was younger and decided to do as any (or at least some) young people would do - go skydiving. However, when the time came for her parachute to open, unfortunately, hers did not. She has been known as the girl who fell from the sky - a walking paraplegic, and her story is anything other than ordinary. She has quite literally been through it all and still is one of the most positive people I follow on the internet. Just recently she went waterskiing - even though she says it was something she never thought she would do. Today, she is volunteering her time and her energy in the NSW flood clean-ups, helping families who have been impacted by some of the worst floods Australia has ever seen.
If you’re looking for some real-life content that has no boundaries, I suggest checking out Em. She’s hilarious, she does some pretty great Aussie spider content, and often she’s outdoors doing amazing things and when you’re low on sunshine, her feed is a great way to boost your mood!
A true inspiration. You can listen to her podcast episode HERE
Jazmyn + Crystal aka. The Vanwives are a couple you won’t want to miss. For the last three years they have been living in their van (that they converted into their home) and just last year they bought a cabin in the woods in Nova Scotia.
What I love about these two is that they are incredibly down to earth, they love each other and their dogs more than you could even imagine, and they are not afraid to live their life fearlessly. Not a single thing gets in their way. They have learned, and continue to learn everything they need to know about their van so that when they break down or run into some issues - they can fix it themselves. They bought a cabin and without any prior knowledge - learned everything they needed to know to tackle the long list of projects themselves. From completing their long driveway to landscaping their dream yard, to replacing the roof on their cabin - there is really nothing these girls are afraid to try on their own.
They are an absolute image of independence and it's so inspiring to watch two young women make their own mark on this world in a way that inspires others to do the same. Along with their two dogs, Bella and Izzy, the Van Wives upload a new video to their youtube channel every Sunday - and it's something you won't want to miss.
Mum of one IVF baby with a baby on the way, Filipa is someone who you all need to know.
She and her husband struggled with fertility for years and were told that they wouldn’t be able to have children. After years of struggle, they were blessed with their miracle IVF baby, Skye and together they hold space for anyone who is struggling with infertility, showing their side of their story without filters - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
There is nothing I find more inspirational than women who are not afraid to show it all, even if what they have to show are the things no one wants to talk about. All too often, Filipa is criticized for her vulnerability when it comes to her fertility and her mental health - which I think is completely backward. In my opinion, we need more people like Filipa to open up and be honest about what it actually feels like to go through some of the struggles that she goes through on a regular basis - as a woman, a POC, a wife, an entrepreneur, a mama, and as a friend.
Filipa and her husband Sameer, after some fertility procedures on the male side of things, have (as a shock to them) naturally conceived their second baby (due soon) and Filipa has opened up on her social media recently about how that feels - to have been told she’d never have children, to now having one via IVF and another naturally.
Her story is definitely something to follow along with.
Roz Savage is the first (and so far only) woman to row solo across the world’s “Big Three” oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. She holds four Guinness World Records and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to fundraising and the environment.
It was an unexpected career move for a former management consultant who doesn’t particularly enjoy exercise. She was inspired to brave the oceans when she realized two things: 1) we are all capable of much more than we tend to believe we are, and 2) we need to make some changes if we're going to live healthy lives on a thriving planet. So she used her voyages to expand her own limits and to promote sustainable living.
She now writes, speaks, and lectures on sustainability, courage, resilience, and change.
(source: https://www.rozsavage.com/)
If you have no idea who Celeste is, I suggest you change that right away by clicking the link above.
She is HILARIOUS and a force I think all women need in their life. She is an Australian comedian and media personality. She's been on TV, she's been in movies, but where I think you you need to see her is on Instagram doing what she does best. She puts her spin on all sorts of videos (and images) out there in the media - and paints a picture of what most women would look like if we tried to do the things that sometimes the media portrays as beautiful. No shame to any of the women in any of the videos and images she recreates, whatsoever - in my opinion - flaunt what you’ve got if you want to!
One of my favorites is HERE and HERE and if you enjoy it, you need to follow along because Celeste is no stranger to performing, and her honest approach to the whole thing is what I think the world needs more of.
Sam Walker is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and podcaster with nearly twenty years of experience in creating critically acclaimed podcasts and providing high-end audio consultancy.
You may know her from the Crowd Network Podcast, American Vigillante.
And if you don’t, you should.
Her interview with KC, the American Vigillante, is incredible and if you’re into true crime you might swoon over this series about KC - a hugely complex, intelligent, contradictory man who could save your life but end it too. KC leads a group of violent men standing on the blurred line between right and wrong, between revenge and redemption. - man you want on your side when it all falls apart.
Sam, in my eyes, is a steadfast and courageous woman and in every interview, she does with KC, I can’t help but be in awe of her and her life. Putting it all on the line, and doing what she needs to do to tell a good story.
Please, if you haven't listened already, do. And in the end, ask yourself who you love more - Sam or KC, because for me, It's hard to choose. Hats off to Sam for her work - it's truly incredible. One of the best things I’ve listened to in a really long time.
Listen to American Vigillante HERE
The woman who introduced me to American Vigillante and shares my obsession with true crime - my mother-in-law, Alison.
She also shares my obsession with her daughter, Lucy. Lucy’s mom is seriously the best, and every day that passes I am reminded of how much love she has for everyone in her life. To me, she demonstrates what it means to love with your whole heart. She works hard, and more often than not, she gives more than she ever ever (ever) expects in return.
She's an incredible cook, friend, mother, nurse, wife, sister, daughter, grandmother, teacher, neighbor, and support.
My wife wasn’t always the sweetest daughter to her mother, and I've heard many stories about how bad she used to act towards her mom in her earlier years. However, time has passed, and Lucy now has so much more awareness and love inside of her, and her mom is one of her best friends. Getting to see them together and the relationship they have is something I won’t ever take for granted. Moving to Australia and getting to spend as much time as we want together is something we are all so grateful for.
How cool is it to be able to call her up and say “we’re getting on our bikes, mind if we stop by for a quick hello”? Or having the ability to buy some extra pastries and just show up at their door with them and see who wants some.
Currently, we’re watching her go through some of the toughest times in her life. Her parents are both not doing the *greatest* and now more than ever, I get to watch the love pour out of her in a way that truly moves me.
Mia Mingus is a writer, educator, and trainer for transformative justice and disability justice. She is a queer physically disabled Korean transracial and transnational adoptee raised in the Caribbean. She works for community, interdependence, and home for all of us, not just some of us, and longs for a world where disabled children can live free of violence, with dignity and love. As her work for liberation evolves and deepens, her roots remain firmly planted in ending sexual violence.
Mia founded and currently leads SOIL: A Transformative Justice Project which builds the “soil” for transformative justice to grow and thrive. She has been involved in transformative justice work for almost 2 decades and has supported numerous people in addressing harm, violence, and abuse using transformative justice. She is an abolitionist and a survivor who believes that we must move beyond punishment, revenge, and criminalization if we are ever to effectively break generational cycles of violence and create the world our hearts long for.
Mia is passionate about building the skills, relationships, and structures that can transform violence, harm, and abuse within our communities and that do not rely on or replicate the punitive system we currently live in. Mia speaks and gives training about transformative justice throughout North America.
(source: https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/about-2/)
I’ll stop there, but by no means does that mean that these women are at the top of any list, or the only ones on the list.
ALL women are worth mentioning, and if you are a woman I want you to know that you are so so so bloody important, valid, and influential.
The last thing I want to mention is that today is special, yes - but that does not mean that tomorrow is not.
Every day, you are special, just as you are.
References:
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Activity/15586/The-history-of-IWD
https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/about-2
https://www.rozsavage.com/
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618992/women-who-changed-world
