Only One Day for Women?

 I kinda missed International Women’s Day. I don’t get it though…it went by so fast. I was busy teaching and all of a sudden it’s over. There is Black History Month, African Americans get a whole month and women around the entire world get one day. Women are half the population of the entire world. This is not like Valentines Day. It’s not irrelevant and cheesy. It is vital to our very existence that we be recognized for more than one day.I was impressed by some of the posts about activist women around the world. I’m a feminist and I didn’t know about many of these women. That, my friends, is a tragedy. I know a little too much about Donald Trump’s dick and not enough about my sisters who are fighting the good fight.The women in my life are extremely important to me, they are not more or less important than the men in my life. It’s not a contest. But I don’t know what I would do without my girls. The emotional capacity that women have to understand each other is mind blowing.I’m not dissing men here, they are great and everything. But for once this is not about men.I have trouble with the fact that I’m more for Bernie Sanders than I am for Hillary Clinton because of the fact that she is a woman. But if I voted for her just because she is a woman, it would be anti-feminist of me. To vote for someone based on gender goes against feminist values.I think that one day we should have a woman president. I think we should have a woman god, but that is not up to me to decide. Honestly though, when you think of the divine, do you picture a dude? I do. And I’m really not a fan of the idea that god is a man, however I’ve been conditioned just as much as the next woman.I’m not a girl; I’m a woman. Just like you wouldn’t call Obama a boy, don’t call me a girl because it demeans my womanhood. Yes, I am woman hear me roar. The collective roar of women is getting louder. And just what are we roaring about?A lot of women are fighting for children and things that affect men and women. The women’s movement really is a human movement because women take care of men as much as they take care of each other. Emotionally, would you rather go to a man or a woman to understand you? Be honest.Women are not superior to men because we have an insight into emotions. We are simply different. That difference is not better, not worse. Just different. I may have said it before and I will say it again: Men and women are equal, not identical.I don’t wish I was a man. I don’t have penis envy as Freud suggested. What I do have is anger, anger towards a system that promotes the violence and disrespect of women. Not paying women the same as men for the same work is not only disrespectful, it is illegal and immoral. No one is really doing anything about it, though. Women like Jennifer Lawrence, the highest paid actress in Hollywood is getting paid less than her male counterparts. She is making a ‘fuss’ about it. She may be a millionaire, but it’s about the principle, not the money.In the end, it is about economics though isn’t it? Isn’t everything? There are more single women raising kids alone, then single dads and women are raising those kids with less money. In poorer neighborhoods we wonder why young males turn to crime. We blame the fact that they don’t have a man in their life. What about the fact that they don’t have money in their life?Money walks, talks, and can have a gun. What I mean by that is, people kill each other for money, and most of those people are men. Women are not most of the rapists, the murderers, the terrorists, and the mass shooters. So why are the men in power paying us less money? Why are men even in power if they are more likely to abuse it? I'm not saying I am in favor of a matriarchy, but equal power would be enough.Men are not afraid enough of women. This is not wise. We don’t need more muscles to win this fight anymore. Men started out with more power simply because they have more physical strength. That does not matter in a world where a woman is just as free to get a semi-automatic as a man.How many women do you think get semi-automatics, though? We are a peaceful gender. Don’t mistake our kindness for weakness. I think Rihanna sang that in a song. She was beaten by a man. She is not weak: she is a survivor.Most women are survivors of some form of sexual harassment, violation, abuse or assault. The majority of women are survivors of being sexually objectified by men. This fight is far from over. If you don’t think there are real problems that women are fighting for, that feminism is a false unnecessary movement, think again.Women give birth to men, love men, raise men and respect men. Do us a favor men, don’t just applaud us for one day. Try it for one lifetime.nina