As I reflect on Women History Month, it reminds me how incredible women are. We are so many things to so many people: we are mothers, friends, leaders, trendsetters, billionaires, politicians and whatever else our hearts and minds desire to be. That makes it kind of hard to believe that there was a time in history when we, as women, were not where we are today.
I’m proud to have a month dedicated to women to spotlight the struggles and fights won over time to make it possible for us to freely be who we are right now. There’s Josephine Baker, an inspired entertainer who not only fought racism, but also helped advance the civil rights movement in America. I am especially grateful for women like Elizabeth Blackwell for being determined to become a female doctor. Even though she was the first woman to obtain a medical degree in the 1800s, she was still not allowed to practice because she was a woman. This inspired her, along with other aspiring philanthropists and humanitarians, to participate in the women’s rights movement.
I mean really take a moment (a moment like your finding your IPod and turning it on) and imagine at this very moment that you had no freedom. Imagine that we never got the right to vote. Imagine that the outfit that you have on is not acceptable and you have to love it. And no, you can’t have fun with your best friend or friends because of color or gender and you’re denied that job that you find so rewarding just because of something so minute as gender or race.
So I guess what I’m saying is that we can’t forget the past because this moment that feels so right is actually not that far removed from a time when a lot was going wrong. So continue to strive for a better tomorrow and keep our moment now perfect the way it is, then ask me again who can defeat us incredible women and children of many races and endless talent?
Sequoia Payne is an office assistant at Washington Area Women’s Foundation.
