Happy belated International Women’s Day for yesterday everyone! I think I say it to everyone – or do I just say it to the female population? I don’t really know!
Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8 and all around the world.
“International Women’s Day represents an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality.” (per the IWD website)
Make It Happen is the 2015 theme for International Women’s Day.
I wasn’t going to write a post about International Women’s Day because I wasn’t really sure what I could say.
I tried to think about who I thought were women that inspired me – I found this really tricky! Not because there aren’t stacks and stacks of amazing women out in the world doing great things, but just because I couldn’t focus on someone I could really relate to, who I really felt I could ‘connect with’. In the end I settled on the following women as ladies I aspire to be like and whose achievements are worth celebrating (warning – they are a little bit random);
- Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy in ‘The Blind Side” movie. I love how she is gorgeous, successful, has it together but is still a loving, kind mum who can kick some butt and she adopted a son (in real life too)! Plus – she was married to Tim McGraw – enough said! If you haven’t seen the movie – you must – stat! It is my all time favourite movie ever!
2. Princess Mary of Denmark. She has the total package – fairytale prince for a husband, gorgeous family of 4 kids, living the Princess dream in a castle. I love that she still seems so grounded and kind, and does all sorts of charity work, as well as steps up to take on her royal duties with aplomb. Added to that she always looks stunning.
- Jessica Watson – the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. She did this at just 16 – AMAZING! I followed her blog throughout her journey and it was just incredible, incredible. I’m still dumbfounded by what she managed to achieve – just goes to show what a dream, plus planning, plus preparation, plus guts, determination and hard work (and a great support team) can achieve!
There really are so many amazing women out there – check out this post about five inspirational female record breakers or this one and this one for a stack of terrific aussie women. So many females doing just fantastic work. Oh, and just for good measure, here’s some kick-ass quotes by awesome women!
So, where I am I going with all this you ask?
Well, I was cleaning up the post breakfast/school lunches mess in the kitchen after putting the kids on the bus today, when I heard a lady from the CWA (County Women’s Association) on the radio (yes – I’m officially old listening to the ABC Radio now!) say that us ‘younger women’ don’t really pay much heed to International Women’s Day and we should! She said we had a lot to be grateful for and there was still a lot of work to be done. She made me think and thus write this post – I’m sorry I can’t remember her name!
As women in 2015 we do have much to be thankful for that our mother’s before us have worked hard to allow us. We can vote, go to university and study anything we choose to, we have access to birth control, we can be prime ministers and presidents and CEOS and doctors, farmers, mechanics and astronaughts – the sky is now the limit! However, there is still lots of work to be done, particularly in the agricultural sector according to this report.
The problem is, and I know I’m going to sound quite ungrateful here – but, it is exhausting trying to be everything! How to be a mum with a lovely family, who looks beautiful and fit and healthy, who buys and cooks delicious, nutritional food, who helps at school doing reading and tuckshop, who volunteers on school P&C’s and sports clubs to ensure the local community thrives, and is a good wife who makes time for her husband, and has a fulfilling career to make the world a better place and that makes use of that expensive and hard earned university degree!! How on earth do we do it all?
We want to do it all, we are capable of doing it all, but does that mean we should? Or are we supposed to just choose something over the other?
I don’t know the answer. Am I just being a whiner?
What about the cost to our relationships (so many marriage breakdowns these days), health and sanity of trying to do everything – is it really right? Sometimes (and I know I am going to get flayed for this), but sometimes, I just think it was easier as a woman to be at home raising a family and keeping a house. No confusion about who does what or who does more in the home/marriage.
I know the key is that we women of today are lucky to be able to have a choice about what we do and I really am grateful for that freedom, I am.
It’s just that at the moment I am a ‘jack of all trades/master of none’, juggling lots of balls and just trying (not very successfully a lot of the time!) to keep them all in the air. The scary thing is that I don’t have a paid job yet either – how on earth to fit that in? I guess the trick is just to keep on making it all happen, keep aiming high, keep trying to do it all and at least that is better than not trying at all right – reach for the moon and even if you fall short you’ll still land on a star kinda stuff?
That’s what I’m thinking anyway – that’s my take on this year’s International Women’s Day theme ‘Make it Happen’ – remind me of that next time you find me in a heap in the corner ok! Or maybe it just all falls into place eventually – there’s probably some wiser ladies out there than I who might have the secret – anybody?
So, to all the ladies out there juggling all that you do – Happy Belated International Women’s Day!! Keep Making it Happen!
PS. I’d love to hear who your female role model or inspiration is! And of course, if you have the secret to being a happy and successful woman in this day and age – please do share that too!!
PPS. Please be kind in the comments – all opinions welcome, but remember we women are just trying to do the best we can, each in our own ways!
Jess, you ask a big question: “how do we do it all?” .
So i am going to take a bit of time to compose mynrespomse from my experience and my heart.
I’ll be back!!
Look forward to hearing from you Judith!
HOW ON EARTH DO WE DO IT ALL? (Jess Fealy on International Women’s Day)
Jes, you asked: “How on earth do we do it all?
We want to do it all, we are capable of doing it all, but does that mean we should? Or are we supposed to just choose something over the other?”
My thoughts:
I look back on 43 years of ardent, but inactive, Feminist beliefs, thoughts and occasional words and feel guilty for not having done more.
And then i look back at 43 years of living life as I wanted to, choosing to live my life as i wanted, making choices which were distinctly different to 95% of the women i have met- no children, no marriage, 34 years with the same man. Earned my own money, always. Worked hard at keeping our relationship genuinely 50/50 (though I do fail on the housekeeping side – i do much less than 50%!!)
And i realise that i have LIVED a Feminist life. One choice at a time. One attitude expressed by my actions, as well as the occasion word.
So, to answer your question, Jess, yes, we are supposed to just choose one thing over another. Life is a series of choices.
What makes us an active Feminist is the underlying principles by which we make those choices.
So, for you with children, ensuring that your boys are as capable with house work as your daughter. Ensuring that your daughter is as comfortable with big machinery as your boys. Taking the time to feed your own passions as well as supporting your husband in his. And working hard each day to make sure you are both ‘one the same page’ with regard to living an equal life, though equal does not mean ‘same’. Sharing responsibility equally takes lots of discussion and most importantly, valuing equally the contribution that each makes through different tasks.
So, i would love it if you could relax into your own choices of how you live a Feminist life. By all means admire and be inspired by women who do fabulously big things.
And then remember that even they have to make choices. Their lives are still full of ‘chop wood, carry water’ activity.
And most importantly, remember that you are the most fundamental inspiration to your kids. And when you live your life consciously on principle, they will too. And that is a magnificent legacy.
And, finally, the article (address below) is a wonderful example of how knowledge can informs choices about daily Feminist living.
“Why time is a Feminist issue”
http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/brigid-schulte-why-time-is-a-feminist-issue-20150309-13zimc.html
An explanation of the 43 years: I was not yet 18 when i read Germaine Greer’s “The Female Eunuch”. While i didn’t get to finish it (it was taken off me with the words “i am sure your parents would not approve of you reading that” !!!), it changed my life.
I understood that i had options beyond those generally approved of for girls from the small country town i was born in. Thank you, Germaine!!
And Betty Friedan and all the rest of the women who let me know it was ok to do what enthused and energised me rather than what i had been told i should do because i was “a girl”.
Cheers
J