As the founder of WiseUp and a female, I’d like to impart some personal thoughts for International Women’s Day! I’ve been very blessed to have parents who have supported my ambitions but all too often I have seen other girls dreams shoved aside. I look to many of the female members in my family and how they yearned to attain a higher education but their families felt a suitable marriage was a higher priority. Oh how they cried and lamented their kismet (fortune)! How they mourned for the future they could have had if just one person had stood up for them and their rights, maybe things would have been different. The unknown sacrifices women make for their families is a vast sea full of love and regrets. Today is in honor of these women. The women who never had the chance to realize their dreams.
So many women had such big dreams to attain a career/higher education but were told they weren’t worthy of the investment. This is a practice that has been happening for thousands of years and still continues to this day. It’s a shame. Such a damn shame that girls today have to secretly go to school, fight to continue their ambitions, not attain equal pay in the workforce, are thought of as inferior and are continuously held to a different standard compared to a man. A girl is ALWAYS worthy of the investment. ALWAYS.
Yes, we have improved a lot from the past but we still have a long ways to go whether it’s through government reform or the way we think. I can’t begin to count the amount of times I’ve been told that I don’t need to pursue a career since my husband will be able to take care of me or I just need to forget my career and start having kids ASAP or why do I need to be so vocal when I should be of a more submissive nature. But never once was I asked what I wanted to do or achieve, it was always about the social stigma. This is something our community and country desperately needs to work on.
So today I ask you that instead of just posting a status try and do something different. Perhaps you can donate to causes that promote education for girls or other female empowering causes. Have female friends struggling to build a career or a startup? Be supportive of their aspirations, don’t tear them down, help build each other up.
And today ask your mothers/aunts/grandmothers/sisters about the struggles they’ve faced. Besides partaking in the hardest job ever (motherhood) perhaps they had ambitions you never knew about. Talk to them about it. Encourage them to pursue them now, it’s never too late to achieve your dream. The ladies in your life deserve your utmost love and support. If you’ve children talk to them about today. Tell your sons the women in their life are no less than them. Tell your daughters they’re no less than any man, they’re an EQUAL. Make sure they never forget it. And you, don’t you ever forget the future is female. #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2017 #TheFutureisFemale #NeverthelessShePersisted