In Celebration of Women

By Marilyn Moore

Today is International Women’s Day, celebrated around the world.  Well, “celebrated” may be too optimistic a word.  While recognized as an official holiday and recognition date in many countries, it is not in the United States.  That is because its roots spring from socialist and labor unions advocating for women’s suffrage and workers’ rights, ideals seen as counter to American ideology during the Cold War.  The United Nations established it as an international holiday in 1977.  In 1994, Rep. Maxine Waters introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to make this a federal holiday; the bill failed to pass.

And so, much like the Equal Rights Amendment, our nation can’t quite take the step of asserting that women and women’s rights are truly equal.  While discrimination on the basis of sex has been outlawed in federal legislation like Title IX, the very real lives of women continue to be threatened by legislators at the state and federal level who “just don’t see what the problem is.”  Reductions in funding for responding to domestic violence, for example, affect women far more than men.  Reductions in funding for food and nutrition programs, and childcare support, affect women far more than men.  The law doesn’t say that….but that’s the way it plays out in real women’s real lives.  The proposed SAVE act, which purports to address a problem that is non-existent, persons who are not citizens voting in US elections, will impact women far more severely than men, because most married women have a current photo ID, which will be required, that does not match the name on their birth certificate, which proves citizenship.  

In times of war, and there are always times of war, women are exploited and assaulted by invading troops, and they are left to pick up the pieces after the war. Today, in Gaza and in Afghanistan, women are standing in line for water, they’re standing in line for food, they’re trying to figure out how to keep their children alive.  I suspect that’s true in Iran, also; we just don’t have the photographs yet.  We do know, however, that a school with 175 people, most of them children, was struck by a missile, most likely a US missile, killing all.  

My friend Mary Beth sent an article to me this morning in celebration of International Women’s Day.  It was a report done by writers of the "New York Times," who examined obituaries of women.  They noted what was reported, and what was not reported, about women at the time of their death, an indication of what was perceived to be important at the time.  For example, Hedy Lamarr, well known as a beautiful Hollywood star, who had fled Europe just before the start of WWII.  What is not well-known, and what received only a reluctant mention in her obituary, is that she was a scientist, an inventor whose ideas laid the groundwork for underwater detection of submarines and wireless communication.  Her beauty, her career as an actor was reported in detail in the obituary.  Her contributions as a scientist?  Not so much....

Remember the women, the African American women, from “Hidden Figures?”  The original computers, who calculated by hand the formulas that became the flight paths for the first American space craft.  A story basically untold until the movie was released…women doing significant, important work in what was seen as a man’s world…and their stories untold.  For the women featured in the movie, of course, they faced the added (perhaps the first) reality of discrimination based on race.  

While there are many more opportunities for women today than there were two generations ago, and certainly more than two hundred years ago, some things haven’t changed much.  I just finished reading Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (for the second time, I REALYY like this book), and I was struck, again, by the constraints placed on Bethia, a young woman in the 1600’s on the island of what is now Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts.  She was allowed to learn, to a certain level, but not beyond.  While she could learn, it was not appropriate for her to show that she had learned; “showing off” was not what marriage-ready young women did.  She could not argue, she could not debate.  Silence was always her best and safest choice.  Her mind was not seen as worthy of development.

That is fresh in my mind as I think about comments I heard this week as I attended two conferences for women leaders.  Smart, accomplished, responsible women, willing to share their experiences, their failures and successes, in a wide variety of fields.  And way too often I heard them talk about sexual harassment, bullying, ideas which they proposed being ignored until stated again by a male colleague, having to prove, again and again, that they could survive in traditional male fields, like manufacturing, and succeed at the job they had been hired to do.  

And yet, and yet, with all that said from her own story, one speaker burst forth with, “It’s so great to be a woman!”  And she’s right, it is…for all the other experiences and life lessons that were shared.  The reality that women live longer than men, that we retire better than men, is due to women’s strength in developing friendships, strong friendships, with other women.  A social connection is as much a determinant of health and longevity as diet and exercise.  And women do that well.  We do that well in how we do our work and how we live our lives.  Another participant in one of the conferences cited a study in which she had been a part, a study of CEO’s.  One of the findings was that women CEO’s consistently used inclusive pronouns, such as “we” and “our,” more than men, who tended to use “I” and “my.”  Inclusive language is an indicator of inclusive practices, and people on a team are much more likely to give their all and do their best work when they are valued and included.  

As for our personal lives, the former surgeon general of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has identified “loneliness” as a public health crisis in this country, affecting our mental, physical, and societal health. The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study confirmed that women with strong social ties have lower blood pressure, reduced inflammation, and better overall health outcomes.  It’s why there’s that question on the Medicare wellness check:  Have you had a phone call, a visit, a connection, with a friend or family member this week?  If Medicare is asking about it, it matters.  And women invest well in friendships, in gatherings, in connections, in time spent with friends.  It’s a healthy choice to make.

Further strengthening our understanding of the health of social connections is another article I read this week, asserting that women who travel together live longer and healthier lives.  As the heart of that assertion is the observation by psychologist Dr. Shelley Taylor that when faced with something unfamiliar or challenging, women don’t just fight or flee; they reach for each other.  Let me say that again...we reach for each other.  That’s caused by the hormone oxytocin, which promotes bonding and calms the nervous system.  More than comfort, this can build courage.  

The article goes on to extol the advantages of adventure travel with groups of women.  I do not need an article to convince me of this.  I know that time and travel with friends is one of the healthiest, most life-sustaining activities that I do.  Whether climbing mountains, kayaking rivers, riding a hot air balloon over the Serengeti, or exploring rural Nebraska, I’m better, and stronger, and more resilient, and less stressed, because I do this with friends.  And I affirm, “It’s great to be a woman.”

Finally, and I know you thought I’d never get to “finally,” the first article that caught my eye this week about being a woman is the article about Mitochondrial Eve, the female ancestor from whom all humans are believed to have descended.  She likely lived in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa some 200,000 years ago.  Every human on the planet caries the Eve gene.  It is passed from women to both female and male offspring, but males cannot pass on the gene. Another critical responsibility, assumed by women.  Another reason to celebrate International Women’s Day.  Even if the United States government doesn’t recognize it.  There are some things that are way too important to be left to a congressional determination, and this is one of them.