I love being a woman. I love being a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, a girl friend, a woman in the enterprise technology industry, a great employee, a great co-worker, a Girl Scout leader, a nurturer and a protector. I have battled misogyny, ignorance, and sexism, and I have come out on the winning end. I do not feel a need to sit out today for anyone important to me to appreciate my worth.
However, I am celebrating International Women's Day.
Why celebrate International Women’s Day?
Because the software industry still holds strong to a mindset that women don’t make great programmers despite the fact that Ada Lovelace is the person who created the fundamental concepts that created the industry.
Because Hedy Lamarr, who invented a great number of things, including the technology that laid the path for cellular and WiFi technology, is primarily remember by the world, for being extraordinarily beautiful.
Because it is not well known that Marie Skłodowska Curie was not only the first person to win two Nobel prizes in two different disciplines (and numerous other recognitions, despite best efforts to keep them from her), she also raised a daughter, Irene Joliot-Curie who won a Nobel prize in Chemistry.
Because CJ Walker, the first female, self-made millionaire, an African American, is merely a footnote, if noted at all and not a household name.
Because we have Rosalind Franklin to thank for our understanding of DNA, yet male counterparts tried hard to bury that.
Because SE Hinton and JK Rowling and other women authors were told use their initials instead of their actual names so their incredible books would stand a chance of being read.
Because 3 of the 4 female NASA engineers I met last month had not heard of Katherine Johnson until the movie Hidden Figures came out. Because this country didn’t know about their national treasures from NASA until the book and, really, until the movie came out.
Because, despite the incredible contributions women have made to the advancement and success of the world we know, they are relegated to being footnotes in our history and our headlines, if we get any mention at all.
Because despite the incredible opportunities and choices women in many countries, including the U.S. enjoy, there are women in other parts of the world who are forbidden formal education, who are not allowed to drive or even leave their house without a male chaperone, who are married off before they reach puberty and who are readily put to death for being an inconvenience to their families.
Because women make up roughly 50% of the world population, yet even in this country, are classified as a minority.
Why International Women’s Day?
Because we all, women and men, deserve to know more about our shared history and shared contributions. Because we all, women and men, are made better when we recognize and appreciate the intrinsic value of one another. Because there is still much progress to be made.
