Now What?

 

Today is International Women’s Day. 

I can’t help but feel it’s been a rough year for women, overall. Abroad, women have lost the right to pursue education in some countries. Nationally, reproductive rights are disappearing daily. The safety of trans women in many places is compromised by targeted harassment.

On the local scene a number of women in positions of leadership have been targets of accusations and smears. 

I don’t have any advice for you. No inspirational stories. Everywhere I look I see women treated as though they are inherently inferior, dangerous, or in the way. These attitudes and the actions based on them harm not just the prominent women in our community that we know about but also many, many women who are invisible to us. 

Daughters, sisters, cousins, mothers, aunts, grandmothers…

Today is a day to celebrate women for who they are and to believe in their potential. This year I do not see that things are getting better for women. They are getting worse. 

It is hard to celebrate.

What’s next, women? I’m not seeing a promising road ahead.