We girls hold up this world with a strength that's all our own. - - Jada Pinkett Smith
This lovely photographic picture book is a gentle and insightful treatise on the value of women and girls around the world. It was published in 2004 and I bought it for my youngest - - as an antidote to my own childhood indoctrination, I think.
The other day I saw a post from the Columbia Association which began:
Women lift us all.
I offer my sincere apologies to Columbia Gym Front Desk Supervisor Casey Lee. I didn’t click on the video. I couldn’t. I saw those words and they hit me in an entirely unexpected way.
Women lift us all.
Yes. And we are so, so tired of lifting. Lifting without help, without appreciation, without appropriate compensation.
Lifting while mocked and disrespected. While our value and freedoms are under attack.
Lift your own damn world.
I worked the whole time my kids were growing up. There were definitely times where I thought, I'm not doing as much as the other women.
And these women are holding up our whole town. And what I wanted to do about that was not quit my job, but [spread the work] out so that the women would not be the only people holding up the town. That we would be a nice even split between women and men who were holding up all these, all this volunteer work would be done by a blend of women and men.* - - Kelly Corrigan
Corrigan uses the term volunteer work. What she means is the uncompensated labor that is absolutely necessary for communities to function. Who does the heavy lifting? Women.
From a study by UNICEF:
Gender norms are shaped in early childhood, starting in the home. One area of childhood steeped in gender norms is the unequal distribution of unpaid work, including domestic and care work. Globally, girls ages 5-14 spend 160 million more hours every day on unpaid care and domestic work than boys of the same age. These disparities intensify in adolescents and adulthood, perpetuated by longstanding norms and beliefs about women and girls’ status and role in society.
The song begins with a series of proclamations: "I'm the strong one / I'm not nervous / I'm as tough as the crust of the earth is / I move mountains / I move churches / And I glow 'cause I know what my worth is".
Is that all there is?
Later, Luisa exposes her vulnerability: "Under the surface I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus / Under the surface / Was Hercules ever like 'Yo, I don't wanna fight Cerberus?' / Under the surface I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service".
Is that all I am?
However, Luisa also speaks of how, despite going out of her way to help everyone, she does not fall: "watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks".
Is there no escape?
This next quote is not surprising but it was painful for me to read:
(Composer Lin-Manuel) Miranda explained that the song is an homage to his sister, Luz Miranda-Crespo: "That song is my love letter and apology to my sister. I watched my sister deal with the pressure of being the oldest and carrying burdens I never had to carry [...] I put all of that angst and all of those moments into Luisa".
Luz Miranda carried the world so her brother could become the darling of twenty-first century musical drama. Oof.
It seems that Jada Pinkett Smith wrote her book at a more hopeful time.
We are sisters of this earth- members of one powerful tribe. Every color, age, and size, we're united by beauty inside.
Today I look at her optimism and feel heartbreak and rage.
Women lift us all. It’s true. But maybe it’s time to stop. And demand a better deal.
*From Kelly Corrigan Wonders: Deep Dive with Olivia Walton on Making Change, Mar 17, 2026
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