A Year of Blogging: March 8, 2011

March 8 was International Women's Day. I also saw it as Working Women's Day. This year was the 100th anniversary. Yet I wasn't aware of it until I started this project. While some days have me scratching my head (Crown Roast of Pork day, Umbrella Day, Toothache Day), others don't seem to get enough attention. Women are unsung heroes. For so long, our history was written by men. Or at least, that is what we learned. Our history books were full of George Washington, Ethan Allen, Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and JFK. For so long, we thought women's role in history was sewing the flag. Yet women have been side by side with the men, shaping our history. Not just the women behind the men. Women were carving their own place. Professions that we think of as predominately female today- nursing and teaching- were males only 150 years ago. The women who broke those ranks made history. The suffragists, the women who posed as men to go to war, the WAVES and the women's libbers- are all a big part of our history. I love reading books about women's history. Many of them are the unknown stories. It's a shame. Women should not have just one month a year to celebrate our history. Women's history should be celebrated year round. Even the women who stayed home raising children while the men were at war or exploring a country- those women are remarkable. I guess I sound like a feminist. I did not appreciate being a woman until I became one. Until I had a house to keep up, a job outside the house, and dinner to prepare. I am in awe of my mother who worked full time outside the house, kept an immaculate house, always had dinner on the table, kept up with the activities of two very different daughters and a husband. I don't know how she did it. I asked her once for her secret, and her response was 'I don't know how I did it either'. Women are remarkable. And we all need to spend more time appreciating that.