Happy International Women's Day!

What does International Women’s Day mean to you? It might mean something a little different for each woman personally, but as a whole it is about acknowledging all that women have accomplished, and at the same time realizing that there is still so much gender discrimination happening everywhere, that we still have work to do in breaking the bias.

For me personally, International Women’s Day speaks directly to how I raise my daughter, and how I can support women around me. I want my daughter to grow up knowing that she is strong, independent, and can do or be anything that she wants. I want her to grow up knowing that sexual harassment against women is not just “something that happens to women”, but something that is a crime against women and should be taken just as seriously as any other crime. I want my daughter to grow up not feeling less then around men or feeling as though she is subservient to them. I want my daughter to not just know and believe her worth, but to feel and project her worth.

I’ve been the victim of sexual harassment countless times, and when I look back at those times I realize now that society expected me to minimize those events. How it affected or impacted me wasn’t even a question. It was assumed that I would “laugh it off” or “not make a big deal out of it”. Well, now I know that each one of those events was a big deal and has had a negative affect on me and my self worth. If I was the person I am today I would have handled those situations much differently, because today I know my worth.