Happy International Women's Day!

March 8 is International Women's Day! I love this idea of this with celebrating women around the world. It is a day that we can unite together and be proud.

The last number of years the United Nations have had themes about giving women a chance with education, ending poverty, creating equality and so on. I love this years theme: Inspiring Change.

Inspiring Change

Isn't that an idea that we all want?

I truly do believe life for women have improved in the United States, but there are still items that need to change. As much as I think that women need to be in more leadership roles and there needs to equal pay, I believe that this will come in time. But the whole idea of that coming in time would not have even been a thought 20 years ago if it wasn't for the women who inspired change.

Inspiring change will look different across the world, but it is needed. One of the biggest example of women inspiring change is one that happened in Liberia. Liberia had a horrible civil war which lasted for many years, but a group of ordinary women decided to fight back. There is a great documentary on these women who wanted peace and staged protests to stop the war called "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." Now this country has many women in leadership roles because they were the ones who fought against tyranny  and wanted peace.

The women in Liberia are just one of the many tales of what women are dealing with around the world. There are many others like Malala Yousafzai as she stands firm on the fact on why girls should be allowed to be educated to Inbee Park who was the first woman to win three major golf titles in 60 some odd years to the recent Oscar win and moving speech of Lupita Nyong'o. Women are leading change and speaking out. It doesn't matter whether it is changing a country's policies, being a competitor in a sport or acting, women are leading change.

All of the women I have mentioned (or the many that I have not mentioned) are inspiring change. It is these women and women in general that can help lead/inspire change, but we cannot forget the women who have come before us.

In my earliest memories I have always thought that I could do anything that my brothers could do. Just because I was a girl did not mean I was incapable of anything. That was how I was raised and the thought of equality was a part of my life. Even though equality was a part of my life, but it wasn't until I was assigned a project in 5th grade about a woman by the name of Francis Willard. Francis Willard was a leading suffragist and was a leader in the prohibition movement (saw that women were being abused by men who were over-drinking and wanted to put an end to the abuse). Willard inspired me for her dedication for equality. At that moment, in 5th grade, I began my journey as a feminist.

My journey did not stop there, because whenever I see a girl thinking she is incapable of doing something or thinking that only a man can do a specific job, I speak up. It is one of the little things we as women can do that can inspire change.

So as we celebrate International Women's Day, remember all the women who have inspired change and are inspiring change. Also, remember the each of these women were just ordinary women and it only takes one ordinary woman to make extraordinary changes.

Happy International Women's Day!