The "man box" and the "woman box" boxes all of us

As we celebrate International Women's Day 2023, I cannot but think of the thousands of mothers and sisters who came before us.

Who walked chin-up through this gender-unjust world and played the games on their terms so that they could try to secure a place for a woman.

Opening doors where there were walls before.

So that, we have a voice, you and me. 

So that, we have a vote.

We have a vision.

That woman is you.

That woman is me.

So that we can be us.

We are here because of those mothers and sisters that came before us.

They did a great deal, didn't they?

The first wave - they got us the right to vote.

The second time - they made sense of our personal into the political.

The third time around, they made sense and strengthened that voice of social and legal justice.

The fourth one came by too, riding the Internet, sustaining us like never before.

If we couldn't go to work, leaving our children behind, they brought back work to home.

With the utmost level of gratitude and with the utmost level of rewarding numbers that we have been able to gather - thanks to them, those mothers and sisters, I think now, the time has come to take this further forward. 

And perhaps you and me sisters, have found ourselves at the cusp of the fifth wave - who knows!

This time, we've been shoring down to our "true nature."

To what they call self- actualization of the feminine force.

To realize that the force of the feminine is at its full potential.

"Today I choose to forgive myself for past mistakes, Today I choose happiness, contentment, and Inner-peace Today I choose to free myself of negativity and to take ownership of my life Today, and everyday, I choose self-love and to believe in the magic of undying hope."

– Becca Lee

It is time to rise.

In equity, in empathy and in expression.

In our authentic voices.

In our vulnerable stories.

The "man box" and the "woman box" boxes all of us. The thing about freedom is much about being your own free self - to tame or to release.

We are more than our gender labels.

We are bigger than our defined jobs.

We are greater than the sum of our parts.

We are holistic.

We are one whole.

With the spirit of the Yin and the Yang.

And the Anima and the Animus.

The spirit of the masculine and the feminine.

Both of which are precious, both of which give us balance.

And together, we shall work towards a world that will work for all of us.

Because if not now, then when?

If not you and me, then who?