Happy International Women’s Day!

Happy Women’s Day!

My blog originally set out to chronicle the journeys of women, and gets commandeered to chronicle my own journey when I’m abroad. So I want to take this opportunity to celebrate women around the world.

I hadn’t heard of this holiday in the States, but it’s somewhat of a big deal here in Central Asia. I had several of my students wish me a happy day for it, and my employer bought all us women on staff flowers and an umbrella. But that’s not why I’m appreciating International Women’s Day here.

First and most selfishly, I suppose I’m enjoying it because I’m a nearly middle-age divorced woman with no children, who gets depressed every year around Mother’s Day. I always feel sad that day, and only enjoy the day once I remind myself that I have a wonderful mother, step-mother, and former mother-in-law that I am grateful for, and then I celebrate them instead of thinking it’s all about me. But I have to admit, it’s nice to be celebrated just for being a woman. And I consider myself very blessed to have many children in my life: my students, my friends’ children, etc.

However, that’s not really why it’s a big deal here. They don’t celebrate Mother’s Day here, and in this part of the world, most women are mothers. So why is it a big deal here? Last week some people came from a university to speak to the kids about it, but it wasn’t really clear what they were trying to say about it. As I chatted with one of the upperclassmen students today, she reminded me that it’s an important day here because of what the women have been through in the last 30 years in this country. Things are much better for women now, but there is still inequality.

I’m reminded of this every time my middle school boys tell me they went to the water park over the weekend (and I pretend to glare at them and say “Don’t tell me about that- it sounds like fun and I’m not allowed to go because I’m a woman.”) But many people here know that women are worth as much as men, and are trying to make things better. Sometimes only in small ways, but they make a difference. A few weeks ago a local man who works at my school opened a door for me, and said “Ladies first.” Back in the States, that’s not really a big deal for me. Some might even consider it chauvinistic. But here, I felt very honored, knowing how women were treated for many years.

The women here are amazingly strong. They work hard, and have hope for the future. My girl students have big dreams for their careers. Some of my students have mothers who are doctors and other highly educated professions. (One of the high school boys, when that small class was analyzing data that showed that in the USA men still earn more money than women, tried to explain it by saying men are smarter than women, but his own mother is a surgeon! I let the girl in that class have the last word that day.) The women here believe in a future here that will continue to become brighter and brighter.

So to all the women out there, especially those who, like the women of this country, have overcome trials and adversity, Happy Women’s Day. You are special. You have worth. And you have something amazing to offer this world. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise.