Letter: Celebrating Women’s History
March 4, 2010 • By Letters to the Editor,
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March 8 is International Women’s Day. The Web site for IWD does not sell buttons, t-shirts or bumper stickers. Its mission is not to commercialize but to celebrate “the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present and future.” What began as a day when women lobbied for their political and social rights, is now an international holiday in many countries.
And yet, International Women’s Day is not widely known, celebrated, or talked about in the United States. And Women’s History Month is not commemorated as are other special occasions.
This month, we take them both back by reclaiming and celebrating them ourselves — not because we are a minority but because of our contributions to our nation’s justice, society and history
We admire the women who shaped our American history: Susan B. Anthony, Gloria Steinem and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We appreciate the women who contributed to national literature: Anne Bradstreet, Maya Angelou and Sandra Cisneros. We celebrate the women who guided our music and art through societal change: Grandma Moses, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Georgia O’Keeffe. And we thank the women who have pioneered in mathematics, medicine and science: Winifred Edgerton Merrill, Elizabeth Blackwell and Rachel Carson.
Women, we are here. We are here in this moment in society, backed by history and surrounded by change. May the examples of our fellow Americans give us strength and courage in confronting the forces of sexism, racism and inequality in our nation and abroad. May we move forward seeking an end to discrimination against everyone — we who have experienced it for so long. In moving forward, may we never forget to look back.
Emily Iekel
sophomore
modern foreign language major
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