International Women’s Day happens every day and women are thriving
Bottom Line: If you’re familiar with my work you’ll know I’m not much for contrived “days”. If something is worth-while it shouldn’t be relegated to a particular day of focus. It should be a way of life. I also ascribe to the wisdom of Dr. King who stated that we should judge people based on the content of their character. Gender doesn’t speak of one’s character. And what’s one to do if a man decides to gender identify as a woman today?
First, a little bit about the day. International Women’s Day was born of the Socialist Women’s Conference in 1910. The first celebration of the socialist-born day occurred in Germany in 1914. By 1917 it caught on in Marxist Russia and by 1975 it was recognized by the United Nations. Now, in 2019, the good news is that we aren’t restrained by socialism in the United States and this isn’t 1910. In the age of the record Trump economy Americans of all demographics are thriving – especially women.
Over the past year women have achieved record low unemployment rates, record high incomes and record high levels of education. In fact, the unemployment rate is now lower for women than men. Additionally, for the first time, more women are now college educated than men. To put that topic in to perspective consider this...
In 1940 only 3.8% of women were college educated. Today it’s 35.3% (compared to 34.6% for men). That’s real progress. When a woman does the same job for the same length of time as a man, she earns an average of 97.4% of what a man earns. That's also progress.
International Women’s Day reminds me of one of my favorite recording artists, Sara Bareilles. Her initial hit, Love Song, was written in defiance of what she was being pressured to write by the industry. She refused to sell out and wrote a song telling the industry she wouldn’t sell out. She became a star and the rest is history. That’s inspirational. There are far too many lemmings in this world.
I love my wife and I’m blessed by strong women all around me that help make me better every day. And thankfully for the women in our lives and society generally – it's never been better because, despite the many efforts to introduce socialism into our society since 1910, we’ve rejected them.