It’s time to celebrate the power of women
March 1st began women’s history month, and the timing could not be more appropriate or more fortuitous. It seems like here in the US, women are under attack. The most private and personal aspects of women’s lives are being thrust into the political platform, with advice like “put aspirin between your legs” becoming the newest soundbyte.
Of course, it’s not just in the US where women are experiencing an overwhelming sense that they are losing their voice and their power. I read a story recently about widows in India whose husbands committed suicide, leaving these women with everything to do on their farms and in their families with no real help from their society. Women continue to struggle for rights and power in countries like Afghanistan and Iran. In fact, I recently read another article about how women in Afghanistan are setting themselves on fire to get out of their abusive marriages.
With all of this bad news, it’s important, perhaps now more than ever, to take note of women that are improving the world, women who have power and are using it for good, and women who are doing their best to help others.
To that end, I’d like to invite you to celebrate Oxfam International’s Women’s Day, which will take place on March 8, 2012. On this day, Oxfam invites you to celebrate women in 1 of 3 ways online.
1. Send an e-greeting card to a woman you care about
2. Present a woman with a personalized online certificate indicating why you appreciate her (these can be saved out as JPGs and posted to Facebook walls, which could be really fun!)
3. Write your own blog post encouraging other people to involve themselves in the first two parts of the campaign
Of course, women (and men) should be honored every day, but sometimes it’s good to take a specific moment in time and say, “Hey, I need to make sure you know I appreciate you.”
Let’s join Oxfam and tell the world about the women we admire. They need to hear it!
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johan-gril/6821594233/ via Creative Commons
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I really like this Margie. I think it would be fun for us if we pick a woman friend, mentor, whoever, and either invite them to post or do a post about them. I have an idea in mind and now I have to mark my calendar.
We need to remind each other how special we are, because sometimes life gets hard and we forget. Thanks for the reminder Margie.
@NancyD68 Well said Nancy. I agree. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you for this wonderful post Margie! And thank you so much for supporting our International Women’s Day campaign!
And Nancy – that sounds like a really fantastic idea. If you decide to do that, I’d love to read/know about it!
@R Dawson Oxfam America Not a problem. But of course, I’m really just Shonali’s puppet 🙂 Happy to help!!
Margie, thank you so much for helping to share oxfamerica ‘s IWD campaign (and just in case anyone doesn’t know, they are my client… consider yourselves disclosed!).
You know, with all the stuff that’s been going on around women’s health lately, I’ve practically been tearing my hair out. Especially the “put aspirin between your legs” stuff. I’m so steamed about it, that I haven’t even been able to blog about it – too mad! So to see OA actually trying to do something that *will* make a difference for women, instead of a bunch of men just talking about it (and *not* doing it) – that makes me feel so good.
Thank you again for helping to bring a voice to women worldwide, especially those who can’t speak out for themselves!
Oops, that should have been oxfamamerica . Darn typos. Sorry!
@Shonali thanks for inviting me to participate, dear lady. I really do believe the timing is fortuitous for this. Things are getting downright frightening.
Thank you for sharing about Oxfam International Women’s Day…I now have it on my calendar. Now I just have to figure out how I am going to be able to show appreciation to the many amazing, inspirational, brilliant and compassionate women I have in my life. *Putting creative thinking cap on*
Thanks MargieClayman
And how awesome that oxfamerica is your client @Shonali …. any effort to “bring a voice to women worldwide” is an effort worth supporting.
@SocialMediaDDS Thanks Claudia! 🙂
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