International Women’s Day #BalanceforBetter
Happy International Women’s Day to you all. If your not sure what this years theme is it’s a balanced world is a better world, hoping to raise awareness against bias and to celebrate women’s achievements.
So here I am, as a man, taking the opportunity to take a moment and appreciate these things, not on a global scale but in my own little world. The day to day things that just get taken for granted and pushed to the back of our minds.
I guess I’m a lucky man as I have three very strong women in my life. My wife Lou and my two daughters Robyn and Daisy.
All strong women and absolutely as capable and if not more so than pretty much any man /person/alien or animal I have every encountered in my life.
I think it’s wonderful that we have day’s like these, but sometimes the focus can be on achievements that are extraordinary, and don’t get me wrong, that’s fantastic but it’s the little things that we do on a day to day basis that really add up over the years.
Now the obvious example of this that comes to mind for me is really quite an achievement when you put it into context. And that, my friends is the commitment and epic patience that my wonderful wife has endured over the last 17 years. If ever there was a woman worthy of an OBE then it has to be Lou. Honest, kind, supportive and loving. To say she is my equal would be a disservice to her, somehow suggesting that I am superior in someway and that she has achieved the mythical by reaching my level is just so wrong on many levels. We live together, work together, and share a bed, life and children. How could we be anything other than equal? In fact just typing that has made me realise just how daft a suggestion it is that she is anything else. Ok if I’m being honest, then I am the better cook, but when it comes to doing the DIY she absolutely beats me hands down! Determined, unwavering, funny and constantly in my corner, I am very lucky to have her!
Robyn is 19, tenacious and absolutely driven to succeed. She runs her own clothing brand and also works as a female barber, immersed as a women in a very masculine world and building a stellar reputation, she is the very embodiment of women balancing the equality scales. Compassionate, driven and full of love, I would not for one minute imagine there is a possible situation where she would suffer due to her gender, and frankly I pity the man that would ever challenge that notion. Small in stature but mighty at heart, Rob has shown me that gender means nothing. She also makes superb sauté potatoes, whipping my backside in a cook off we had a little while back!
Now Daisy is the youngest at 13, and has overcome quite frankly crippling shyness to become a force to be reckoned with. Her shyness wasn’t just a phase, it was something much more than that. When she was 3 she broke her arm in multiple places in a trampolining accident that required multiple surgeries and metal rods to be implanted. This had a huge psychological impact on her and she recognised this. In a quest to battle her demons, she would put herself in situations that would make her so uncomfortable, she would physically shake. And she would do it again and again. Little by little, bit by bit she would grow stronger. You could feel it emanating from her, such strength of character at such an early age. It actually brings a tear to my eye as I write this to think of the journey she undergone. Now, just like her eldest sister and her mother, she to is a force to be reckoned with. Every bit as equal as every other human walking this planet. Daisy makes me laugh now, she has gone from constant fear to out lifting most of the men in our local gym (a very testosterone environment) with a real brazen attitude! Again Daisy is full of love, caring, compassionate and the reason that Rose and Rebellion exists. I can’t wait to see what she does next, because no label or mere idea of inequality will stop her fulfilling her dreams.
So, thank you International Women’s day, for making me reminisce and appreciate the women I have in my life. Your message is most worthy but not needed in this household. There is no equality where we live, there are only humans that co-exist, appreciate and love one another. That share the tasks, the good times the bad times and everything else that life throws this way, together and as one cohesive equally strong unit. And, I am pretty sure and very hopeful we aren’t the only ones.
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