International Women’s Day…

We need to celebrate women everywhere, in whatever role they have. So much falls on women simply because they are women. Childbirth, caring, providing meals, being the parent who wakes in the night for her children, nurturing, the list goes on.

We need more women in leadership roles. They create spaces that men don’t think about. I am not going to be negative about men here, I just want to highlight what women bring to our communities.

Compassion – look at Jacinda Ahearne in New Zealand, and Angela Merkel in Germany. They bring an empathy and softness that few men can achieve.

Creativity – women bring their sense of colours, homemaking, recipes, and all sorts of things that are original and beautiful.

Fairness – women, having been subjugated for so long, are aware of inequalities that are not only explicit but hidden. The extra cost involved for certain needs, the subtle discriminations, the complexity of being a woman in this world where a patriarchy is still at work.

Women have so much to offer the world and already have. They are often not recognised, or are noticed after they are deceased. History is not kind to women because they were seen as inferior and hysterical, not credible, and mostly, not men.

Feminism is a dangerous word. Say it in the wrong place and sparks fly. I have never quantified my feminism. I sit easily in traditional roles if I have a role where I am heard and can contribute to the greater good of a school, a hospital, a town

. I have taken the opportunities to do this and am confident that I have made positive contributions. I still do, despite my health problems, because it matters to me.

Women everywhere need these opportunities. We must encourage it and foster them in any way we can.

I support women in my roles, I also support men. There is no conflict in doing that. I like men, but now and then they need some self-awareness courses, even if it’s a short conversation.

I have self-awareness, but lack a criminal mind. I have had neighbours who caused me physical pain with high pitched wind chimes, and refused any request to move them away from my windows. They abused a frail, elderly woman when she asked that they stop cutting back bird cover in the nesting season, and for some inexplicable reason pinned their gates open illegally, and hammered nails around the drop bolt in an attempt to stop me closing their gate so that I could access mine.

If people behave so selfishly and stupidly, they will get unwanted attention. If that attention makes them decide to move, it is entirely their fault.

I write this because, as women, we need to not indulge in petty behaviour but nurture friendly communities, closer connections, and be good neighbours. Women are mainly peacemakers, and bring harmony to places they are in. Of course, there are exceptions…

I believe that if more women were involved we could end the carbon footprints on this planet much sooner. We would end wars more quickly, we would not waste money on nuclear arms, we would nurture human rights all over the world. We would not hoard vaccines but share them out, we would not make knee jerk reactions but see a bigger picture.

Women can make this world a far better place. I know it, I believe it.