Here’s The Story of All Women
In 2017. I came across this notion called the Highway of Tears.
I was living in Canada and didn't quiteunderstand and felt foolish for not knowing what it was referring to..
So i googled.
I found headlines dating years back:
Dozens of Women Vanish on Canada's
Highway of Tears, and Most Cases Are Unsolved
"The Highway of Tears refers to a 724 km length of Yellowhead Highway 16 in British Columbia where many women (mostly Indigenous) have disappeared or been found murdered. The Highway of Tears is part of a larger, national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.”
For a while I became obsessed with these missing women. Who were they? How did they just go missing? What happened?
I had a million and one questions circling in my little brain, and an incredible urge to solve the mystery that nobody else had. Needless to say I do not specialise in criminology and thus failed to reach any sort of conclusion haha.
But this opened a whole pandora's box on women.
This happened to be the same time that I was exploring Ana Mendieta's work as part of my university dissertation. (images above Mendieta created a diverse collection of work that included silhouettes of her body created in mud, earth, rocks, wild flowers and leaves, performance pieces that evoked the folk and occult traditions of her native Cuba as well as her beloved Mexico and subversive self-portraits that played with notions of beauty, belonging and gender.
She was provocative and in many way an artistic activist, and naturally audiences didn't like her.
It was in those moments that I kept having to ask why am I interested in her work? Why am I interested in the Highway of Tears?
There is no simple answer. And this is something I am still trying to figure out...
But if you know me, then you'll know that today marks something I am incredibly PASSIONATE about.
As so here goes the age old question... why is women's day so important?
It is no secret that women haven't had the same opportunities as men. Whether that stems from patriarchy, biology, sexism, religion... all of which are far too complex to go into detail. History is rife with accounts of gender inequality and discrimination, be it through politics, economics, or education.
So much so that in Japan women were denied the same language education opportunities as men, and so women were forced to come up with Hiragana U5 it an entirely different alphabet and writing system.
But gender inequality exists everywhere in the world... India, Kenya, Saudia Arabia, Mexico...
EVERYWHERE.
So here's to the dream of ending gender inequality. The dream to make the voices of women heard.
Their power. Resilience. Their gendered orientalism and discrimination.
Here's to all the women:
The women who shaped us.
The women who birthed us.
The women who have fought for us.
The women who have taught us.
The women who share their passion.
The women who are strongest at their weakest.
The women who are bravest at their most vulnerable.
Here's to dreaming for:
more female leaders in power, may we have more women like Kamala Harris (so that it is no longer a big deal)
equal pay!!
ending gender-based violence
maternity protection
ending genital mutilation
child marriage
sex discrimination
education
equal representation
gender roles stereotypes
the list goes on and on and may we all celebrate the IMMENSE progress our little world has made!
May we create more historic movements that crack open a window to new freedoms for women who have long lived under repressive laws
Windows for more growth. more conversations..
So love goes out to all the women out there. Thank you.
And to all the men who
acknowledge the power with the women in their lives, be it their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, partners...
So if you take just one paper thought today let it be a reminder that:
You are pillars of strength.
After all you bring LIFE into our universe!!!
And to challenge James Brown's world famous song...
"This is NOT a man's world, this is
NOT a man's world"
but "This is a HUMAN's world"
And yes...
"it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl
So Happy Interantional Women's
Day!
We are slowly getting there.
X
