Today is International Women’s Day and I felt the need to write a quick post to express how grateful I am to have such incredible women in my life. While I have a plethora of wonderful men in my life who I am so grateful for, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s the power of women.
I know I just wrote about Agnes Scott, but honestly I can’t speak about incredible women without talking about the four years I spent surrounded by some of the most amazing women I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.
I think one of the saddest things is seeing women tear each other down. Now, I admit I watch some pretty trashy reality shows — mainly The Bachelor (don’t judge, I can’t help it!), but in real life, I’d never treat someone the way those women treat each other. I wonder if anyone actually really treats people like that. I sure hope not.
Spending four years at a women’s college taught me so much. Of course, there were disagreements and arguments and you weren’t best friends with everyone. But being able to compromise and to get along with women is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you talk to anyone who works in international development, one of the first things they will tell you is that if you want to elevate a community (any community), you should start with educating the women. And it’s true. For a variety of reasons I won’t get into here, research shows that starting with women makes sense (I am not advocating ignoring boys, because I do believe that has disastrous effects — I’m just saying start with the women). Women are special. And I’m proud of that — you should be too.
So, on International Women’s Day, I am thankful. For the women who continue to educate me, love me, support me, pick me up when I’ve fallen, laugh with me, cry with me, dance with me, and best of all, let me just be me.
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