Bread and Roses for International Women's Day

                                My mother Reta and grandmother Ethel on the way to market. 

Happy International Women’s Day. (IWD)

Today March 8 is a global day celebrating women! Today we celebrate the social, economic, cultural, spiritual and political achievements of women while continuing to call out inequality. 

This movement, that I suggest began with Shiphrah and Puah (Exodus 1:15-19) two Hebrew midwives who tricked the mighty Pharaoh, grew louder in the late 1800’s and was finally adopted by the United Nations in 1977.

It was while living in the Philippines that I first encountered women who celebrated International Women’s Day. Together we gathered at the University of the Philippines in Manila for my first experience of watching “The Vagina Monologues.”  Now that was an experience to remember! 

On this International Women’s Day thoughts of many amazing women who have been and continue to be my guides come to mind.

Many I know in person or through family folklore. Others are known through literature or social media where an abundance of poets, authors, scientists, theologians, musicians and the courageous women of Iran expand my heart and mind.

As I read their work on paper or screen, listen to their music, and witness their passion for equality, I am inspired by the many ways they offer a vision of love and justice for all Creation.

Close to home, I think of those remarkable women whose DNA I carry. My grandmothers Beatrice and Ethel, my material grandaunts Lila and Mae, and my incredible mother Reta Mae who knew no boundaries in what she would tackle. 

Their familiar voices echoes near. Echoes of ’Go out the door you came in.’ ‘Don’t meet someone on the stairs.’ ‘I’m lifting up supper’ (supper is ready). ‘Now I lay be down to sleep…’ 

There are my two mothers-in-law Burdena Elvira and Marjorie Ethel. Yes, there were two! There are my aunts Clara, Inez and Jennie.

It continues to astonish me that when these women were born they were not considered to be ‘persons’ by Canadian law. While they provided bread and roses to their families and communities, they could not vote. Can you imagine telling those two determined women you see above that they are not persons! 

At home, we are privileged to receive our daily bread on dishes these women once used to feed the multitudes.

David’s mother Marjorie and sister Elizabeth were deceased by the time we became a couple. Still their ways of being continue to inform our daily life. Marjorie’s love of keeping all things, including balls of string, is reflected in our workshop. The grief of Elizabeth’s death as a young child lingers near. 

There are my sisters Elaine and Ruth who continually astonish me with their persistence to love and laugh.

There are my amazing daughters Julieanne and Karla, step daughters Vicki and Jenna, daughters-in-law Lori and Alice.

There is my granddaughter Avery who explores a world I can only imagine. In a world so very different from my experience of a one room school house, Avery  gets to talk with astronauts! (see previous blog Space Call)

There were the school teachers, Sunday School teachers, piano teachers, professors, Women’s Institute friends, Canadian Girls in Training (CGIT - I never did figure out what we were in training for) and 4 - H leaders.

Then there are the multitude of kindred spirits, who are part of my circle of life today; a handful of close friends, numerous acquaintances from church community to Zumba dancers, colleagues, community workers, neighbours, police officers, firefighters, veterans and a number of Facebook ‘friends’ who share their daily wisdom and lift each other up. 

On this International Women’s Day I give thanks for being surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses. And imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, discrimination and violence. A world where no dream is to big.

Finally I leave you with the song Bread and Roses written around 1911. May it be so!

Have a listen here: https://youtu.be/94mSln34ZwA