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Today is International Women's Day, a day that celebrates women -- past and present -- and calls for social justice and gender equity worldwide.

I've had this day marked on my calendar/task list for a while: "March 8: Blog about International Women's Day." And I've been considering which historical figure or movement to feature here.

But it's hard to select just one issue, just one person. So much is at stake globally: our health, our bodies, our planet, our education, our employment opportunities -- our personal, political, economic, environmental futures, and the futures of our children. Indeed, feminism points to the interconnectivity of all forms of oppression, and it's hard to pull on just one strand, to try to unravel just one aspect of the white-supremacist-capitalist-patriarchy.

For example, for me, I can't think about health care without thinking about cancer, insurance companies, widowhood, single parenthood, poverty and/or (un)employment. I can't think about cancer without thinking about the environment, genetics, my mother, my child, healthcare, and/or single parenthood. I can't think about single parenthood without thinking about all of the above, plus wondering what I should make for dinner and wishing I had more time.

Being widowed at age 34 might've made me unique among my friends, but really the struggles I face(d) are not unusual for women at all. In fact, with the privilege my race, my educational opportunities, and my country of birth afford me, my struggles are pretty damn mundane. Nevertheless when I think about all that I have to do -- for me, for my kid -- I try to stand up tall, swallow hard, and know that the fight for us to survive and thrive is inseparable from women's and children's fights worldwide.

Audrey Watters


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Audrey Watters

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