March 8th, 2008
International Women’s Day - An American Perspective
At 9 weeks pregnant and having just finished reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See, I find myself contemplating International Women’s Day from the perspective of a woman in transition. Ms. See’s novel takes the reader into 19th century rural China where women are merely the property of men and their whole purpose in life is to produce male heirs. Female newborns are considered a burden and a waste. One of the main characters is badly beaten by her husband after one of her male sons dies and the beating induces a miscarriage. All morning I’ve been wandering my house, rubbing my emerging belly (emerging too quickly with the increase in ice cream and cookies in my diet) and wondering how I am so fortunate to be born into a progressive society, and married to a man who would never dream of laying a finger on me, let alone see me as anything less than equal to him. I have the model life: no debt, good job, a warm home and loving pets, yet there’s a heaviness that surrounds me, and a need to remain grateful for what I have. When I think of the women throughout the world whose lives aren’t that far off from the characters in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan –women who are still required to spend the majority of their lives inside sheltered quarters, getting ill from lack of vitamin C from the sun, while I in my beautiful town of Boulder Colorado can take a leisurely stroll down a busy road on my way to a day of shopping for things I don’t need – I can’t help but wonder where the balance is. So rather than rallying or protesting, marching or singing, I choose to celebrate International Women’s Day in quite reflection wondering if my child will be a girl, and what the world will look like for her at the 150th celebration of this historic day.
