Wednesday Wisdom: Women Rise Up Again

Wednesday Vibes, Feminism, Women’s March, People’s March, Syracuse, NY

In January 2017, I asked my husband, “What happens if I lose one of the 120 women coming to the Women’s March on Washington with me once we start marching?” He said, “Tracy, they are adult women; you don’t have to worry about that!”

I was nervous about losing someone, not knowing what the crowds and atmosphere would be like after Trump’s first election. Who knew? Nobody, so we took the chance to travel on two buses to DC in unity to remind the government that women comprised 51% of the population. It is one of the top 20 moments of my life—women in unison.

It’s hard to believe that nothing has changed or improved women’s equality in our country eight years later. According to a career blog online, women working full-time in the US today make 83 cents on a man’s dollar. Shockingly, it will take about 132 more years to reach equality. The article states, “The consequences of the gender wage gap will continue to impact women in all fields and industries, impairing the quality of their lives to retirement.”

I started Women TIES 20 years ago, this March 3rd, to help women promote their companies to increase their revenue across New York State. I’m not sure it worked as well as I wanted it to in terms of dollars shared and gained between the women in our organization, but I know the concept was welcomed and carried out by many. Change takes a very long time.

When I wonder if my voice, mission statement, or actions, like taking 120 women to the Women’s March on Washington, made a difference, I think of Susan B. Anthony, who died before she had the right to vote. She and other foremothers went through much more to accomplish our rights. They marched, protested, testified, gathered, got jailed, and didn’t quit until finally; progress gave women the right to vote. Like Susan, I will probably die before women finally get equal pay, but I won’t regret the efforts, events, and marketing to help its advancement.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to join the Syracuse Women’s March this Saturday, January 18, the same day as the National People’s March, to walk forward, arms linked in unity, with an even more tenacious spirit to resist inequality as the next four years progress. Click this link for the Syracuse, NY, Women’s March details.

Thank you to Donna Moore of New Feminists for Justice for her leadership of this special event. If you want to join me personally in Syracuse, let me know you are coming at this link, and we’ll meet in unison again, arm in arm, pink spirits blazing.