International Women's Day - Black in Costa Rica (5)

I mentioned that Dr Sherman Thomas' wife, Lucy was at the talk. She is a sucessful lawyer in her own right and is involved with women's issues in Costa Rica. I was in Costa Rica on International Women's Day and Lucy shared an article that she had written in honor of the day. 

I want to share it with you today. 

                                                                             Women`s first high school, founded in 1888, San Jose Costa Rica 

International Women’s Day

Yes, this is a day to celebrate women’s achievements. It is a day to be highly inspired and empowered, because of recent fulfilled goals.  However, from this new vantage point, we are able to see that there remain many more challenges to be overcome: women are still behind in educational opportunities; still not paid as their male counterparts in equivalent positions; violence against women have increased, they continue to be ignored, invisibilized and intimidated by their spouse or partner.

Elderly women are manipulated into believing that they are incompetent and that their incompetence justifies being dispossessed of their assets by their sons and daughters, who seem to have taken to heart the adage of old: "Once a woman twice a child”.  Babies don't know and, therefore, need to be helped!

Yes, it will always be proper to honor the 15,000 women that, in 1908, marched through New York City demanding: voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours.  We must never forget, the 25^th of March, 1908, when so many women were burned, some to death, in the tragic “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory” fire.

In 1913 the International Women’s Day was moved to the 8 of March, and it has been celebrated on this day, since then.  The greatest way to honor these fallen women and those that continue to suffer, even today; the utmost contribution you and I can make to bury discriminatory practices, to guarantee  a   bright and rewarding future for our families, is to, finally, understand that the necessary change required for this to be a reality is in your and my hands.

I challenge you to stop searching to find women's value in what they do or in what they have. Our worth is our self worth; our significance is in WHO WE ARE!

Lucett (Lucy) Watler

Former Coordinator and Member of the Gender Commission, Lawyer’s Bar, Costa Rica

asklucycr@gmail.com

Verdette, Jeanetta, Lucy and me