Skip to content

I Celebrate Gender Inclusivity

Today is International Woman’s Day. I checked out the IWD web site to see what it was really all about, because I must confess to having some mixed feelings about it. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m a woman. I’ve been a woman my entire life. I have suffered the sexual harassment, the sexual abuse, the rapes, the violence. I’ve suffered the attempts by men to stifle who and what I am. I’ve suffered wage inequality and been on the receiving end of misogynists who claimed to be for equal rights and yet simply did not pay attention to my desires, my wisdom or my words. Yes, I have simply been discounted. Someone mentioned to me the other day that her husband “allowed” her to get her nails done because he liked to have his back scratched with those nice nails. Sigh. No....we have not yet achieved equality. No, we do not have gender parity. I’m old enough now to stand on my own two feet, and most times when I encounter misogyny I just bless them and move on, although I’m able and willing to prevent someone from physically abusing me. I’m even for a day devoted to highlighting the achievements and attributes of women. And I am glad to see that we also have an International Men’s Day. I loved it that on the International Women’s Day web site they called for “Now, more than ever, there's a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. A strong call to #PressforProgress. A strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.”

Gender inclusive. Inclusiveness, that is what I am for. Spiritually, I believe in Oneness. I believe that there is a Force, a Power, that is everywhere present and that links us all. Separation and exclusion, for me, denies that essential part of spirituality. It is almost as if I have a mission statement in my life that says “I believe in inclusion.” Gender parity. Race parity. How this shows up in my life is I want to participate in things that include everyone. Lately, in my area at least, there seems to be an abundance of women-only gatherings. I get invited to these. I usually turn them down. I have no wish to participate in exclusionary events. Those kinds of events are not what I stand for. I voiced this to someone a while back, and was told that some women don’t feel comfortable when men are present. This to me spells separation and exclusion. It perpetuates the problem. Wouldn’t it be better to practice inclusion? Oh, and don’t get me started on opportunities for healing. If I am bothered enough by being around a huge segment of the population, it isn’t about them. It’s about me. I’ve done my healing work. I love men, I love my husband. I even love that poor limiting misguided guy who gives his wife permission to get her nails done. And the wife who hasn’t found her true self. Permission indeed. Some healing is needed there. I’ve made it my life’s work to provide tools that people can use to heal, to open the doors of their own wounds and soothe them, and allow those wounds to be guides to lives of joy and peace and yes, inclusion.

I think we should have an International Human’s Day. A day where we celebrate inclusion and diversity, a day where we recognize our own inner wounds by looking at what makes us uncomfortable, and then do our own inner work to heal those wounds. Imagine if we all did this how much better a place would the world be? I think I shall also have a plain old fashioned whoopee party, and invite a bunch of men and women. Want to come?

Oh..and to any of you reading this who might be activated by International Women’s Day, or by my words. You do know what activated means don’t you? It means you are feeling upset, angry, disgruntled, aggravated, irritate or irked. If you are feeling any of those, you might want to consider that that very activation is a sign that something within you wants to be healed, something within you wants the rest of you to consider this concept carefully. We don’t get activated for no reason. If you see a day celebrating women as a threat to you, that is a call.  Just like if you think Black Lives Matter is a threat to you, that is a call to something within you that wants healing.  Listen to that call, that activation, honor it. It is a doorway and behind that door is something that wants to be healed. Open the door.

Today, I celebrate humans. Of all colors, races and genders. I celebrate inclusivity. I celebrate the call to be gender inclusive, and to do what I can to motivate others to do the same.  Won’t you join me?