I don’t have a huge amount to say for International Women’s Day – I said to someone on Thursday when asked what I was doing today that honestly given my line of work, every day kinda feels like it’s about empowering women! 😅
But, I understand the bigger significance of this day and why it’s important to use dates like this one to amplify important conversations and move the needle on critical issues.
Yesterday, I spent a beautiful afternoon and evening soaking at the hot springs with one of my dearest friends.
At one point, we were lying in the shade of a tree in a shallow pool, the 38 degree water keeping us warm while the breeze tickled our exposed skin.
Nearby in a cave, a woman began to sing and the depth and haunting tone of her voice, and the way it reverberated in the cave lulled us both into quiet presence as we listened.
She sang a song that literally only a few weeks ago I came across on YouTube for the first time, and the perfection of hearing it sung so beautifully right before IWD was not lost on me…
There’s a lot of work to be done for women’s rights around the world, including here in our own backyards. There are a lot of people dedicated to doing that important work. We can all contribute in little ways every day. Women matter. Girls matter. You matter. Keep going.
We are all born of women, and regardless of your individual relationships to your mother, there’s a very real line of women, without whose wombs and love and courage and blood, you simply wouldn’t be.
So, in celebration of women everywhere today, and the women who brought us this far…
Happy International Women’s Day
Here’s the song, and the lyrics…
Savage Daughter by Ekatrina Shelehova
I am my mother’s savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother’s savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
My mother’s child is a savage
She looks for her omens in the colours of stones
In the faces of cats, in the falling of feathers
In the dancing of fire
In the curve of old bones
I am my mother’s savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother’s savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
My mother’s child dances in darkness
She sings heathen songs
By the light of the moon
And watches the stars and renames the planets
And dreams she can reach them
With a song and a broom
I am my mother’s savage daughter
The one who runs barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
I am my mother’s savage daughter
I will not cut my hair
I will not lower my voice
We are all brought forth out of darkness
Into this world, through blood and through pain
And deep in our bones, the old songs are waking
So sing them with voices of thunder and rain
We are our mother’s savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
We are our mother’s savage daughters
We will not cut our hair
We will not lower our voice
We are our mother’s savage daughters
The ones who run barefoot
Cursing sharp stones
We are our mother’s savage daughters
We will not cut our hair
We will not lower our voice…
