International Women’s Day
Happy International Women’s Day.
It may feel strange to say those words at a moment when the world feels so fragile. Conflicts are currently raging in multiple regions, and bombings and war dominate the headlines. People everywhere are understandably anxious, frightened, and confused.
Thousands have died, and leaders warn that the fighting has only just begun. At times, it feels as though we are drifting toward wider global conflict without a clearly articulated strategy, timeline, or end goal. For many people, this moment brings back memories of past wars that dragged on for years without clarity or resolution.
It’s all a lot, and yet, I think this is still a moment when we can focus on the ways that we can make a difference. In fact, I believe we must. Doing so is one of the ways we protect our sanity and keep hope alive. This could mean working on local campaigns for candidates you believe in. Or it could mean advocating for women’s health, fighting for climate action, gun reform, women’s rights, men’s empowerment, or whatever issue lights you up. There are plenty to choose from, and there has never been a more important time to engage. And, in many ways, there has never been an easier time to find an issue that needs your voice.
So let me say it again.
Happy International Women’s Day.
I love that this day exists, because it didn’t when I was growing up. There was no national day to honor women. There was no moment set aside to recognize women’s leadership or name their contributions.
I grew up with a mother who told me plainly that this was a man’s world and that if I wanted to compete in it, I needed to be smarter, tougher, and more resilient than my brothers or any man. That wasn’t cynicism. That was her experience.
My mother lived in a world that told her what she could not do. One that told her that doors were closed before she had even reached for the handle. One that also told her that a woman’s ambition was more likely to be met with resistance than respect.
I often think about all the things my mother was told she couldn’t do. Then I look at my granddaughters and think about all the things they’re told they can do.
Real change can and does happen in a lifetime. But it doesn’t happen on its own. It happens because someone fought for it. Because someone refused to accept the limits placed upon them. Because someone insisted that the world expand. History shows that when women rise, communities grow stronger and societies grow more just.
So today we pause. And in that pause, we remember the women who stood on the frontlines of history so that other women might stand a little taller. Women who fought for the right to vote, to open a bank account, to be included in medical research, to attend universities, to pursue professions, to own property, and to control their own earnings. Those victories were not accidental. They were hard-won. And the work is not finished.
Around the world, women are still fighting for bodily autonomy, equal pay, access to education, protection from violence, representation in government, and healthcare systems that study and understand their bodies. In some countries, girls are still denied schooling. In others, maternal mortality rates remain tragically high, including here in the United States. In too many communities, childcare policy lags behind economic reality. And across nations, women remain underrepresented in the legislative bodies that shape the laws governing their lives.
These are not abstract issues. They are moral issues. Because when women are denied safety, healthcare, education, or economic opportunity, humanity itself is diminished.
On this day, I think about my mother and my grandmother. I think about my daughters and my granddaughters. I think about how different their worlds are and how fragile progress can be. My daughters have rights my mother could not have imagined. My granddaughters are growing up watching women run for office, lead global companies, and compete on the Olympic stage with strength, courage, and resilience. They see possibility embodied.
But I also think about the girls who never get the chance to grow up, including girls lost to war, like the ones at an Iranian elementary school who died after a deadly airstrike last weekend. Girls lost to trafficking, girls lost to poverty, girls lost to policies that ignore them, girls lost to decisions made in rooms where no women sit at the table. The contrast is staggering. Spiritually, I believe every human being carries inherent dignity. That dignity is not granted by a government or bestowed by culture. It is sacred. Policy, at its best, should reflect that sacred truth.
As Hillary Clinton once said, “Women’s rights are human rights.” It is remarkable that in 2026, we still need to say that sentence aloud, but we do, because rights can move forward and they can also move backward.
And so today I offer gratitude to the women who continue to step into the arena. Women like Hillary Clinton, whose resilience and leadership remain on display, and Gloria Steinem, who continues to speak with clarity and conviction about women’s rights. In a special column this week for Sunday Paper readers, journalist Danielle Roby takes us inside Gloria’s living room, where advocates still gather to organize, reflect, and push the movement forward.
I also offer gratitude to the multitudes of other women who have paved a path forward, and who continue to do so. Sojourner Truth. Dorothy Day. Mother Teresa. Rosa Parks. Coretta Scott King. Dolores Huerta. Patsy Mink. Joan Chittister. Barbara Walters. Linda Ellerbee. Anna Quindlen. Bernadine Healy. Viola Davis. Tig Notaro. Alysa Liu. Misty Copeland. The list goes on and on.
Of course, on this day, I also honor my mother and the tough work she did building a movement for people with intellectual disabilities around the world. She fought hard at every level for their right to be included, respected, and seen. Her fight for their dignity in many ways mirrored her own struggle for respect, dignity, and acceptance.
So today is not only a day of gratitude. It is also a day of responsibility. It’s a day to pause and thank the women in your life. Tell them you see what they carry: the invisible labor, the emotional leadership, the strength that often goes unnamed.
But also ask yourself what policies you support, what leaders you elevate, and what systems you participate in that help women.
Do they protect women?
Do they value caregiving?
Do they invest in maternal health?
Do they fund girls’ education?
Do they defend safety and equality under the law?
Celebration without civic engagement is incomplete. To honor someone means more than praising them. It means protecting their dignity. It means building structures that allow them to thrive.
That kind of honoring requires participation. It requires paying attention to the policies being debated, the budgets being written, and the leaders being chosen. Because the rights and opportunities women enjoy today did not appear by accident. They were shaped by citizens who refused to sit on the sidelines.
I honor the women who came before us. I honor the women who stand with us. And I honor the girls who are watching us.
On this International Women’s Day, may we have the courage to match our gratitude with action. May we build laws that reflect our deepest values. May we elect leaders who defend human dignity. May we invest in systems that protect women and girls. May we refuse to grow numb. May we remember that equality is not a favor. It is justice. That safety is not a privilege. It is a right. That dignity is not negotiable.
May we raise our sons to honor strength in women and our daughters to recognize it in themselves. May we create workplaces that value caregiving. May we shape policies that protect motherhood, health, and opportunity. May we insist that education, healthcare, and safety are not luxuries but guarantees. May we never forget the girls whose names we do not know. And may we build a world worthy of them.
May we have the moral clarity to see injustice, the civic courage to confront it, and the spiritual humility to remember that none of us rises alone.
Let this day be more than celebration. Let it be consecration. Let it be a recommitment to the sacred truth that when we honor women, we honor humanity itself.
Prayer of the Week
Dear God,
We ask that you grant us the strength to move beyond our words and the courage to build a world where every woman and girl is seen, safe, and free to fulfill her sacred potential.
Amen.
Also in this week’s issue:
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