Today is International Women’s Day – one of my favorite days of the year.
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day is also a call to action for more work to accelerate women’s equality.
It’s no secret that I believe writing can change the world. In fact, I did a whole TEDxTalk on the idea. But sometimes writing doesn’t feel like enough.
Story ideas are all around you. Sometimes all you have to do is look in the mirror. Through the years, I have been inspired to write many stories simply by touching the hair on my head.
I’ve written about the natural hair movement for newspapers, magazines, and even public radio. I’ve shared my own hair story on those same platforms as well as on websites and blogs.
Today is International Women’s Day, and though I certainly don’t need a holiday to celebrate women, in honor of this day I’d like to share five ways I think women writers can celebrate International Women’s Day every day.
I believe that we women who write need to accept the charge given by writer Nora Ephron: “Above all, be the heroine of your life.” And we should do all we can to encourage the women and girls around us to do the same. We must also do the work necessary to create a world where women and girls actually can be the heroines of their own lives.
If you’re not sure what all of this work looks like here are some ideas…