Am I Fighting For All Women?

"Same", by Lorna Simpson, via Zarastro

This month, we honor women—the unsung, the widely recognized, and those whose legacies have left tangible marks on our history and in our streets. (In Berlin, for example, a square and a street are named after Rosa Luxemburg.) But let’s not forget that the gender gap is strikingly present everywhere. 

According to Data Journalism in Europe, “in 30 of Europe’s largest cities, streets named after women make up only 9 percent of those dedicated to individuals.” This, as we can easily infer, is just one statistic, pulled almost at random. It wouldn’t matter otherwise, because wherever we look, the reality is that living as a woman has been difficult—and that resilient women have changed our world. Thanks to them, we can live and dream in a world that is rich and great, and a bit less unjust.

This month, we think of the women we admire: those we haven’t personally met, and those we do know, the ones who inhabit our cities, towns, nations, and our world (both real and imagined).

But we also want to suggest another meaningful approach: positioning ourselves in relation to other women—not just as those who honor the legacies of great women, but as people actively connected to other women. What is our role within this system? Honoring others also means grappling with questions—acknowledging that we are all interconnected and responsible for the world we narrate, remember, create, and leave as a legacy.

Below are the questions we are sitting with. We encourage you to join us, and if you’d like, share your own with us. In April, we will bring together what we’ve gathered to think through this collectively.

• Am I fighting for all women?

• Am I listening only when it is convenient?