Every year around Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, I think about my late friend and mentor Neema Roshania Patel. Neema was my manager at The Washington Post, where I helped her run a team of women in our 20s and 30s covering issues of gender and identity. Every year, we joked about the influx of emails we’d get on March 1, imploring us to cover Women’s History Month. We found it ridiculous to suggest that these stories should be relegated to just one month a year or focused around one holiday – we were advocating for their importance year-round.
I was so proud to work closely with Neema, someone who spent her whole career fighting for a better world for women on a global scale, as well as on a personal level. She was always advocating for me and other women in the workplace, helping us negotiate our salaries and championing our accomplishments. So much of my life has been inspired by how she led her own.
So while I sometimes still cringe at the many blast emails drawing attention to women’s rights during this month, I also know how important it is to bring attention to these issues, no matter the reason. In a world in which abortion restrictions continue to impact millions of women, trans folks’ rights are being stripped away, and DEI initiatives are being erased, there’s never been a more urgent need to use our voices to advocate for the equal rights of everyone.
That’s why, for International Women’s Day, we asked leaders we admire about what they’re doing to fight for women’s rights in this moment. Below, hear empowering words from Stacey Abrams, the well-known author, politician, and voting-rights activist; Meena Harris, founder of Phenomenal Media; Amanda Nguyen, an astronaut and civil-rights activist who founded Rise; and Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
We hope their words inspire you to extend the spirit of International Women’s Day into your everyday – all of our rights depend on it.
