The Strength of Women

As we approach International Women’s Day, I thought it was timely to look at what makes women ‘special’. I think it is their strength and ability to survive. I see three ways in which you can see this strength in action.

Firstly, women don’t do ‘Heroic Deaths’, they are too busy and have too many responsibilities. They just hunker down and find ways of getting it together to look after children, old people and anyone else in their care. Women are the great survivors, because they have to be.

The second ingredient for their success is their willingness to ask for help and find cooperative partners. Women have been natural networkers long before men invented the term. They communicate and collaborate with other women to achieve mutual benefit. When women find themselves homeless, they are more likely to ‘Sofa Surf’ than take to the streets, meanwhile looking for a longer-term solution.

And the third characteristic I observe is sheer persistence. Women do not give up or take No for an answer. They keep coming back til they get what they need, often for someone else. And they need this persistence because in our world it is believed that women can be ignored more easily and readily than men.

And very often what they are asking for is ‘Justice’. I recently heard about a TV series about the bitter Miners’ Strike which took place in Britain in the 1980s, and which said the backbone of the strike were the women.
So, in this week of International Women’s Day let us celebrate the often overlooked strength of women and the difference women make in our society.

Do you agree it should be International Women’s Week or even Month for Women’s Strength to be recognised, not least by women themselves?