Today is International Women's Day, and I am proud to be a woman. I am proud to be feminine, proud to be flawed, proud to be educated, proud to be able to express myself freely. However, while the benefits of the Women's suffrage movement have been garnered by many, they are not enjoyed by all. Some Women are still not privy to an education. Some Women are still regarded as second-class citizens. Some Women are still victims of abuse and rape. Some Women are being trafficked and their bodies desecrated. Some Women are still forced to marry. And because some Women suffer, all Women suffer. Because some Women are degraded, all Women are victims of the same degradation. When one is over-sexualized, we all are. As women, we need to stop degrading each other, because it may make others think it is okay to degrade us. Instead, try your beat to uplift each other, correct each other, love each other. And when we all band together as one movement, together we can change the way society perceives us and mold our own destinies without the cap imposed on us by Male superiority. Together we can achieve true equality. Today being a day that supports the movement that recognizes women as human beings is an important day for all of us. Men should support this movement as they have mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. Even though they may think it doesn't affect them, it does. The world hurts when there is no equality. Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche voices my views perfectly, she says "Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. I am angry. We should all be angry. Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change. But I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake themselves for the better."

- Annetta Deborah Jackson