Radio commmentator Rush Limbaugh kicked off Women’s Monthby denouncing women’s efforts to have contraception covered by health insurance. His remarks were ugly and shocking. Just when you think women are making progress, some loud mouth pundit speaks up and you have to ask, “Are we really making progress?”
Most insurance policies cover Viagra. So men’s erections are covered by health insurance enabling them tohave more sex. But women have to pay up to protect themselves or pay the price of an unwanted pregnancy.I just don’t get it! I never have. For 32 years I was on the birth control pill at an averageof $25 a month. That’s $9600. Much of that timeI was on the Pill not for birth control but to control my hormones which were causing me acne flareups. Even with a dermatologist’s prescription, I could not get coverage for the Pill. I wonder what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot. If men carried the child for nine months, would it be different?
March 8th is International Women’s Day. How will you celebrate?
I am proud of the accomplishments women have made in the last century in our country, although Icannot say that for some other countries. I cannot imagine what itit would be like not to be able to vote, not to be able to hold a job, not to be able to secure a bank loan to start a company, not to be able to move about and travel freely, not to be able to dress howI want, say what I feel, and embrace new experiences without restriction. I made a personal decision not to have children andI cannot imagine what it would be like not to have that choice. I am grateful that I found my husband and a marriage wasnot arranged for me. And I am especially grateful that women today have the spirit and support for each other to speak up,rally and raise moneyfor women’s health,education and protection, because I would not count on men to do it for us.
I am grateful that I can make choices, that I can truly be a choosy woman.
But that’s not the case everywhere, and I am a minority.We still have alot of work to be done. So, in celebration of International Womens Day, I made my own proclamationof what would make a difference for women in years to come. Feel free to weigh in and add to the list.
1. When women have the right to choose how they want to live their lives and are treated as equals to men in intelligence, talent and earning power we can truly celebrate.
2. When women’sreproductive rights are treated by health insurance with the sameconsideration as a man’s right to have the ability to help them reproduce, we can truly celebrate
3. When all women truly have theright to choose if and when they want to have children,who and when they will marry we can truly celebrate.
4. When women can apply for the same job as a man, betreated with thesamediscretion and receive the same level of pay, andbe offered the same levels of career advancementwe can truly celebrate.
5. When women, especially young women, can look at themselves in the mirror, love what they see and realize that beauty really does come from within, we can truly celebrate.
6. When young women learn to treat each other with respect and not bully each other or try to compete or measure up to build their confidence, we can truly celebrate.
7. When violence against women stops, and a woman does not have to live in fear that she will be taunted, stoned, beaten, mutilated, raped or killed, we can truly celebrate.
8. When, around the world,all women have the abilityto have a voice and express themselves freely, we can truly celebrate.
9. When the statistics for the leading causes of death among women arereduced (#1 is heart disease) anddeaths from breast, ovarianand cervical cancer and reduced, we can truly celebrate.
10. When the word “rape” isremovedfromsociety and the dictionary, we can truly celebrate.
In the Bible, Eve was created from Adam’s rib to be at his side as an equal, not his kneecap to be underfoot.
In honor of International Women’s Day March 8, I am going to reach out to 8 women who touched my lives to tell them thank you. I am going to share this blog post with them and hope they will pass it along. We can choose our words. We can choose our actions. We can choose to make a difference. We just need to act upon it.
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp
