Reflecting On Women's History Month

The start of March marks the beginning of Women's History Month. The purpose of Women's History Month is to promote equality, recognize women throughout history who have made an impact, acknowledge the accomplishments of modern day women and take steps toward equality. 

Each year Women's History Month has a different theme. The theme for 2023 is "Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories". According to the National Women's History Alliance (the organization responsible for choosing the theme), the purpose of this year's theme is to "encourage recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts, and more." 

As I reflect on this theme, I cannot help but think how fitting this theme is for someone like me who values storytelling and has been telling stories across multiple platforms and mediums throughout my entire life. 

Throughout history women's voices have been silenced time and time again. Women have been denied the right to vote, the right to education, the right to equality and most importantly the right to be heard. Despite the constant silencing of women, we have fought back and ensured that our voices are heard.  

Violence was inflicted on Malala Yousafzai and attempts to silence her were made, because she was advocating for girl's education around the world, Still she did not let anything not even a gunshot to the head silence her. Meanwhile Maya Angelou went mute for six years, after experiencing severe trauma, but this didn't silence her and eventually she became a world famous poet and civil rights activist. 

Those are just two examples of women who didn't allow themselves to be silenced and went on to change history. Both Malala and Maya Angelou, should serve as an inspiration to women everywhere. People will always try to silence us, but it is vital that we do not allow ourselves to be silenced. We need to tell our stories and make our voices heard, and it is only by doing this that we can change the future and write our own history. 

All over the world women are still being silenced. In some countries women do not have the right to free speech and cannot tell their stories, even if they wanted to. They are the reason that I continue using my voice and telling stories. I have been blessed with the privilege to tell stories and use my voice. Women in other countries and women throughout history have not had this same privilege, and that is why I do what I do.

I use my blog to write about the importance of girl power and share a bit about who I am, I use my podcast to support and promote women making a difference in pop culture, I use my Youtube Channel to create content that tells the story of who I am and entertain people all over the world, I use my talent of dancing to tell stories without even saying a word and I use my writing abilities to write articles to shares stories in multiple publications. 

Storytelling is the very core of who I am. I love creating content, being creative and most importantly telling stories. It is not lost upon me how privileged I am to be able to create and share stories across so many platforms. I can only aspire to have to tell stories that will make an impact on the world the way many women storytellers have done before me. 

This month as we reflect on the meaning of Women's History Month, I hope every woman realizes that they cannot be silenced. You have a voice, and you deserve to use it. Tell your stories, if not for yourself do it for the women who still don't have the privilege to tell their own stories.