☀️. Still I Rise. ☀️
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“You may write me down in history,
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt,
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells,
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.”

Thank you Maya Angelou ☀️💛
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To all of you, sisters….
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May You rise,
May We rise.
Together,
In Solidarity Forever.
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One day a year, «they» call it «our» day, yet every year, it feels strange to have/need «a» day. We all then say that it should be «our» day every day. We know it, we do…yet, I see «this» day, today, as an important day of remembrance. Because as humans, we are made with memory losses…we forget, all the time. Humanity forgets.
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We celebrate lovingly the women we love in our lives.
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I personally start with my mother, maybe like you (i love mine beyond any word I could ever find), my biological sister (my opposite in everything yet my everything I would die for), my beloved soul sisters from all ages with whom I walk to path of Life, my female colleagues who see our professional development as a collective uplifting endeavour to benefit all women. No competition, only admiration.
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All of you, I love you. I admire you.
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And, Today is also a day to refresh the memory of the downsides of Humanity:

1) Persisting and, in some countries, declining gender inequities including access to education or deprivation of human rights as per the Universal declaration of Human Rights (1948) or other international conventions;

2) Subconscious bias against women including in more democratic societies, hindering women to be treated equally at the workplace for example, or be seen as beauties even if they age, have taboo free lives, just like as men, having to deal in higher degree of intensity with the mental load of trying to concile personal & professional spheres….all of this leaving women feeling never good enough.
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Living freely (whatever concept of « freedom » applies in your context) as a woman is not to be taken for granted. Our «freedom» seems at risk if we do not pay attention. It is therefore our duty to call it out every day including today.
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In many countries, women are loosing their voices, their rights, the right to even exist. In some other countries, progressive laws giving freedom of choices including about their own bodies are being questioned and are at risk.
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This day. Today. Brothers and Sisters, today is our ritual: DEMANDING GENDER EQUITY and HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL.
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I pause and read again all these desperate facts affecting women’ lives across the globe. There is immense work to do but there is no other “work” to do.
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To all of you women who cannot do what you want simply because you are a woman, I want you to know that you are not alone even if this feels like that. To all of you trapped in injust wars and situations while all you care about is living, I stand with you. To all of you who are self censoring themselves because of subconscious bias (be personal or societal) and feeling most times if not always, not good enough, I hear you.
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Let’s rise sisters, let’s rise. Let’s dance like on this photo. Let’s resist and grow together and in solidarity. And if you can’t, we will rise and stand for you.
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To all of you, WOMEN: wonderful outstanding, marvellous, empowered nectars, I love you. ☀️💛