March 8th, International Women's Day

This year we commemorate one century of this particular "holiday", but what are we commemorating? What have we to celebrate?
Every day we see that gender violence is still a reality for millions of women around the world. We also see thousands of women imprisoned for exercising their human rights. Hundreds of women die every day defending those rights.
What is there to celebrate? What do we commemorate? The fact that regardless of the risks taken, we still have brave courageous women willing to risk life and limb to be free, to have a voice that will not be silent, women that go beyond the basics and speak out and encourage and support others to stand strong and show that they are not "the weaker sex", they are equally strong and possess the same needs and desires and we have plenty of examples to prove it.
We have women all over the world who have excelled in many fields and have braved the odds to come out stronger.
All throughout history we can find women that make it necessary to change the saying "behind every great man, there's a great woman" for "alongside every great man, there's a great woman".
So instead of celebrating or commemorating women on "their day", we need to acknowledge them every single day just as we do with their male counterparts, no more, no less.
From the mid-wives to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, from Sacajawea to Valentina Tereskova, from Abigail Adams to Alice Paul, women have been making the difference not just for women, but for humanity; but let's not forget that they were working alongside men who believed them to be their intellectual equals.
So let's make this year a true year of remembrance of those men and women that have paved the way for all of us, and of those who at this very moment are working to change the world, one woman at a time, and one man at a time too. The day we stop believing that we need vindication for the past wrongs we've endured, then will we be truly equal in our own eyes and therefore, the eyes of others.
Take my thoughts to consideration, or not, after all... I was just thinking.