Women’s Day & Beyond: The Responsibility We All Share

Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, to me, are about more than just acknowledging the struggles women have faced or advocating for gender equality. They serve as an invitation for all of us to reflect on the role we can play in shaping a just and inclusive society.

We live in a world that is growing more conscious yet, at the same time, increasingly polarized by political and economic divides. We stand at a crossroads—one path leads to an inclusive future, requiring us to embrace change and perhaps even make sacrifices (more on that in a future piece), while the other path is fueled by fear and resistance to transformation. The choice is ours, but let it be a conscious one.

Creating a more humane and equitable society isn’t the responsibility of a select few—it’s something each of us can contribute to, regardless of gender or status. While this list isn’t exhaustive, it captures key elements of what an inclusive future could look like:

✨ Financial freedom. In a world driven by economics, autonomy and financial independence are essential foundations for a just and liberated society.

✨ The power of voice. It’s not just about having the ability to speak, but also about fostering a culture where voices—especially those that have historically been unheard—are valued and acknowledged without fear of judgment.

✨ The art of listening. True listening creates space for diverse ideologies to coexist. The more we lean into understanding, the more we dissolve barriers. A remarkable example of this is Deeyah Khan’s 2017 documentary White Right: Meeting the Enemy, where, instead of responding with fear to threats and hate mail, she engaged in conversations with far-right extremists to uncover what truly lay beneath their ideology.

✨ Inclusion over exclusion. We are often drawn to the idea of “exclusivity” as if it grants us access to something special. But what if we shifted our mindset towards inclusion? Welcoming different genders, perspectives, and systems into our world rather than marginalizing or rejecting them. True progress begins when we honor and celebrate our differences rather than allowing them to divide us.

✨ A strong inner voice. Not the self-critical whisper that says, You’re not enough. Who do you think you are?, but the voice of encouragement—the one that stands by you even when you stand alone. Cultivating this inner ally is a radical act of self-empowerment.

✨ The courage to say no. Integrity (from the Latin integer, meaning “whole”) requires both the strength to say no to what doesn’t align with our values and the openness to say yes to what does. As Martha Beck beautifully puts it:

"In this rush to conform, we often end up ignoring or overruling our genuine feelings—even intense ones, like longing or anguish—to please our cultures. At that point, we’re divided against ourselves. We aren't in integrity (one thing) but in duplicity (two things). Or we may try to fit in with a number of different groups, living in multiplicity (multiple things)."

💬 What are your thoughts? Which of these ideas resonates most with you? What would you add to this list? Let’s start a conversation. Drop your reflections in the comments below.