Chitra DassapaThis day, March 8, celebrates women of all walks of life. Collectively founded by women, International Women’s Day is a time to support, uplift and make women’s voices heard, ensuring that they are granted the ability to exist in a safe space. So, as we celebrate this month and day, here are some practical ways to show a little extra love towards the women of this world!
1. Reach Out to the Women in Your Life
One simple way to show support to women is to simply show up for those in your life. That could be a phone call, a text message or having a conversation to check-in and make sure our female-siblings, parents, friends and colleagues know they are loved and valued. Sending a little message showing gratitude can go a long way to the women we all know and love!
2. Support Women-Owned Businesses
With the Black Lives Matter movement at its peak in early June 2020, a slew of positive changes were able to simmer to the surface, one of them being the heightened promotion of Black-owned businesses in America. Though primarily focused on Black-businesses, other Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) women were able to garner exposure to their companies through Instagram, Tik Tok and a variety of print media. Check out this list of women-owned-small-businesses you can support from a distance.
3. Watch a Female-Directed Film
Since the Me Too movement stormed Hollywood, and the Entertainment industry as a whole, the willingness to support women in their path to being visionaries through every facet of film has undeniably increased. Though the film industry’s top directors are still in a large part dominated by men, there are incredible and overlooked female directors that are crafting ingenious stories that are emotionally compelling and beautifully shot. Below are five critically acclaimed movies that are simply put, well-crafted films!
- “The Hurt Locker” directed by Kathryn Bigelow
- “Booksmart” directed by Olivia Wilde
- “Lady Bird” directed by Greta Gerwig
- “The Farewell” directed by Lulu Wang
- “Nomadland” directed by Chloé Zhao
4. Listen to a Female-Produced Record
Similar to the film industry, music has had its fair share of prejudice towards women and women of color. Take Taylor Swift, who has gone to great lengths to deconstruct what the industry has tarnished with her master recordings, or LIZZO who has fought to deconstruct normalized standards of beauty by being a pioneer for body positivity. Additionally, only 2% of music producer’s are female. Below are six songs produced by women that are beautiful works of music!
- Rapper’s Delight, Sugar Hill Gang
- Hips Don’t Lie, Shakira, (co-producer)
- PAIN, King Princess
- Distance, YEBBA, (co-producer)
- It Makes You Forget, Peggy Gou
- Hide and Seek, Imogen Heap
