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Tag: international women's day

  • Financial planning for the first time? A guide for women on a single income – MoneySense

    Financial planning for the first time? A guide for women on a single income – MoneySense

    While some financial advisors recommend the 50-30-20 rule, where 50% of your pay goes to fixed expenses, 30% to discretionary and 20% to savings, putting aside just 10% of your take-home pay for savings is OK, too. “We can be as efficient with that 10% as we can possibly be… meaning we could put your savings in a diversified portfolio where the expected returns are going to be higher and over a longer period of time.”

    Ayana Forward, a financial advisor and founder of Retirement in View in Ottawa, acknowledges how hard it can be for single women—and all women—to create a plan to invest, particularly early in their careers. “You have all kinds of competing priorities,” she says, including possible childcare expenses, a mortgage, car payments and school debts. However, Forward encourages women to begin saving anything they can as soon as possible to build habits and benefit from compound interest, which is when your money’s interest starts earning interest of its own. 

    Here’s how that can look: Let’s say you take $100 a week from your miscellaneous allotment and invest it at an interest rate of 5% and watch it grow. After 30 years, if you had put that $100 in a savings account with no or a low interest rate, you’d only have $156,100—but because you invested it, you’d have $345,914. (Calculate your savings with our compound interest calculator.) 

    Prioritize what you love

    What are your absolute must-haves in life? Your non-negotiables? You don’t have to give those up—you may just have to find an alternative way to make them work while meeting your savings goals. “My client, who is a college instructor, loves to travel, and her trips are usually tax deductible,” says Hughes. But to be able to afford her trips while continuing to save, she picked up a part-time job. “It gave her some extra income since she was determined to meet her goal, which was to own a place of her own,” says Hughes. 

    Whether you pick up a side hustle or not, chances are there will still be a few sacrifices you’ll need to make. It comes down to looking at your budget and deciding what you want to prioritize in the immediate time period, says Cornelissen, and deciding what you can let go of for a while. 

    Or it can relieve you from doing the opposite, over-saving for fear of not having enough money. Knowing how much money is going in and going out of your account is key to making a plan for your money.

    Revisit your employee contract

    If you’re employed full-time, find out if your company offers a pension or an employer-sponsored plan, such as RRSP matching (where an employer contributes the same amount as an employee to a registered retirement savings plan). This will help you determine how much you need to save for retirement. “If you don’t have a pension, you’ll need to save more than someone who has a pension,” says Forward. 

    Also, when planning for your retirement explore government income sources that may be available, like the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS). “You can go into your My Service Canada account to get those benefit statements so you know what you’ll be receiving from those programs,” says Forward. (You can log into your My Service Canada account using a unique password or use your bank account log in.)

    Renée Reardin

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  • Accenture, Goodwill of North Georgia celebrates International Women’s Day with ‘Be Without Limits’ event  

    Accenture, Goodwill of North Georgia celebrates International Women’s Day with ‘Be Without Limits’ event  

    Photo by Kerri Phox/The Atlanta Voice

    Women earn an average of 16% less than men. For every dollar earned by men, women earned 84 cents. The controlled gender pay gap, which considers factors such as job title, experience, education, industry, job level and hours worked, is currently at 99 cents for every dollar men earn, according to a study by Forbes.  

    Accenture and Goodwill of North Georgia celebrated International Women’s Day with a “Be Without Limits” panel discussion featuring diverse hard-working women.  

    The event included networking and an engaging panel discussion facilitated by Rose Scott, host of the midday news program, “Closer Look”, heard on Atlanta’s NPR station 90.1 FM – WABE.  

    Isaiah Singleton

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  • Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Journey Is “Every Immigrant’s Story”

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s Journey Is “Every Immigrant’s Story”

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Washington state, is known for being an outspoken advocate of social justice, reproductive freedoms, and immigrants’ rights. Ahead of International Women’s Day, we wanted to hear more about her own immigration story and her message to young voters in a crucial election year. Read it all, in her own words, below.

    It was a dream of my parents to give me the opportunity of education in the United States and everything that would provide, so they really made that ultimate sacrifice. I don’t know if any of us really understood what a sacrifice it would be, because I would never end up living on the same continent as them again. Now, decades later, I understand what that meant, and I’m very, very grateful. I think it’s part of what drove me as a teenager — I was only 16, I was here by myself and in a brand-new country, trying to make my way on my own — I think I have this sense of, I have to pay it forward, I have to be successful, I have to make sure I make my parents’ sacrifice worthwhile. Maybe it’s every immigrant’s story.

    Immigrants are huge to building this country. They’re doing all types of jobs, from low-skilled to high-skilled. But if you look at how families survive, if you look at the food that people eat, the hotels or restaurants that they eat or sleep in, if you look at domestic work, care work, across the board, so much of this is powered by immigrants and immigrant women. The level of deep resilience, courage, and contribution to community, family, and country that immigrants bring — I see how that contribution is really not recognized in policy and that the other side puts immigrants through so much nasty rhetoric. I feel that even Democrats don’t always stand up in the way we should for immigrants, without whom we literally would not be able to function as a country.

    I know we say that it’s incredibly important to vote in multiple elections — we certainly said it in 2016 and we saw what happened when Donald Trump came in and worked to destroy everything we hold dear, including our democracy. And he’s back. So the stakes are incredibly high. And at the same time, I know it is deeply frustrating for young people in particular to look at how screwed up the world is and to feel like somehow maybe they can’t make a difference. And the message I have is: you absolutely can make a difference. We don’t have perfection in our democracy, we don’t have perfection on our ballots, but we do have progress. And the most progress is made when people use their voices and use their votes to demand better.

    We don’t have perfection in our democracy, we don’t have perfection on our ballots, but we do have progress.

    I think this is going to be a very tough election, and I’ve come out strong for a cease-fire. I think the Gaza war is an issue that people feel are deep moral issues. So I know there’s a lot of work to do. But I also know that what we got done in the first two years of a Democratic White House, barely Democratic Senate, and a Democratic House was kind of incredible. Because of young people, we got the first gun legislation passed in decades. Because of young people, we got the biggest investment ever in climate change. There’s so much more I could go through. It’s not to say we’re done, it’s to say that people can make a difference, that it matters who controls Congress. And it matters to get more of us who are women of color, immigrants, Gen Z into Congress who can help to shift from the inside as well as the outside.

    I’m inspired every day by my grandmother, who is an incredible woman who got a high school education and married very young and would still go out there and do things that just weren’t done. A woman who would go out there and play tennis in a sari. She’s passed, but I still feel her presence with me. Also women whose shoulders I stand on, and for me, Sojourner Truth is a really important figure in my life because of who she was, because of the courage she had to speak truth to power, and because she was fundamentally shifting public perception of what was possible. She’s incredibly important. And then the third is — I have been on the streets and in civil disobedience protests, getting arrested with undocumented women and immigrant women from all over the world, and I bring them into every room with me. The joy, the courage, the resilience, the risk I take — it reminds me every day that what I’m doing is nothing compared to what they’re doing, and it gives me the courage to keep fighting.

    — As told to Lena Felton

    Lena Felton is the senior director of features and special content at POPSUGAR, where she oversees feature stories, special projects, and identity content. Previously, she was an editor at The Washington Post, where she led a team covering issues of gender and identity.

    Rep. Pramila Jayapal

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  • How to avoid paying the pink tax on clothes, toys and other everyday items – MoneySense

    How to avoid paying the pink tax on clothes, toys and other everyday items – MoneySense

    But when unicorns and hearts make an item more expensive than one with dinosaurs or space ships, her mother draws a line.

    “I started buying more gender-neutral colours for my children,” said Maharaj-Dube, who also has an eight-year-old son. “The black, the greys, the reds, orange and yellow—colours that are a bit more gender neutral (and) both my son and my daughter can use.”

    Products marketed toward women and girls such as razors, shampoo and even children’s clothes can cost more than their equivalent for men or boys, a phenomenon that’s been dubbed the “pink tax.”

    What is the “pink tax”?

    “Pink tax was a term coined in the ’70s to describe the difference in pricing between men’s and women’s products,” said Calgary-based Janine Rogan, a chartered professional accountant and author of the book, The Pink Tax.

    Disposable razors have been a representative example for years—the same product was priced higher when it came in pink.

    Some of that discrepancy has improved in recent years. Along with companies adjusting their prices to become more equal, some jurisdictions around the world have eliminated actual taxes on necessary health products such as menstrual pads and tampons in a bid to level the playing field for those who use them.

    However, corporations and marketers still find ways to raise prices for products aimed at women and girls such as shampoos and lotions, Rogan says.

    Amrita Maharaj-Dube, second left, is shown with her family, daughter Annapoorna, husband Vishal Dube, and son Aadhavan in this undated handout image from their home in Elmira, Ontario.

    Pushing back against the pink tax in Canada

    Maharaj-Dube says her daughter is often disappointed with her money-saving choices, so she’s turned to a solution that works for her bank account and keeps her child happy: thrifting.

    The Canadian Press

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  • How Red Lipstick Has Epitomized Defiance Throughout History

    How Red Lipstick Has Epitomized Defiance Throughout History

    This is when things really get interesting. Legend has it that women who were marching and protesting for the right to vote wore red lipstick to symbolize their mission and further the fight. More specifically, it’s said that Elizabeth Arden, the businesswoman and boundary-pushing beauty savant, handed out red lipstick to suffragists as they were marching past her Fifth Avenue storefront, as she herself was a staunch supporter of the cause. 

    Here’s the thing, though. It’s difficult to find proof of this. As Parsons puts it, “Women in the suffrage movement would have used lipstick as a means of rebellion, power, and feminism if in fact it actually happened.” I wanted to know more, so I went straight to the source: Elizabeth Arden, the very same global beauty brand founded by the namesake cosmetics maven.

    Janet Curmi is the VP of global education and development at Elizabeth Arden. She says Elizabeth Arden was pioneering when it came to introducing red lipstick to American beauty trends. “Before 1912, makeup was not acceptable for most American women, with it generally only being worn by performers and alike,” she says. “On her first trip to Paris in 1912, Elizabeth Arden took note of the city’s fashionable elite—women who attended the theater and opera, with their lashes lacquered and their cheeks tinted with rouge. On her return to New York, she wasted no time in formulating the first rouges and tinted powders, as well as mascara and eye shadow for American women. Around the same time, Vogue published an article suggesting that ‘a little rouge, discreetly used, might make a woman look healthier and younger.’ Soon after, makeup became the height of fashion in American society, with Elizabeth Arden pioneering the industry in America to match the rising demand.”

    Kaitlyn McLintock

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  • The Female Content Creators Ushering In a New Era of Formula One

    The Female Content Creators Ushering In a New Era of Formula One

    These women set the stage for a new era in F1, one that—despite an abundance of pushback from change-fearing fans and a significant lack of representation—is, in many ways, dominated by women. But rather than a racing car, the women currently making their mark on the sport work from behind screens, on platforms like Instagram, Twitch, and, most significantly, TikTok. Even without a seat or, in many cases, any official credentials, it hasn’t taken long for their impacts to be felt across the internet and inside the moving walls of the F1 paddock. 

    “Female F1 content creators have ushered in new terminologies, new ways of approaching and consuming the sport, new ways of talking about the sport, and new content styles, all of which were mocked at first by fans, teams, and the sport itself and then replicated and finally celebrated,” Toni Cowan-Brown, 37, says. Cowan-Brown is a longtime fan of F1, but it wasn’t until 2020 that she made the transition from fan to content creator after publishing her first F1 video on TikTok. Since then, Cowan-Brown has amassed more than 84,000 followers on her F1 TikTok page, @F1Toni, where she shares both educational and entertaining content surrounding the media and culture of F1. One of the major methods she’s used to shift the way audiences think about and consume the sport is through her simple and easy-to-grasp Guide to F1, which she first developed for her friends who weren’t ready to watch hundreds of races in order to learn about F1. Realizing that her original guide was too long for even her friends to read through, Cowan-Brown decided to divide it into bite-size pieces for content, putting them on the taking-off TikTok platform. “I realized that people enjoyed going on this research and discovery journey with me and that the gap I was filling was this desire for knowledge and learning,” she says.

    Those who weren’t raised on the sport but who grew into fandom thanks to its increased representation in popular culture (a result of Netflix’s wildly successful docuseries Drive to Survive, Lewis Hamilton’s presence in music and fashion, and the rise of F1 content creators) could be easily turned off from the sport due to information overload, especially given its existing fan base’s reputation of being harsh on newcomers—particularly female newcomers. Cowan-Brown’s Guide to F1 and the videos associated with it make it easy for new fans to get acquainted with F1 in a judgment-free zone. “I’m hoping to break down some of the stereotypes in this space and the toxic traits we are seeing with certain fans who think the sport belongs to them because they can name every race Michael Schumacher won,” she says. “There is no one way to be a fan—that’s the beauty of fandoms.”

    Eliza Huber

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  • Why Paying Women An Equal Wage Helps — Not Hurts — Your Business | Entrepreneur

    Why Paying Women An Equal Wage Helps — Not Hurts — Your Business | Entrepreneur

    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Just 82 cents. That’s what the average woman makes for every $1 earned by a man in the United States in 2022. It’s a shocking but not surprising statistic as women have been given increasingly more responsibilities and influence in the business world but have never received the same compensation.

    In my diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) consultancy, which is made up of more than 90% women, it’s unthinkable to pay them any less for their genius just because they didn’t ask or because of their gender. Yet, traditional male-dominated businesses may not see it that way.

    The pay gap has become an insidious and invisible barrier between upward mobility, equity and inclusion for women. As Equal Pay Day and International Women’s Day are both recognized during the month of March, there seems to be no better time to analyze the facts about how women’s contributions are undervalued in business and why paying them the same as men would help — not hurt — businesses in the short and long term.

    Pay women for the unique skill set that they bring

    Every gender brings something unique to the table. But one important distinction is that women offer qualities that build trust in businesses. For example, one survey found that people believe women are more ethical than men when it comes to their business dealings. In a nutshell, people perceive women as making more ethical choices that do less harm and create more good. That’s a skill set that helps, not hurts, businesses.

    The same survey also touts that women are perceived as more likely to be mentors than men. Women who lend a hand to other employees to help them gain the skills, mindset, and abilities to level up at work are an asset, not a burden. Shouldn’t offering mentorship and being present for new workers be qualities worth paying extra for?

    In the same survey, women were also thought to offer better pay and benefits. In my consultancy, I’m proud to offer generous paid time off, complete remote-working capabilities, and competitive pay. It’s not because I’m a woman that I offer these benefits and perks. It’s because I have an understanding of how work-life balance (or work-life blend as I call it) promotes greater well-being, longer retention and higher quality of work. To me, it’s a no-brainer to pay women exceptionally well for their unique contributions.

    Related: 4 Ways Women Entrepreneurs Can Lead With Compassion

    Beyond perception, what is the actual outcome of paying women more in male-dominated organizations? What would happen if women who didn’t ask for raises were given them in line with those received by their male colleagues in similar positions? The results may seem idealistic, but I believe equal pay for women would absolutely and definitively change the internal and external dynamics of your business.

    Paying women more helps them stay longer in your organization

    As part of the great Great Resignation of 2021, thousands of women were leaving their jobs at higher rates than in years prior. That was partly because of a lack of upward mobility where for every 100 men promoted, only 87 women were promoted. But it was also related to pay. It’s no secret that people are more likely to get a pay raise if they leave a job than if they stay. In recent years, job switchers made up to 8.5% more money when they left a job for something new. If your business employs high-performing women but you don’t pay them the same wages as you give their male counterparts, it’s likely that they’re going to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Choosing to turn a blind eye to the pay gap between men and women is causing businesses to lose essential talent that could have been retained with fair and competitive wages.

    Related: The Gender Wage Gap Inspires More Women to Create Their Own Paycheck

    Paying women more promotes higher confidence at work

    Confident women lead, show up and perform better. And the link between higher pay and confidence is apparent. A study published in the National Academy of Sciences showed there was a correlation between higher pay and confidence amongst women in STEM fields. The higher the women were paid, the more “self-efficacy” or confidence they possessed. Women who know they are paid equally to their male counterparts seem to be more self-actualized at work than women who aren’t paid equally and know it. The result can often be better work performance, a stronger presence in important meetings, and more self-confidence that they’ll get the results that their organization is looking for.

    Paying women more promotes mutual respect between the genders

    While some men are offended by women who make the same amount of money they do, other men may have more respect and see women as equals when they know they’re receiving similar compensation. It’s no secret that wealthier and more powerful individuals may not always treat less well-paid individuals with courtesy and high regard. There’s a destructive power dynamic that a pay gap can create, especially when it’s a large pay gap. But equal pay in the workplace can minimize the power dynamic of the haves vs. the have-nots and promote more respect between the genders. Mutual respect in the workplace has been shown to reduce stress, improve productivity and create a fairer workplace environment for all.

    Paying women more promotes pay transparency and workplace morale

    Employees want to be in workplaces where they can trust the leadership and management. Pay transparency has been shown to have positive effects not just on women but on all employees. A Harvard Business Review article found that pay transparency not only benefits employees who realize they aren’t getting enough, but it also boosts the perception of trust, fairness, and task performance for everyone at the company. Opening the door for women to ask for more, especially if they’re in positions equal to men in the organization, can build a more positive workplace culture that pays dividends in terms of retention, productivity and morale.

    Related: Understanding the Science and Psychology of Open Salaries

    Final thoughts

    Most businesses operate on a don’t ask, don’t tell system with regard to pay. The unspoken mentality is “what I pay you is our little secret.” However, when women don’t ask for raises and advancement, the pay gap widens. Paying women what they deserve for their unique skill set and contributions to companies is an investment, not an expense. Women who are in similar positions to men and who are carrying similar responsibilities should not earn less money simply because they’re less likely to ask for it. Peeling back the curtain on pay transparency and exposing the financial, cultural, and business development reasons behind paying women more can put your company in a unique and competitive position–one where paying women equal wages boosts the business not hinders it. This Women’s History Month, consider the benefits of paying women employees an equal wage and make an offer to match their salary to those of men in similar positions. From there, assess how equalizing pay positively influences the businesses’ bottom line and workplace culture.

    Nika White

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  • The New Wave—5 Female Fashion Designers to Know

    The New Wave—5 Female Fashion Designers to Know


    Photo:

    Imaxtree/Mowalola; PICTURED: Fall/Winter 2023 Collection

    Mowalola Ogunlesi isn’t keen on being put in a box, or at least that’s what one can deduct after deep diving into the designer’s career. The Nigerian creative first made her foray into fashion by attending (and dropping out of) Central Saint Martins. Though she’s openly discussed how she disliked her experience there, she accredits the school with landing one of her most influential internships with Grace Wales Bonner. Cutting her teeth under the tutelage of one of our time’s most revolutionary female designers inspired Ogunlesi to start her eponymous label, Mowalola, in 2017. 

    She debuted her first collection at London Fashion Week in 2018 with the philanthropic organization Fashion East. The non-profit is dedicated to fostering new talent and has some of the most esteemed veterans in the program, including Maximilian, Jonathan Anderson, Nensi Dojka, and Mowalola. While Ogunlesi stopped showing with Fashion East in 2020, that first collection (and the subsequent ones after that) cemented her as a rising star in the industry.

    That newly attained star status was partly due to the celebrity set that quickly took to her work—fans include Kim Kardashian, Naomi Campbell, and Drake. Additionally, Ogunlesi landed some of the buzziest collaborations quickly (with Nike and Gap). But don’t be fooled by the hype; at the end of the day, the fandom surrounding her work all goes back to her out-of-the-box approach to fashion.

    Jasmine Fox-Suliaman

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  • The “Difficult” Woman

    The “Difficult” Woman

    There is no shortage of examples of the “difficult” woman in history. Better known as “crazy.” For when a woman is deemed too difficult, the crazy label always comes in quite handily for those looking to silence her “psychotic” nature. Few ever stopping to consider that “psychotic” behavior is pretty much anything that doesn’t fit into the limiting box put forth by patriarchal society. And that limitation is very much by design. Hence, the rate at which far more women are diagnosed with “mental problems” than men. Because, shit, they straight-up invent mental disorders specifically for women (see: hysteria, Angry Woman Syndrome, Post-Abortion [Stress] Syndrome)—all created to hem in very natural reactions that would not be seen as “problematic” in men.

    People have continued to fool themselves into believing that “we’ve come so far” and that a level playing field has been formed. One on which women can thrive and “have it all.” That odious phrase that would never need to be applied to men because they’ve always had everything, no questions asked. Looking back on the women who have been branded with the “cuckoo” mark, it’s plain to see they were set up to fail. Frances Farmer, Zelda Fitzgerald (who was somehow viewed as “crazier” than F. Scott), Sylvia Plath, Princess Diana and, perhaps most illustriously of all, Britney Spears. Frances and Zelda were both relegated to mental institutions; Plath suffered her “madness” while only able to cast some of it out of her through her poetry and The Bell Jar; Diana was painted as the irrational, paranoid woman, whose paranoia was then preyed upon by the likes of Martin Bashir for profit.

    Britney, however, might have suffered the worst “consequence” of all: being betrayed by her own family. Who used the perception of her “insanity” (a.k.a. a normal reaction to living in a fishbowl and having every move she made interpreted as another sign of her incompetence) to their benefit. Specifically, Jamie and Lynne Spears colluding with Tri Star Sports & Entertainment’s Lou Taylor to entrap Britney in a conservatorship. Truly, the stuff of Hollywood horror story legend.

    As many remember, it was Britney snapping one night on February 16, 2007 (thus, the mocking t-shirt that reads: “I Feel Like 2007 Britney”) by shaving her head at a Tarzana salon that provided all the cannon fodder anyone needed to call her “crazy.” Frances Farmer endured a similar phenomenon on October 19, 1942, spurred from the instant she was stopped by a police officer for being parked on the side of the road with her high-beams on in a blackout zone (this being a wartime practice meant to prevent enemy aircrafts from detecting a target). Talking back to the officer (including telling him, “You bore me”), she was accused of being drunk (without any test actually given) and thrown into the clink for the night before she paid her bail.

    Other “drunk and disorderly” accusations were lobbied at Farmer in subsequent months that year as well. Namely, while in Mexico to shoot a movie version of John Steinbeck’s Murder at Laudice. Upon arriving, she found that the shooting script wasn’t even completed, so what the fuck else was she to do but entertain herself while she waited? Something any man in her position would have done as well—without the curse of being called “drunk and disorderly.” It was Mexico in the 1940s, what did anyone expect? Especially since the movie never even started filming.

    This led, soon enough, to “too much free time” on Farmer’s hands as she was additionally accused of disturbing the peace. She then endured something akin to the Spears family’s treatment of their star member upon trying to return to her Santa Monica abode after the botched film shoot, only to find that it had been cleared of all her possessions and another family was living in it. Farmer stated that her mother and sister-in-law were responsible for this abrupt ousting, after which she ended up staying at a room in the Knickerbocker Hotel. Of this bizarre turn of events, Farmer would later remark, “I suppose it seems peculiar that I never asked questions, or received an accounting, but I didn’t give a damn. At the time I neither knew nor cared.”

    Just before her “forced transference” to the Knickerbocker, studios were continuing to pass her around during this period. Mainly because Frances was declared to be a “difficult woman” for actually “deigning” to make suggestions about the character she was playing. Per Patrick Agan’s The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses, “She incurred studio wrath by demanding they rewrite the glamor out of [her] character [Calamity Jane in Badlands of Dakota] and give her back her original grittiness. Again she lost the battle and another mark was chalked up against her on Hollywood’s list of troublemakers.” That word “troublemaker” being reserved for any woman who doesn’t do as she’s told without “making a fuss” about it. The same went for women like Plath, Fitzgerald and Princess Diana, who were viewed as “problematic” and “threatening” because of their unwillingness to suffer in total silence. Plath spoke out in her venomous writing, and so did Zelda and Diana, for that matter (with the latter doing so secretly through biographer Andrew Morton).

    All these examples, of which there are so many more, prove solely that the “difficult” woman is often not so difficult at all. She merely expressed herself “out of nowhere” (as though she hadn’t been saying the same thing for some time while being ignored) when a man in the oppressor position expected her to go along as usual (e.g., Britney saying no to “one dance move” and then being admitted to a psychiatric facility by her father in 2019). And the same cycle of gaslighting a woman into thinking she’s “crazy” continues (for if she wasn’t to begin with, she certainly would be if forced to endure enough repetition of mantras like “you’re crazy,” “you’re imagining things,” et cetera).

    Just look at Britney being accused of insanity every day on her Instagram now that she’s free. For, no matter how many monuments or “holidays” we seem to generate (e.g., Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day) to tell us that women are important and deserve to be heard without the risk of seeming “difficult,” the actions of the world daily persist in emphasizing the contrary.

    Genna Rivieccio

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  • U.S. Polo Assn. Celebrates International Women’s Day Alongside the 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship Airing on ESPN

    U.S. Polo Assn. Celebrates International Women’s Day Alongside the 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship Airing on ESPN

    Iconic Sports Brand Donates to Equestrian and Polo Charities Chosen by the Finalists

    U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8, the globally celebrated day dedicated to economic, social and gender equality for women, alongside the 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship®. The most prestigious cup in women’s polo in the United States runs from March 10-19. 

    U.S. Polo Assn.’s involvement with the most celebrated cup for women’s polo in the United States includes donations made to polo and equestrian charities selected by the finalists in the 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship. 

    The qualifying games will be played at Port Mayaca Polo Club, while the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship Final will be played once again at the world-renowned USPA National Polo Center (NPC) – Wellington on March 19. ESPN will distribute the Women’s Championship Final for sports fans around the globe, where it will be available on ESPN’s family of brands. Check your local listings for air times.

    The 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship is being played alongside International Women’s Day which honors women’s achievements around the world while challenging inequality and working to increase visibility for women. 

    “Not only do these athletes exude incredible tenacity and strength on the field, but they also do off of the field. From lawyers, to entrepreneurs, to mothers, to movie producers, to students, to animal conservationists, and more, the contestants in this year’s Open fully show what a woman is capable of in their off-field endeavors,” said Meghan Gracida, USPA Women’s Committee Chair. “It is the great sport of polo that brings all of these women together to empower one another as players while exhibiting their love for the ultimate four-legged teammates—horses. I am honored to again be involved with this most special women’s polo event.”

    Prominent players in this year’s high-goal tournament include Hope Arellano, Hazel Jackson, and Mia Cambiaso, to name a few.

    “As a fourth-generation polo player, my love for the game started at a very young age and continues to provide opportunities for me to participate in top-rated polo tournaments, like the 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship, which I am so grateful to be a part of,” said Hope Arellano, professional polo player and U.S. Polo Assn. Brand Ambassador. “I look forward to competing against incredibly talented women polo players and being surrounded by those in the South Florida polo community who support women’s professional polo.”

    Unlike other team sports, women and men play polo together as equals, and approximately 40% of USPA club members are female. Women are, in fact, the fastest-growing segment in the sport of polo at the club level.

    “The 2023 U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship is both a celebration and showcase of women’s many polo achievements,” said J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global Licensing, the worldwide licensor of the multi-billion-dollar U.S. Polo Assn. brand. “U.S. Polo Assn. continues to support the sport of polo and its players around the world both on and off the field, and this tournament highlights some of the very best female players in the sport.”

    If you attend:

    Who/What: U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship Final

    When:          Sunday, March 19, 2023

                          3:00 p.m. EDT Championship Final

    Where:        U.S. Polo Assn. Stadium Field 

                          USPA National Polo Center, 3667 120th Ave. S, Wellington, Florida

    To learn more or to purchase tickets, please click HERE.

    About the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship™

    The U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship® has a profound history dating back to the 1930s in California. The first women’s U.S. Open tournament was presented by the United States Women’s Polo Association (U.S.W.P.A) in 1937 at the Golden Gate Field in San Francisco, California. Women were officially welcomed into the United States Polo Association in 1972 with Sue Sally Hale becoming the first woman member. On the centennial anniversary of the USPA in 1990, a U.S. Women’s Open was officially sanctioned and held at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. It was officially recognized as a national tournament in 2011 and has been hosted at the Houston Polo Club for the past seven years, becoming the largest annual women’s polo event in the United States.

    About U.S. Polo Assn. 

    U.S. Polo Assn. is the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), the non-profit governing body for the sport of polo in the United States and one of the oldest sports governing bodies, having been founded in 1890. With a multi-billion-dollar global footprint and worldwide distribution through some 1,100 U.S. Polo Assn. retail stores and thousands of department stores as well as sporting goods channels, independent retailers and e-commerce, U.S. Polo Assn. offers apparel for men, women, and children, as well as accessories and footwear in more than 190 countries worldwide. U.S. Polo Assn. was named as one of the top five sports licensors in 2022, according to License Global. Visit uspoloassnglobal.com and follow @uspoloassn.

    About the United States Polo Association® (USPA) 

    The United States Polo Association was organized and exists for the purposes of promoting the game of polo, coordinating the activities of its Member Clubs and Registered Players, arranging and supervising polo tournaments, competitions and games, and providing rules, handicaps, and conditions for those tournaments, competitions, and games including the safety and welfare of participants and mounts. Founded in 1890, the USPA is the national governing body for the sport of polo. The USPA is currently comprised of almost 200 member clubs with thousands of individual members and oversees 40 national tournaments. For more information, please visit uspolo.org.

    Source: USPA Global Licensing Inc.

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  • Bindi Irwin reveals 10-year battle with endometriosis on International Women’s Day | CNN

    Bindi Irwin reveals 10-year battle with endometriosis on International Women’s Day | CNN



    CNN
     — 

    The Australian conservationist Bindi Irwin revealed Wednesday she has undergone surgery for endometriosis after a decade-long battle with the condition that affects the uterus.

    “For 10 years I’ve struggled with insurmountable fatigue, pain and nausea,” Irwin shared in posts on social media alongside an image of her in a hospital bed.

    “A doctor told me it was simply something you deal with as a woman and I gave up entirely, trying to function through the pain.”

    Irwin’s posts coincided with both International Women’s Day and Endometriosis Awareness Month.

    Endometriosis is “a condition in which the tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus,” according to the United States’ National Institutes of Health.

    Symptoms can include pelvic pain, heavy bleeding during periods and fertility issues.

    Irwin, 24, said doctors had found 37 lesions, some of which were “very deep and difficult to remove,” but she was now “on the road to recovery.”

    “I’m sharing my story for anyone who reads this and is quietly dealing with pain and no answers. Let this be your validation that your pain is real and you deserve help,” she added.

    Anyone with a uterus who is of reproductive age can suffer from the disease but it’s most common among women in their 30s and 40s. Approximately one in 10 people born with a uterus has endometriosis, according to the World Health Organization. The disease affects around 190 million women and girls globally.

    Irwin is a celebrity conservationist who has starred in “Crikey! It’s the Irwins,” a reality TV show that chronicles her family’s work at the Australia Zoo in Queensland, which her mother owns.

    She won “Dancing With the Stars” in 2015 and comes from a family of conservationists that includes her father Steve, the late ‘Crocodile Hunter’ who was killed by a stingray while filming in the Gerat Barrier Reef in 2006.

    She gave birth to a daughter, Grace, in March 2021.

    “Please be gentle and pause before asking me (or any woman) when we’ll be having more children,” Irwin wrote in her post Wednesday. “After all that my body has gone through, I feel tremendously grateful that we have our gorgeous daughter. She feels like our family’s miracle.”

    Soon after her posts, her family took to social media to share their support.

    Her husband Chandler Powell said, “Seeing how you pushed through the pain to take care of our family and continue our conservation work while being absolutely riddled with endometriosis is something that will inspire me forever.”

    Irwin’s brother Robert added on Instagram that, “You never know who’s suffering in silence, let’s make this a topic that we all freely talk about.”

    Irwin is the latest in a series of celebrities to have opened up about their struggles with endometriosis.

    In a Paramount Plus docuseries released last year, comedian Amy Schumer discussed her decades-long battle with what she called a “lonely disease.” Schumer had her uterus removed in 2021 and shared video on her Instagram following the surgery.

    Comedian Lena Dunham and actress Padma Lakshmi have also been vocal about their experiences with the disease.

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