March is Women’s History Month. A time when we pause and reflect on the women who came before us and the courage they carried.
Sometimes I imagine myself walking arm in arm with the women of the suffrage movement. Standing in the streets beside them as they demanded the right to vote. Women who refused to accept the way things had always been done.
I have always believed there is a quiet activist inside of me. For me, activism has never meant shouting the loudest. It means seeing injustice and choosing to do something about it.
That desire led me to study political science in college. Over the years my path shifted, but the heart behind it never changed. The desire to see what is broken made right is still very much alive.
March reminds me that history is rarely shaped by those who simply follow the rules. More often it is shaped by women who decide the rules need to change.
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, once said,
“It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind.”
There are many moments in our world today that cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind.
In my professional life I work closely with survivors of sexual violence. My work often begins after a figurative bomb has gone off in someone’s life. I sit with women in the aftermath and help them begin the long process of picking up the pieces.
Unfortunately, bombs of sexual violence continue to go off every day. Women and girls are casualties in a war most people would rather not acknowledge.
Ending sexual violence is my battleground.
In many ways it is my own version of the suffrage movement. I refuse to accept the idea that sexual violence must always exist in our society.
So I often ask the women around me a simple question.
What do you defy?
What injustice keeps you awake at night?
History moves forward because ordinary people decide that something must change.
Susan B. Anthony once wrote,
“Forget conventionalisms. Forget what the world will say. Think your best thoughts, speak your best words, do your best work.”
That idea still resonates today.
Leadership is not reserved for people in formal titles. Leadership is influence. It is courage within your own sphere.
Every woman reading this has the capacity to lead in some way. In her home. In her business. In her community.
Women’s History Month is not only about remembering the women who came before us.
It is also about recognizing the role we play in shaping what comes next.
So this month, honor the women who made your work possible.
And then go out and lead.
-Marcie Rey Landreth, LCSW | Heart Development Strategies, LLC