Last week was International Women's Day and I was shocked at the amount of responses the day received. From the radio, to Twitter, from my text messages. Even Facebook seemed to be overflowing with words on that day. Stories about women from different countries who were able to accomplish amazing feats of intelligence, perseverance, and bravery. Then a question came to my mind. Why can't every day be so positive?

There were plenty of stories shared on my Facebook feed alone about amazing women and their accomplishments and when I checked the dates, some of these stories had already been published for awhile. It just went to show me that making a difference takes time to fully reach a larger population. Although the movement for equality has come a long way, we are nowhere near finished. Feminism is equality for all, meaning the only true feminism looks out for the rights of and inclusion of everyone who is oppressed not just issues that pertain to oneself. Inclusion is a game changing word. It's easy to advocate for the fire department to come to your home to put the fire out, but much harder to feel that urgency for a person who lives a few streets away. In the larger picture, that sense of urgency should be the same, if there is a fire, the possibility of it spreading is a large a threat to you. So when someone claims that they have an issue, don't ignore it, picking and choosing equality is literally the most ironic sense of the word. It's like saying you are selectively pro-no-fire-in-my-house. It's ironic because a damn fire doesn't belong there just like racism, sexism, homophobia, and other structures that help to incite anger and fear towards oppressed groups, don't belong either.

I am not asking for something easy, but the right choice seldom comes without effort. It's full of struggles and yes, it's uncomfortable, but it has to be done in order to make this a place where stories of the success of women are no longer an oddity on my feed, but a regular occurance.