March On, on behalf of Women

How It Began: The Month of March, that is, with the entire month of March being designated as "Women's History Month", with March 8th being designated as "International Women's Day" (which I formally acknowledged here: "Happy IWD!"). The theme chosen for this year is/was "Choose to challenge": "A challenged world is an alert world. And from challenge comes change" We hope so because...

How It's Been: Which is hard on them, women, historically, recently, throughout the past pandemic year: regardless of the political proclivity of the newspaper, TV reporter, or journalist, all forms of media have been replete with articles documenting the significant disadvantage women have experienced worldwide throughout the pandemic, throughout modern history and, as one syndicated financial adviser informed us last week, for many years to come into the future. This, due in part to: 

-the burdens of caregiving which often preclude their flexibility for various employments as compared to men ("Stuck at Home Moms", "Why Women are Leaving Work" -NPR)

-the continued disparity in annual earnings, even in 2021, and experiencing more layoffs in the pandemic due to the type of work/service sectors they frequently find themselves in

-working many years less than men throughout their earning years, due in part to caregiving, maternity leave, etc., with correspondingly less opportunity to invest their earnings...while otherwise "working themselves to death" (google article about many women in Japan working from 6:30 am to 1:00 am...)

-not having as much access to financial information and investments (including but not exclusive to divorce situations)

ETC. (I only listed a few main factors) All of which gave rise to financial expert Ric Edelman devoting a podcast "The Truth about Women and Money", which is still available (at least the show I listened to 3/28 indicated it was still available for free)--worthwhile for ALL women AND men to give a listen...among the specific golden nuggets of financial and life wisdom, I found it a refreshing perspective about individual opportunity and responsibility versus blame casting...

And this, without even referencing the plethora of other articles detailing the harassment and abuse women have been subjected to worldwide ("The Shadow Pandemic: Violence Against Women During COVID" -U.N.)...and we're celebrating "IWD"?!

CHALLENGE, ALERT, CHANGE needed, for sure!

Winds of Change, Marching On: As the financial program detailing the many relative disadvantages women continue to experience, we are also reminded that they are projected to control our nation's wealth, due in part to the one area they continue to be at a relative advantage, which is the mortality tables...so they need to be prepared and be good stewards of these resources (e.g. "live longer and learn/earn more!") 

Same Time Next Year: May we all be better off a year from now, may we have reasons to more fully celebrate IWD in particular. We can all play a part-- I finish "Women's History Month" (one day shy, sorry ladies) with a quote from a young woman, a gymnast, a victim of the convicted mega-perpetrator, a woman who was part of a contingent who were collectively given the Arthur Ashe Courage award at the 2018 ESPYs ceremony: "If just one adult had listened, believed, and acted, the (women) on this stage would have never met him..." A historic moment we all hope won't be repeated; it depends on us, one and all.