The world IS my classroom, and I will watch the world learn.

 

We girls and women learn in every far-reaching corner

We learn to work hard, and be strong, for our future and our children

We learn to keep our heads down and to be submissive, be small, be decorative

My elders teach me to be a good wife, while I teach myself how to be competitive in school for my career

The world has taught me that I am lesser than my male counterpart, because of my anatomy, my gift from my mother and her mother before her.

 

I propose a change

I suggest, I INSIST

We teach our girls to be strong and independent

To be kind, yet pack a mean punch when she needs it to

To protect her sisters and defend her rights, to demand excellence from herself and from her fellow friends

To shout from every mountain, every valley,

every painted wall that separates us, east from west,

and every pyramid that guides us

Shout "I am a woman, woman born, and I am strength. I have the ability to create life in my womb and replace a broken heart with my surgeons hands. I can care for and gently nestle the red tomatoes in my garden and I can destroy those who oppress me. I will break the chains that hold me back, and stop to help my sisters who have fallen behind. I am independent, but I am not alone in my struggles."

We will teach our mothers to be open and unresistant to change.

We will teach our daughters that they can be math professors or firefighters or doctors, or stay-at-home mothers and artists, as long as they be passionate in what they do, what they say, how they live.

We will teach them to read things that were once considered improper for our "delicate feminine ears", and to write words that invoke every possible emotion, to spit words with fire and acid, while caressing other words lovingly and softly.

We, the women of the current world, will teach our daughters and sons to be activists for equality, destroyers of injustice, to stand up for what is right and defend each other in times of need.

We will teach our peers who think less of us to not underestimate our power. 

We will teach ourselves to be confident, to stride forward with a straight spine and a head held high. 

Women of the world, our beautiful Earth

Of every color and shape and size, of varying background and social class and age

You are the student- you must yet learn

But you are the teacher first

Teach your partner, your elder, your child, the laws of mankind and equality and kindness, to be tolerant and accepting.

Then, be that change you seek.