Women are at the center of this week’s editorial calendar, albeit unintentionally, and today it makes sense. Our writer Kay-Ann, just yesterday, penned an apt review of the ever-so sultry Victoria Monet. Our daily Story Features showcased women-lead fashion brands and collectives, and today’s inspirational quote comes from the incomparable Viola Davis.
The spirit of divine feminine power must’ve aligned our conversations with Women’s Equality Day. As I see it, equality is a necessary function that is, in and of itself, a radical act. If it were not so, I don’t believe the present-day would necessitate advocacy for women’s equality.
I don’t know if it’s an obsession with nostalgia or an addiction to the pockets of knowledge history feeds into us. Still, I find myself thinking of radical women who’ve laid the foundations for contemporary equity-warriors across spectrums. And while the holiday honors women’s right to vote, the times call for broader application, a more intersectional understanding.
Miriam Makeba’s contributions to the arts and activism in South Africa and the United States came to mind. Ella Baker, an unsung socialist-leaning leader of the Civil Rights Movement, came to mind. So did Una Marson, Jamaica’s first literary feminist-activist and pioneer at the BBC, and Marsha P. Johnson, whose identity and role in the Stonewall Uprising is a critical site of analysis for trans rights today.
I don’t need to tell you why equality for all women is essential and why it must be intersectional. My only intent is to remind us all of the urgency.
