31 Days of Revolutionary Women, #01: An Introduction by Hanako O'Leary

By Hanako O'Leary

In honor of Women's History Month, we'll be posting one story each day of March written by local citizen journalists about a revolutionary woman from history or today who has inspired themas women.

Starting as a weeklong celebration in the Sonoma, California school district, March officially becameNational Women's History Month in 1987. Each day for the next 30 days, we feature these stories of 30women from history as we know them.

While a single month cannot cover all that came before, I am proud of the work put forth by the womenwho came before me. As today marks the 29th anniversary, now is a good time to reflect upon it.

History has always left women in the shadows, leading us to feel anger, frustration, and more thananything, heartbreak. We navigate through a world which often devalues our love and labor.

We still fight daily for reproductive rights, equal wages, and safety on the streets. We live in constantfear on college campuses, and under the stress of being compared to commercially manufacturedconstructs of desire. While conditions are improving, they are far from equal, whether that be in theworkplace, education, healthcare, politics or the justice system. Our social, political, and economicrights have yet to catch up with those of our male counterparts.

In silent battles we take on the world, ourselves, and sadly each other. This month we will take amoment to look around and understand the layers of misunderstanding that exist between ourselvesand others. Society continues to break bonds of sisterhood through stratifications of race, class, sexualorientation, gender identity, and body politics.

With that in mind, we find room to celebrate the battles fought. This month is to honor the women whocame before us. While we are still challenged by the inequities of this world, let us take a moment tobreathe and appreciate the women who have brought us this far. Despite an entire world history builtupon the oppression of women ‐ from Babylon to Trump, from the Old Testament to HBO – we continueto move forward.

This month I will nurse my hope that our bonds are there and strong: we as sisters and mothers, fathersand brothers, are in it together. And together we will not only raise our social, economic, and politicalconsciousness, we will teach it to future generations as well.

Hanako O'Leary (aka HannyaGrrrl) is an artist and arts administrator. She is on the brink of receiving her MFAin Arts Leadership from Seattle University. Most of her time is spent thinking about social equity. Otherwise,she is busy acting upon her thoughts, creating art and engaging in conversation. Her current obsession is inJapanese wood block prints and comic books.

Feature image drawnby Hanako O'Leary