Happy International Women's Day

For me, the International Womens Day is a time to cherish the important accomplishments and contributions of women I look up to

Kuala Lumpur: No matter where you are, every year on the eighth day in March, women all around the world are celebrated for all that they have done for their family and community. 

For me, the International Women’s Day or formerly known as the International Working Women’s Day is a time to cherish the important accomplishments and contributions of women I look up to.

I would like to say like Oprah Winfrey and Anna Wintour; however I personally think it is more of celebrating the women closest to me, women who matters most like my mother who has shaped me to become the woman I am today.

Apart from my mother, my list also includes my girlfriends - among them an amazing individual who has traveled the world, winning life’s amazing races with great achievements on almost a daily basis.

Her biggest challenge in life came when she battled post-natal depression (PND) after delivering her baby girl last year. All the physical challenges that she gladly endured before the arrival of her baby could never match the challenges of motherhood.

Time is the best healer and in time, with a pack of women I call friends who provided the support she needed, she gained her strength and got out of PND with such amazing composure, poise and optimism.

And there’s my other girlfriend who manages and decides what women in Malaysia wear through her important role as a traditional wear buyer with one of Malaysia’s online shopping website.

I admire her for her spirits and her endless will in raising three girls and (a husband) despite her busy schedule of marketing at work and making a home for her husband and family.

And then there’s a superwoman called Mama. The woman who raised me and my sister - whilst working on graveyard shift, caring for strangers at the hospital, she never missed preparing wholesome meals, never complained when house chores got bundle up to a mountain. She taught me that it is all right to fall, that falling only makes me stronger.

For me, International Women’s Day has a very real and personal meaning. It goes beyond celebrating prominent and famous figures. 

For women everywhere in the world who continue to face discrimination from those in power, who are victims of violence, who are taught by society that they are inferior to others, it is a reminder that they matters. That their voices and their big, big hearts are important.

More than anything, for me, International Women’s Day is a call to sisterhood.

So, happy International Women’s Day to my mother, my family members who are women, my girlfriends and to all the women I know who were once male.

May you inspire change and made life better not just for women but for all. 

- Source: Astro Awani