Clarksville, TN – Women are to be celebrated every day, not just during the month of March, for they are a vital adhesive that binds families and households, schools, churches, and civic groups, and increasingly, businesses and the economy.
They bring a sense of reason, intellect, and fairness to the equation at all levels of our lives as a combined people. The best-case scenario is a world where women and men stand side-by-side, together, in a constructive and respectful exchange of ideas and beliefs.
Hopefully, we’re getting there, but there is still much work to be done.
Clarksville is far richer because of the women who have inspired and led us for generations, representing all races, creeds and colors, and walks of life .. both citywide, and on a smaller scale, within our cherished neighborhoods.
Many names come to mind when it comes to Clarksville women who’ve led us for generations. Some that are frequently mentioned include Dorothy Dix, writer; Brenda Runyon, banker; Susie Brown, educator; and suffragist Minnie Barksdale.
It’s fascinating that two of the greatest names in women’s athletics globally, Wilma Glodean Rudolph and Pat Head Summitt, both were born and raised in our community. Two entirely different backgrounds, but similar life paths that they ultimately represented.
In Clarksville City Government today, many women serve in vital leadership roles, and in service to keep our City and its residents safe, and thriving.
In my own life, there is the First Lady of Clarksville, my wife Cynthia Haley Pitts, who is a trusted friend and advisor, and a great woman of faith, whom I admire without limits.
We all have women in our lives who strengthen and lead us. We need to place them on that pedestal of authority and honor in an official capacity, not merely symbolically.
International Women’s Day, Wednesday, March 8th, is in many respects the premier moment of a month-long celebration of women’s history in the United States.
It’s a global day of celebration highlighting the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. It’s been on the calendar for well over a century and is not country-, group- or- organization-specific.
For we know today that the struggles of women exist throughout the world. In some places, they remain far more pronounced than others, but we must be honest in acknowledging that there are still significant strides to be made in achieving gender equality everywhere, especially in the workplace, and often, in the home.
That’s why International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month are, in many respects, a call to action, to remind us of the importance of equal pay, opportunities, and treatment for women and men.
I urge our great and progressive-minded community, which already celebrates the role of women, to use this week and month as a time where we can further shore up any remaining gender inequities, and to call attention to them where they exist, at whatever level they may exist, and right that which is wrong now, and forever.
