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Let’s celebrate men who honor international women’s day!

It was just several days before the 8th of March when he said he doesn’t celebrate women’s day.

“We should respect women every day” – he said. “Showing appreciation with flowers is a capitalistic invention and I will not be fooled into this.”

My 20-something-years-old-self thought this was a legitimate argument so I said nothing.

A couple of days later on the 8th of March I was the only capitalism-free woman that did not receive flowers. All the rest of the girls that I worked with were apparently respected solely on this specific day. And me? I had a man who appreciated me and didn’t need a special occasion to show it.

I also had a man who was painfully jealous and called me at least 10 times a day to check on my locations. A man who had no problem to see me cook, clean, and wax the bottom of his yacht. A man who would not let me have any personal life whatsoever and would even try to dictate the way I dressed. A man who shamelessly turned up on my business meetings without any prior notice to make sure my clients are not hitting on me. Obviously, a man who loved me for who I was, right?

This was many years ago. Nowadays I occasionally receive flowers without any particular reasons and I most certainly receive a bouquet on women’s day.

Flowers-for-international-women-day

Nowadays I no longer communicate with people who “celebrate” occasions. Instead, I surround myself with people who honor the international holidays enough to take a while and acknowledge the fact that I AM A WOMAN.

I am not a feminist and I am not ashamed to admit it. But it is what it is and I am forced to be a “man” every day. I need to make decisions, work for my money, support my family, carry my bags, open my doors, etc. My father was never in a position to take financial care of me after I turned 16; I took care of him, instead, and I LOVE HIM for not allowing this to break him mentally, and make him a less caring father. I never had anyone throw his jacket into a puddle for me and quite frankly I don’t need this.

But every now and then, especially on the 8th of March, I would like to see you, men, be our knights in shining armour and go the extra mile to show women that even though we are less feminine nowadays, we are still your flowers.

Cheers to those of you who do!

By Nina Alexander

Nina is the big sister. She's a marketing professional by day, traveler by heart, tech geek, bookworm, beer lover and an amateur photographer. Her motto is Friedrich Nietzsche's famous quote "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."

13 replies on “Let’s celebrate men who honor international women’s day!”

Nice post! Although i think the same, i don’t really care about 8th March an i’d be much happier if my significant other brought me flowers on a random day instead of 8th March (because he feels obligated to).

My husband brings flowers every now and then for no reason and I love that more than for a specific day. Not a feminist here, but a woman who wants to be who I truly am.

I believe what your husband does is beautiful. It’s actually a very smart way for men to remind us of our value as women in their lives. Each gender has it’s strong sides and this is what I believe we really should value.

This is kind of how I feel about Valentines Day. I love my husband every day and I hope I show it rather than one day dictated by society. This is the same sort of thing. Women should be respected every day. Not just March 8th.

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