Good morning, Netizens...

March 8th, in honor of International Women's History Month, a special ceremony was held at the White House which was attended by a stellar collection of women crossing all demographic and geographic positions. You may, of course, view the entire program here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/honor-international-women-s-day

There is also access to the text of the entire program on the above link, which is full of enlightening and often candid statements about women in life throughout the world.

President Barak Obama, in his opening remarks, perhaps stated the facts which some may dispute, but that speak to the history of women.

“But even as we reflect on the hope of our history, we must also face squarely the reality of the present -– a reality marked by unfairness, marked by hardship for too many women in America. The statistics of inequality are all too familiar to us -- how women just earn 77 cents for every dollar men make; how one in four women is the victim of domestic violence at some point in her life; how women are more than half the population, but make up only 17 percent of the seats in Congress, and less than 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs.” President Barak Obama

What others in the Blog community have reflected on, rather than the content of the program is that President and Mrs. Obama appear to flirt prior to and during the program. The picture, which accompanies this piece, from Huffington Post, shows a radiant First Lady and her husband, as they departed from the program on International Women's Month. I personally think the offhand flirting between the Obamas is healthy and only adds to their personal charisma.

Sitting atop the sum of 40 years of observing the rising role of women in government and corporate affairs, I cannot help but state, yes, women's rights around the world are getting better than they were in my younger years, but they are far from the type of equality that our President alluded to in his comments; I agree with his sentiments that women still have a lot of Glass Ceilings that need breaking, that the battle for equality is not over.

It is perhaps very easy for many in public and private life to overlook, if not dismiss entirely, the many accomplishments of women throughout history. It is even more simple to ignore the absolute demands that women must increasingly train their daughters and granddaughters to rise to the challenges that still remain.

Most of all, we need to train our sons and grandsons to accept the wisdom of wise women, wherever and however they may find them.

Dave

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