Dubravka Romano shares thoughts on Women’s Equality Day
When we asked our DFSA board members to choose a topic that resonated with them, Dubravka Romano selected Women’s Equality Day (observed August 26) and shares below her thoughts on its significance:
I originally chose to speak on Women’s Equality Day because of my own experiences as a woman working in the largely male-dominated field of insurance. I wanted to share my thoughts about what worked and didn’t work for me. When I selected the topic a few months ago, I had no idea that as I write this we would be witnessing history unfold in the U.S. presidential race. How timely this topic has proven to be with the nomination of the first African-American woman to lead the presidential ticket for a major American political party! It feels like so much has changed in my lifetime and yet so much work remains.
It is somewhat shocking, when you stop to think about it, that women have had to fight so hard for equality. How did society decide that women are “less equal?” History teaches us that since the beginning of time, women have carried more than their fair share of the burden and responsibility for making families, communities, businesses and society function. But at some point, someone decided we were “less equal.” I am so grateful to the thousands of women throughout centuries who fought so hard for the rights we enjoy today. From an early age, I was inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote “Well-behaved women rarely make history.”
Women only won the right to vote, the most basic of our American rights just a little over 100 years ago. Women won the right to take out a credit card in their own name only 50 years ago! Today, we vote, we take out loans, we build and run companies, we run families, we run countries. So much has changed, but our work is not yet finished.
I long for the day when we no longer see headlines that say “the first woman to (fill in the blank)” because all of those firsts will have already been accomplished. For the day when women all over the world can choose what they do and how they live their lives. For the day when we don’t need laws like Title IX or the never-confirmed Equal Rights Amendment because equality for all women will be as normal as breathing.
So on this International Women’s Equality Day, I give thanks to all the women who came before me and fought for the life I enjoy today. Madaleine Albright is one of my personal heroines, in part because like me, she was an immigrant. She became enormously successful, all the while maintaining her values (and her style!) She famously said “It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent.” None of us can remain silent.