Women's History Month - An Interview With Steff

Hey there, everyone. Tomorrow, March 8, is Women's Day not only in the United States, but across the country. Although the whole month is dedicated to remembering and honoring the work of those who came before us and who fought for fundamental rights that women were denied, tomorrow is unique. It predates the idea of the month-long celebration, first appearing on calendars in 1909 and later becoming a mainstream holiday in 1977 after support from the United Nations.

I'll go into that a bit more later on, but something I'm really excited to share with you all today is a short interview I got to do with Nakee's first and greatest supporter, Steffani Traskos. If you've seen Nakee at Eastern Market, if you've watched any of our marketing, if you've even just enjoyed Nakee Butter to begin with, it's in no small part because Steff has fought for it. She's been here pretty much since the beginning, and in the course of several years of entrepreneurship, has seen quite a bit. Here's what she had to say:

Why Women's Day Matters

This holiday in itself is meant to commemorate the continuing struggle against inequality and inequity in our society, including both formalized legal restrictions and the miasma of societal misogyny that continues to permeate today. The original Women's Day was created in part by the suffragist movement, which secured the right for women to vote in America about a decade after the first Women's Day. There has been a lot of kicking and screaming about equal rights since-- it wasn't until 1970, for example, that "laws shall not be denied or abridged on account of sex by the State" in Illinois, or until 1974 that sex was included in the Fair Housing Act, or until 1991 that it was decided by the Supreme Court that women must be equally informed of potential workplace hazards as their male counterparts.

The reason I'm sharing this history lesson here is not to point and say that some of the injustices within have been righted. I wanted to do so because the fight did not end with the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 or any of the other important gains which have been made-- it's because the fight still continues. Since the last blog post about Women's History Month, it's become more well-known that Google has removed it from its calendar application, saying that keeping it, Black History Month and Pride Month was "not sustainable." This was done in February, but is worth noting again now because this omission and others reflect how tenuous these things really are. 

Significant gains have been made, to be sure. Those should be celebrated and honored, and that's in part what this day and this month are for. There's still far to go, and though the road may seem to be getting longer rather than shorter, there is an end to this journey, a future where everyone is respected, appreciated and able to have their seat at the table. I believe we'll get there! Keep that belief going, everyone. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.