An Invitation to Rethink Power on International Women's Day
A fabulous opportunity awaits you.
An opportunity to learn something new.
To change your mind.
To embrace humanity.
Sounds big, right?
Because it is.
March 8 marked International Women's Day. For some people, it passes with celebration and flowers. For others, it stirs discomfort, debate, or even eye rolling. But days like this are invitations. Invitations to pause and examine the systems we live inside of, the stories we have inherited, and the assumptions we rarely question.
For me, that reflection is deeply personal.
In my memoir, Cracked Open, I describe the tension between the safety I was promised and the reality I experienced.
My desire to stay safe and live in a world without pain, suffering, and uncertainty landed in this [narcissitic and abusive] system. I didn't find the safety I desired. Instead, I landed in a system taking advantage of me because of my gender. My well-being, desires, and feelings were never considered. Safety became complex as I lived in a complementarian and narcissistic community, and I continued to long for safety.
I remember thinking time and time again, I'll trust them; they seem to know how to keep me safe with their answers to life's issues, instead of being curious and listening to my own body. I usurped my own authority and ability to think for myself, never questioning the teaching I sat under. It felt convenient at best for issues regarding gender. After all, I didn't want to preach - not my thing - so I didn't give it another thought.
What about all the women who did want to follow their desire to have a career as a pastor? Would they have to forsake their brand of religion and find one welcoming them? And certainly, regarding gender and my sexuality, just because I identify as cis-female, should I not be concerned with my fellow humans with very good and perfect souls identifying differently and wrestle with what that meant for them? Or did I wipe the sweat off my forehead as if I had a close call and say, 'Phew! I don't have to deal with that!'
I am not here to condemn.
I am here to educate.
To ease the burden of silence.
To invite reflection.
To remind us that human beings were not designed for hierarchy, division, or systems that elevate some while diminishing others. Patriarchy, rigid hierarchies, and power structures that rely on inequality do not lead to flourishing. They lead to harm.
Despite my negative experience with religion, I still claim to be a woman of faith.
And faith, for me, is not a destination. It is a journey.
Journeys are messy. They are rarely direct. They include quicksand and terrifying forests that take the shape of monsters. But they also include sunlight, open fields, and the unexpected beauty of discovering something new about the world and about ourselves.
On my journey, I was taught one particular way of understanding the world. Later, I discovered that some of those teachings hurt more than they helped. That realization required me to do something deeply uncomfortable.
Change my mind.
Today I still love thinking about spiritual things. I still read sacred texts. I still ask questions. What has changed is my relationship with certainty.
Certainty tends to isolate us. It creates the dangerous divide of "us versus them."
Instead, I find myself saying things like:
"Today, this is where I am with that."
"Today, this is what I believe."
One idea, however, continues to stand out to me as a powerful thread woven through the biblical story.
The Bible is full of human failure. Violence. Abuse of power. Systems that harm the vulnerable. None of that is hidden. In fact, it is often painfully exposed.
But there is also a counter narrative.
A thread that consistently disrupts power.
Over and over again, the story lifts up the marginalized. It questions hierarchy. It challenges systems where a few sit comfortably on top while others carry the burden below.
One example is the concept of Jubilee. Every seven years, debts were to be forgiven. Land returned. Systems reset. Power redistributed. The idea was radical: societies must periodically dismantle structures that concentrate power and wealth in the hands of a few.
The message was clear.
Human flourishing cannot exist where power is hoarded.
So as we celebrate women this month, I invite you into something far more meaningful than a holiday post or a bouquet of flowers.
Examine where you might need to change your mind.
You might reconsider:
Whether leadership ability is truly determined by gender
Whether systems that exclude certain voices are actually protecting tradition or simply protecting power
Whether silence in the face of inequality is neutral or quietly supportive of the status quo
Whether your faith or belief system invites curiosity or demands certainty
Whether people who experience the world differently than you deserve deeper listening rather than quick judgment
Whether equality actually threatens anything worth protecting
And if changing your mind feels difficult, that is because it is.
But it is also a skill. One that can be practiced.
Here are a few ways to begin exercising that muscle:
Listen to stories from people whose experiences are different from yours
Read books written by voices outside your usual circle
Notice moments when your first instinct is to dismiss or defend
Ask yourself, "What might I be missing?"
Stay curious instead of rushing toward certainty
Allow new information to reshape old assumptions
Practice saying, "I had not considered that before."
Let me be very clear.
I am not anti men.
I deeply love the men in my life. My father. My partner. My three sons.
This conversation is not about blame. It is about awareness.
When we examine the data about power, leadership, violence, wages, and representation, patterns emerge. Patterns that deserve our attention, not our avoidance.
So please do not turn away from that information when you see it.
Look at it.
Sit with it.
Let it challenge you.
Changing our minds is not weakness.
It is one of the most courageous acts of growth available to us.
And who knows?
This International Women's Day might not just celebrate women.
It might help all of us become a little more human.
