As today is International Women’s Day, I find myself becoming an odd mix of reminiscent and determined. Reminiscent, because I look back on myself on International Women’s Day one year ago and think of how far I have come on my feminist journey. Determined, because I continue to walk this journey and live the pursuit of equality with greater fierceness each day. I choose to view International Women’s Day as a time of reflection of how far we have come, an analysis of what we are currently doing, and a promise for how far we have yet to go.

So first, some reflection. I have loved seeing women continuously rise up and challenge industries or areas where they are underrepresented. Two of my biggest passions are agriculture and politics, both of which have a severe lack of female representation. It’s incredible the changes that have occurred and are occurring, and there is a tangible momentum that keeps building. Women have unapologetically challenged the status quo and forced our way to the table when they didn’t leave us a spot. I’m proud of that. As cliché as it may sound, we truly have come leaps and bounds from where we started, but we still have leaps and bounds to go.

To bring it in to the present and analyze what we are currently doing, I honestly feel like women are finally calling out bull on practices that don’t represent equality. We are starting to have courage to take our place and have our voices heard. We refuse to be taken advantage of any longer, and we are tired of accepting that certain things are just “how it is.” No more how it is. No more just go along with it. No more brush it off. We are truly beginning to make people take responsibility for their actions that are no longer tolerable. Women are a force to be taken seriously, and it’s about damn time people see that. A personal example from my life that I find empowering and that comes to mind when I think about International Women’s Day: the College of Agriculture and Bioresources at the University of Saskatchewan, which I am a part of, has more female than male students enrolled, as well as a female dean. This is super encouraging to me because it shows that women are working hard and becoming professionals in a field where they are still a minority and/or disadvantaged. We are not letting people tell us that agriculture is just for men anymore. We are not only joining, but leading, the future of the agriculture industry. This is just one of the countless examples that show women being empowered and starting to become leaders in our current world.

And now, onto those promises for the future. As encouraging as it sounds that women are “starting” to stand up for themselves and that feminism is spreading, there are still so many systemic injustices that women face on a daily basis. My thoughts are simply keep fighting. Keep getting louder. Keep working harder. Keep making ourselves known and heard. Refuse to back down and refuse to get tired. It is this fierceness and determination that make women so awesome and prove that we are fit to be the world’s next leaders. Going forward from International Women’s Day, we have a lot of opportunity for progress, and we need to make sure we take it with both hands. Encourage each other, no matter political stripe, personal opinions, career or industry, interests, location, nationality, anything. Be there. Support each other. Stand up together and make it known that we are here to stay and we deserve a voice.