International Women's Day was on March 8th. I know, I'm a few days late with this piece, but I did that on purpose. We should honor women every day of the year. Why? Why does it matter so much?

It matters for the women in history who fought for our rights.

In the election of 1920, women across the country exercised their right to vote for the first time due to the passing of the 19th amendment. It hasn't even been 100 years since that day. Women haven't had the right to vote for even half of America's history. The fight for this momentous right took around 100 years. Many women spent their lives fighting for a right that they didn't even get to see in their lifetime. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of these women. Her work began with organizing the first Women's Rights Convention in 1848. Unfortunately, she passed away before the 19th Amendment was passed, so she was never able to vote in American elections. She was not the only suffragette who never got the chance to vote. It's likely that many of these women knew they would never see the right to vote, but they kept fighting anyway for future women. On International Women's Day, we honor them. We honor the tremendous role they played in the first major step America took towards gender equality.

In 1916, Margaret Sanger and two other women were arrested for illegally distributing birth control at a clinic. This led to major changes in how society viewed birth control and sex education. Later, the clinic became what we know today as Planned Parenthood, which has grown to be extremely important in our society. Planned Parenthood allows women of all ages, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds to get necessary health care. Without Margaret Sanger stepping out of her comfort zone for a cause she believed in, sex education might not be what it was today. She was instrumental in the development of women's reproductive rights.

It matters for modern women who continue the fight.

Malala Yousafzai is a 19-year-old Pakistani woman known for fighting for women's educational rights. When she was around 11-12, she began writing a blog under a pseudonym about the Taliban occupation of her home state. I honestly can't even comprehend doing something that risky at that age (or even now, to be completely honest). A few years later, a Taliban soldier attempted to murder her on a bus after taking an exam. Today, she continues to be an important education activist. She was the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. In 2015, she opened a school for Syrian refugee girls. This woman is one of my biggest inspirations in life. She has done so many amazing, powerful things in her 19 years on this Earth. I have no doubt that she will continue to do much more.

It matters for us.

Women of today have the chance to continue the fight that our ancestors started. We have the chance to work with women like Malala and improve gender equality in other countries. We have these brave, powerful, and inspirational women to look up to. As of today, the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution isn't passed. I've heard people ask what the point is since we apparently already have equality. My response is "What's the point in not passing it then?" If we really have complete gender equality, then it won't change anything, right? It will change something because we don't have complete equality yet, even though we have made so much progress. We still have so much work today.