Women’s Day Reflection: Strength, Care and the Quiet Courage of Women

May 13, 2026

This reflection was originally shared by Ms Padma Mahadev, Trustee of Connect to Heal, on the occasion of Women’s Day.

Though Women’s Day has passed, the message remains deeply relevant. Women’s strength is not limited to one date on the calendar. It is seen every day — in families, caregiving, illness, recovery, work, service and community.

At Connect to Heal, we see this strength closely, especially among patients, caregivers, survivors and volunteers. This blog is a small tribute to that quiet courage.

Womens’ Day.

Do you remember Mao Tse Tung who said Women hold up half the sky.

Origin .

How many of you remember the origin of International Women’s’ Day? This was the historic 1917 protests by the Russian women demanding Bread and Peace..They also demanded gender equality, social justice and empowerment. This was officially adopted by the UN in1977. That assured us Gender equality, social justice and empowerment.

Do we enjoy them?

It was Mao Tse Tung who said Women hold up half the sky.

We celebrate this day to accelerate gender parity and acknowledge Women’s achievement. Do you feel we enjoy the gender parity Does the present day systemic inequality whether at workplace or home disturb us?

Are we really like Tea bags that needs to be in hot water to find our worth?

What is holding us back?

Our beliefs. Mine was I am not clever enough and so shouldn’t aspire for more.

Many of us struggle with self-limiting beliefs

We have also an habit which is Pleasing others.

Think about it. Are we aware of the many times we put others before even our health and other primary needs.

Self-neglect.

Poor boundaries. What do you understand by boundaries? Are we aware of the importance of healthy boundary How important is it to draw a strong Boundary around us? What is the thought and feeling that comes up? What are the benefits and loss? Remember Lakshman Rekha and Sita’s abduction?

Hesitancy in expressing anger.

These unexpressed issues create a cognitive load and this visual clutter quietly taxes our bandwidth. Emotions get conveyed by our nervous system to other organs. The cell is listening to our thoughts There is an inseparable connection between our thoughts, emotions and physical health. Our thoughts can alter our physical health. Asthma I suffered from it and still can manage only with medication. Bio medics would say it is stress. Yes it is but I was not aware of the stress It was due to holding my breath due to fear and over time it was my default behavior in face of any challenge. Another connection I found was my habit of closing my eyes in face of any perceived danger. Again over time I developed short sight and retinal detachment. Becoming conscious of our thoughts which over time becomes our belief is where our real learning starts.

Long term stress which is not identified and addressed causes wear and tear of the body and brings about changes in our emotional, mental and physical behavior. Continued stress can seriously impair our health. Discounting reality means ignoring the problem, need for solution and not having the resources can multiply the situation and bring about agitation and eventually incapacitation. Lot of auto immune disease is the outcome. Most of our chronic ailments can be attributed to ignoring symptoms which do not seem major.

Foremost in our list of unhealthy patterns is our difficulty of saying NO. Boundary violation results in resentment. This takes its toll in our nervous system which gets inflamed. Thus avoiding conflict has a high cost. Body keeps score, energy is drained and we get exhausted and complain of physical problems.

Suppressed emotions gets trapped in our body. In our subconscious and erupts in unplanned behavior.

How often do we Give with choice.

Or Give with guilt.

These are some of the ways we stop respecting our selves.

Take a moment how do you feel about letting our selves down?

Let us value their effort t it was for all of us and make a pledge to get back our self-esteem.

Let us seize the day.

Never Give up.

Never settle for us less than we deserve.

Believe you can. Lastly create your own destiny.

Let us celebrate all women who made our world brighter, bolder and more beauriful. Would you recall a person who motivated you to recognize your self worth?

Lastly

May your voice be always heard.

Your presence valued.

And your contribution recognized.

Thank you,

Padma