I am Platform

Why do I support Platform? Because I believe that while we as women all share the

very obvious commonality of being women, we all have drastically different stories,

experiences, and struggles that one nor the other can truly understand. Because I know

my story as an adopted, Chinese- American woman is very different from a young

Latina living in the suburbs, or a transgender woman of color. Society has molded our

roles in society, all under the same heading “Women,” and addresses our cumulative

“rights” in the same way. However, we often misinterpret what it means to be a woman

in today’s society – how different rules regulations effect different women, differently.

While a white woman may be receiving 77 cents to every white man’s dollar, what does

that really mean? What is a woman of color making in comparison? A bisexual woman?

These questions are an integral part in ensuring that the umbrella term “women’s rights”

does not become “some women’s rights.” Platform offers me and these other women an

accepting and empowering environment to be heard – to tell our stories.

Why do I support Platform? Because I believe that despite the leaps and bounds the

women before us made, we still have a long way to go. The institutionalized sexism that

is so prevalent in today’s society often goes unnoticed. Why? Because there is not one

specific law or amendment that will address all of these smaller and less obvious

inequalities. Platform offers women a stage to be heard – to not only voice their

concerns, but come together in hopes of a solution. A collaborative solution. A long-

term solution.

We must celebrate history while simultaneously confronting it.

How do you ask? By reflecting on the progress made, and challenging the holes in the

movement in aggregate We must not be afraid to ask for more, for more access to equal

services, for more access to a seat at the CEO’s table, and for more access to a society

in which all women have access to achieving the same results. This will take time, heck,

this might take a lifetime – but by creating a platform for our stories to be told and our

grievances to be spoken, that is the first step.

So why do I support Platform? Because I am a woman who wants to see my daughter,

my best friend, my mother, my grand-daughter to live in a world where her inequalities

are far less few than mine. A society that calls her a “woman” but recognizes her

individuality and independence as assets, not as barriers. A society that continually

fights not only for her rights, but also for the rights of her fellow women. I will continue

to fight for a platform for women because Platform will never stop fighting for me.