Happy International Women's Day

i opened a bank account
when i was nine years old
i closed it when i was eighteen
i gave them every penny that i'd saved
and they gave my blood
and my urine
a number
now i'm sitting in this waiting room
playing with the toys
and i am here to exercise
my freedom of choice
i passed their handheld signs
went through their picket lines
they gathered when they saw me coming
they shouted when they saw me cross
i said why don't you go home
just leave me alone
i'm just another woman lost
you are like fish in the water
who don't know that they are wet
as far as i can tell
the world isn't perfect yet

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/First/LostWomanSong.html


do your politics fit between the headlines
are they written in newsprint, are they distant
mine are crossing an empty parking lot
they are a woman walking home
at night
alone

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/NotSoSoft/LookingForTheHoles.html


in this city
self-preservation
is a full time occupation
i'm determined
to survive on these shores
i don't avert my eyes anymore
in a man's world
i am a woman by birth
and after nineteen times around i have found
they will stop at nothing once they know what you are worth
talk to me now
i played the powerless
in too many dark scenes
and i was blessed with a birth and a death
and i guess i just want some say in between

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/First/TalkToMeNow.html


i would have returned your greeting
if it weren't for the way you were looking at me
this street is not a market
and i am not a commodity
don't you find it sad that we can't even say hello
'cause you're a man
and i'm a woman
and the sun is getting low
there are some places that i can't go
as a woman i can't go there
and as a person i don't care
i don't go for the hey baby what's your name
and i'd like to go alone thank you
just the same

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/First/Story.html


he says he loves her
he says he's changing
and he can keep her warm
and so she sits there like america
suffering through slow reform
but she'll never get back the time
and the years sneak by
one by one
she is still playing the martyr
i am still praying for revolution

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/Imperfectly/FixingHerHair.html


'cause the revolution business
is still run by men
like every business
and everything
but we can sing like a sonofabitch
make them twitch around their eyes
until they realize

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/Imperfectly/MakeThemApologize.html


if you're not angry
you're just stupid
or you don't care
how else can you react
when you know
something's so unfair
the men of the hour
can kill half the world in war
make them slaves to a super power
and let them die poor
i was locked
into being my mother's daughter
i was just eating bread and water
thinking
nothing ever changes
and i was shocked
to see the mistakes of each generation
will just fade like a radio station
if you drive out of range

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/OutOfRange/OutOfRange.html


some guy tried to rub up against me
in a crowded subway car
some guy tried to feed me some stupid line
in some stupid bar
i see the same shit everyday
the landscape looks so bleak
i think i'll take the first one of you's home
that does something unique
some chick says
thank you for saying all the things i never do
i say
the thanks i get is to take all the shit for you
it's nice that you listen
it'd be nicer if you joined in
as long as you play their game girl
you're never going to win

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/OutOfRange/FaceUpAndSing.html


i am not a pretty girl
that is not what i do
i ain't no damsel in distress
and i don't need to be rescued
so put me down punk
maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair
isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere
i am not an angry girl
but it seems like i've got everyone fooled
every time i say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
and never to their own fear
and imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they'd prefer you
were dirty and smiling

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/NotAPrettyGirl/NotAPrettyGirl.html


i'm no heroine
at least, not last time i checked
i'm too easy to roll over
i'm too easy to wreck
i just write about
what i should have done
i just sing
what i wish i could say
and hope somewhere
some woman hears my music
and it helps her through her day
'cause some guy designed
these shoes i use to walk around
some big man's business turns a profit
every time i lay my money down
some guy designed the room i'm standing in
another built it with his own tools
who says i like right angles?
these are not my laws
there are not my rules
i'm no heroine
i still answer to the other half of the race
i don't fool myself
like i fool you
i don't have the power
we just don't run this place

 http://www.danah.org/Ani/Imperfectly/ImNoHeroine.html

The BBC news website frontpage has more stories than normal highlighting the everyday abuse of women.

Mexican rape women 'denied help'
Malaysia women 'suffer apartheid'
Hatcher reveals child abuse past
India campaign for murdered Delhi model

I doubt that this is more than 'womens hour' type tokenism, but it is welcome. Typically of the Beeb you have to dig deeper to find any criticism of the US, and the criticism is so slight.

US state tightens abortion laws

Tightens ? Forcing women to carry their rapists babies to term isn't tightening, it is medieval mysoginy.