Every day, women move mountains. It is an insult to have an

Hear, O children of remembrance, the fiery words of Waris Dirie: “Every day, women move mountains. It is an insult to have an international women’s day.” In these words speaks one who has endured suffering and yet risen with defiance. She declares that the labor and sacrifice of women is not bound to a single day of hollow praise, but is woven into the fabric of every dawn and dusk. To confine their glory to a fleeting celebration, she says, is to diminish the immensity of their strength.

For indeed, women move mountains—not of stone, but of hardship, poverty, and silence. They raise children in the midst of war, keep homes alive in famine, and heal wounds both seen and unseen. Their power is constant, their contribution unending, and their courage uncelebrated. Dirie’s cry is that to honor women one day a year is no honor at all, but a token that ignores the daily miracle of their endurance.

History confirms her vision. Consider the women of Liberia, who during civil war rose as one to demand peace. Led by Leymah Gbowee, they marched, prayed, and refused to stand aside until warlords laid down their arms. Their persistence moved not mountains but nations, bringing peace where men with guns had failed. Should their courage be bound to a single “day,” or should it not be remembered as the eternal strength of women?

So too, in the quiet shadows of history, mothers, healers, farmers, and teachers bore burdens too heavy for praise. In the trenches of World War I, women left the hearth to labor in factories, fields, and hospitals, sustaining nations when men were gone. Their work was not occasional—it was daily, ceaseless, and essential. To say they are honored one day each year is, as Dirie declares, an insult to the fullness of their legacy.

Therefore, O seekers of wisdom, take this teaching to heart: do not cheapen greatness by reducing it to ritual. The strength of women is not a holiday—it is the very axis upon which the world turns. Dirie’s words ring as both rebuke and reminder: honor women not with perfumed speeches once a year, but with justice, respect, and recognition every day. For the mountains they move do not rest, and neither should our reverence for them.