Female Poker Players Celebrate International Women’s Day
Today marks International Women's Day, which commemorates the movement for women's rights.
Harwood: "Women should continue to empower each other, take risks and strive to be their best selves."
As we all know, poker is predominantly men but that shouldn't stop the effort to celebrate the everyday female pro players who are traveling all over the world and succeeding in this game.
We wanted to ask some of these women why this day is such an important day for them and why they choose to celebrate it.
Some quotes were truly inspiring and on this important day, we just want to tip our glasses to all the female pros who empower others and continue to be an inspiration to the younger women coming into the game.
Ana Márquez, Spain
Women’s Day is the day where we celebrate each other, it’s a day to remind us how strong we are and how powerful we can be, especially if we are united. It’s a new era for women, and in this day we remember all the women who have fought and are still fighting for our rights to equality.
Lynn Gilmartin, Australia
This day serves as a reminder for how far we've come, and as encouragement for how far we can still go. Not only for women, but for humans as a whole. We all deserve the equal right to earn our seat at any kind of table.
Celina Lin, China
To me, it means reaching the equality in the way we should be treated. It is a day to celebrate being a woman, all we have come through and a reminder how much further there still is to go.
Maria Konnikova, United States
I was born in Russia, where March 8th is a huge deal, and I always associate the day with Moscow streets and flowers, flowers, flowers. To me, it's a symbol of what women are capable of, if you give them the chance--my mom left Russia and made an entirely new life for me and my sister in the US. She's the ultimate powerful woman, and every March 8th serves as a reminder for me to never stop striving to be my best, no matter how hard it can sometimes seem, even when, in most every sense, we're still living (and playing) in a man's world.
Esther Taylor, United States
A day to celebrate all women, regardless of race, social status, success, etc. A day to celebrate a woman’s contribution to the world is irreplaceable and priceless.
Loni Harwood, United States
A day dedicated to strong women all around the world. Women should continue to empower each other, take risks and strive to be their best selves.
Dr. Tricia Cardner, United States
International Women’s Day is a time to reflect and celebrate how far we have come while still remembering how far we still need to go to make sure that every human being has the opportunity to fully actualize their potential.
Kitty Kuo, Taiwan
If you never try so hard, you can’t win.
Kara Scott, Canada
Every year, it’s a day to remember that there is still a struggle for equality and those women who live at the intersections of different types of discrimination should be lifted up by those of us who don’t (thank you Kimberlé Crenshaw who coined the phrase ‘intersectionality’.) I’m lucky that my child will grow up with a lot of privileges and with that comes the responsibility to fight for the girls and women who don’t have the same - whether it’s because of the world’s reaction to color, religion, migrant status, education level, sex work, disability, domestic violence/abuse, poverty or simply because they’re trans. For those of us who can, it’s a good day to donate to an organization that recognizes and helps women & girls around the world.
Monika Zukowicz, Poland
In the modern world, there is not much time to always be and feel like a 100% lady. The International Women’s Day is an absolutely lovely day full of unexpected flowers which let women feel just more pretty and graceful.
Fatima Moreira De Melo, the Netherlands
We should realize that women still have fewer opportunities in life than men. At this rate accomplishing gender equality around the world will take up 217 years! Women should not feel the victim of this situation but do whatever is in their power to integrate more, support each other and speak up.
Stacy Matuson, United States
International Women’s day to me is one of celebration and recognition of women’s strength, tenacity, and ability to inspire men and women alike. Breaking barriers in all areas of culture, economics, political arenas, making dents and paving new paths in the world, standing up, being courageous, loving, raising families and examples of the true beauty of being a woman.
It means the evolvement of how far we’ve come to say we can do anything and inspire anyone regardless of our gender, we can break barriers and stand toe to toe with men as well in arenas such as economics, political, social, we can be both nurturing and strong and change the course of how the world views us. It’s a day of strength, beauty, pride, and inspiration of being a woman.
Liv Boeree, United Kingdom
To me, this day serves as a reminder of how unbelievably lucky I was to be randomly born in an era and country that gives me the same rights as a man - and how tragic it is that right now there are so many countries/societies that don't allow their women those same basic rights.
Hundreds of millions, maybe billions of women alive today don't have autonomy over their lives like we do - they don't get to choose where they go, what they wear, how they earn, what to learn, who they see, who can touch them, whether they should have children etc.
International Women's day is an annual reminder that our work is far from done, and a chance to thank all the men and women who fought for equal gender rights so far, and to support everyone who continues to fight for them.
