International Women's Day

Today, March 8th, is International Women's Day. It's purpose is to highlight the plights and achievements of women around the world. This year's theme is "planet 50-50 by 2030"-hoping to achieve gender parity by that year. It's a big goal when one still considers the wage gap and the under-representation in political positions.

I want to focus on the achievements, especially literature. One of the many things I like about writing is that it's often critiqued by what you leave on the page. If you read a great book, you usually judge it by what you read. If you know a lot about the author, it can affect your perception, but if that's all you know, you judge it by the writing.

Some of the most beloved classics of literature have been written by women. It's not a surprise of course, but women used to have to use a man's name. Even J.K. Rowling used initials, because her publisher felt the books would sell better if readers didn't know it was a woman. Really? Yes, really.

Well, I want to tell you about a woman who edited a book, Rabbit Jensen. It's a book about fly fishing called A Woman's Angle. She's not only the editor, but a major contributor of the book. Most of the writers are woman, except one, but some people can let writing speak for itself.

It's no surprise that the book is mostly written by women. It is the Delaware Valley Women's Fly Fishing Association the published the book. It's not a surprise, however, that it's great outdoor writing. Several of the contributors have been writing for years, and are well known in the field of fly fishing.

These women aren't marketing the book as being written by women. I chose to point that out on this International Woman's Day. It's written for those people who love to fly fish. If you are one of those people, or know one of those people, you are going to love this book. Get yourself a copy.