When great women of our time our honored, it’s usually because 1) they have done something uniquely challenging and honorable, and 2) they have done so as a woman, which unfortunately often makes those challenges even more difficult to achieve under some circumstances. However, it would appear that for the Biden Administration, that latter part isn’t so important.
In fact, being a woman apparently isn’t even important enough to merit an ‘International Women of Courage Award.”
If you weren’t aware, this past Wednesday was International Women’s Day. As such, the world over celebrated some of its most heroic women and impressive women.
The White House, not to be left out, hosted an award-giving ceremony for some of those blessed individuals. Naturally, the nominees were those who had somehow made a significant and supposedly for-the-better contribution to the world and women’s lives.
As a copy of the State Department’s Sunday media release showed, these were women like Professor Daniele Darlan from the Central African Republic and former president of that nation’s Constitutional Court. She was honored for her “defense of her nation’s constitutions, her heroism in safeguarding judicial independence, and her refusal to be influenced by threats or political pressure.”
Also on the list was Bakhytzhan Toregozhina of Kazakhstan. As the release stated, she has been head of “Qantar 2022” since its inception, a group that fights for and assists victims of human rights abuses in her nation due to the widespread unrest seen there last January.
Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi from Malaysia has similarly spent a long while “advocating and promoting human rights.” According to the release, it has been thanks to her efforts that so much light has been shed on injustices and vulnerable populations in her country.
But then there is Alba Rueda.
He was also honored by the State Department’s Wednesday ceremony, which first lady Dr. Jill Biden led.
Yes, that’s right. He is a he – at least biologically. Although he claims to identify as an Argentinian woman.
Now, to be sure, he is from Argentina. So, what has “she” done that is so inspiring and worth honoring? As the State Department said, “Alba Rueda, Argentina’s current Special Envoy for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship was the first Argentine Undersecretary for Diversity Policies in the newly created Ministry of Women, Gender, and Diversity.”
Essentially, it’s a word salad that means he’s a college activist who never left campus.
His story, according to Infobae, tells of how, as a young man who identified as female, he never fit in and was consistently made fun of and harassed for feeling that way. as such, he has made it his life mission to ensure that others like himself do not go through the same struggles and are given equal opportunities.
Now, to be sure, no one should have to go through life being persecuted because of what they believe or how they want to live, whether that’s in America or Argentina.
However, I’m not sure if simply being an activist in such a stable nation as America or Argentina is enough to qualify you for an award like Rueda just received.
I mean, just about every other award recipient is someone who comes from a nation where persecution of women (and men) is all too common. These are places like Afghanistan, war-torn Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. You know, areas where the government itself is guilty of such persecution.
Argentina’s Buenos Aires, where Rueda made his supposed mark, is a far cry from those desolate and often unlawful places.
Furthermore, those women are, well, actually women.
Again, I’m not saying that Rueda’s efforts shouldn’t be or can’t be honored. As I said before, no one should have to feel like they are somehow less than for believing a certain way. However, I’m positive there are quite a few other occasions in which he could have been honored, the least of which was International Women’s Day.
If nothing else, it’s a slap in the face to real women the world over.
