So I’ll admit it. International Women’s Day just snuck up on me. I woke up this morning to a bunch of Facebook status updates about the day. As a blogger who blogs about women’s empowerment, I should have been more on my game. Such is life. I’m going to put it in my Google calendar for next year.

While getting ready for work, I thought about what I would write. Then, it dawned on me. Instead of me talking about womanhood, I’d let others do it for me. Since starting this blog in the fall, I’ve interviewed countless women of all different walks of life. I always ask them the same question: What does being a woman mean to you? Here’s a collection of what some of them have said.

LaMonica Sherman

“I think women, we naturally have a nurturing spirit and we’re more sensitive, most of the time, to situations than men is. It is what is is. That’s how God created us. Men are get to the point people. Women are “I want to understand. I want to listen and I want to show you that I care.” So being a woman is, not that men don’t care, but I think we show another side of us. We bring another definition of caring, another definition of nurturing and another definition of God.”

Kelly McAndrews

“You know like having a vagina and having breasts (laughs). And like having a menstrual cycle and like the ability to have children. I don’t know, I think deep down it’s a like blessing but also a curse. Like we have something to prove as a race but at the same time we have so many gifts that we can exploit and put out into the world. Like we’re all beautiful and talented.”

Nahara Saballos

“I think I’ve learned from my mom that being a woman means that you have to be strong. Even though people don’t see us as very strong physically, I think women in Nicaragua and in the world have to endure a lot of things just to survive and get by. I think that being a woman to me means being resilient. Definitely a survivor. We are the backbone of community organizing. Any type of progress is usually carried out by women, even if they’re not noted as such. I’m really grateful to be a woman because there’s so much I can learn from other women here and from my mom.”

Lauren Gabbard

“Being a woman to me shows that I have a support structure for things that were making me uncomfortable throughout my life that I didn’t know about before. For instance, being made fun of for certain things in elementary school or issues of violence. I’ve had some violent experiences in my life at the hands of men and just knowing that were all in this together. Women have not always been oppressed and it means that we don’t always need to be. It’s a good part of my identity. I will hang out with pretty much any woman. You don’t have to be on your guard. But a man, you don’t know if they’re going to say something really sexist or try to hit on you inappropriately.

Being a queer woman or a bisexual woman makes me feel like I belong to this legacy of awesome women throughout history that I can always band together with.”

Catherine Daniels

“Being a woman for me is being the backbone to life. We are the nurturers. We are the ones everybody goes to. I’m a grandma and I have a little granddaughter. The first thing she does when she sees me is she sticks her hands out wanting fingernail polish. She’s only one and a half, and she already feels empowered as a little girl to feel girly. We have kind of dismissed the whole culture of wearing dresses. When I was younger, my very southern grandmother would dress me in frilly dresses. The frillier, the better. The lace, the crinoline … it was almost disgusting it was so girly. It just felt good to be in a dress. I’m glad I can share that with my granddaughter.”

Faith Mueller

“I think that being a woman means to me is you have to be your own person. At the end of the day, you’re only going to look yourself in the mirror. It’s just going to be you and yourself. Our society tries to tell women what they should be like, and that’s on both sides of the spectrum. What should a woman be like? You have to be yourself and you have to love yourself, and be your own biggest advocate. That’s important.”

There were many other women who had incredible things to say on womanhood. Happy International Women’s Day!