Letter from the editor: For the women

At HelloGiggles HQ, I’m lucky to be surrounded by smart smart women who help cultivate an awesome, kind, and thriving environment. These women come from different backgrounds; they’re complex, they’re brilliant, and they’re the ones who come up with the ideas that make HG the multifaceted place it is. And bottom line? We support and empower each other, which is so important — especially now, this time, this month. March is Women’s History Month, and March 8th specifically, is International Women’s Day (this year’s theme? #BeBoldForChange). In a perfect world, it would be women’s day, every day — but luckily, it kinda is already at HG.com.
We write about women on the on the daily — celebrities, bloggers, writers, normal people doing extraordinary things — and so many of these stories serve as powerful reminders that we’re capable of just about anything, and that we, as a collective whole, are making an incredible difference every day. We cheered when Viola Davis won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and came THAT much closer to an EGOT (she’s already won an Emmy and Tony). And when one of our contributors, Ariane Collins, wrote about why it’s so important we say something when someone has made a sexist joke. We were in awe of 25-year-old Keah Brown, who started the movement #DisabledandCute (which took over the internet — and rightfully so), and proud we published a story so influential and necessary.
Though we aim to give women a special platform 24/7, HelloGiggles will be showcasing the voices of even more fantastic ladies who have made a global difference. Women who you may not have learned about in history class but should have. Women who have been unfairly underestimated. Women who are setting trends we didn’t even know had the business of existing.
And while the HG narrative has always been a positive one, we do acknowledge the fact that sexism still exists. Our culture seems to still celebrate and reward men who are cruel to women. The wage gap has actually increased one percentage point from 2014, according to the AAUW (and the statistics are worse for women of color). We have a long way to go. But I know that our HelloGiggles community is full of women who want change, and are willing and determined to fight for it. The future is female.