International Women’s Day commemorated around courthouse square

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March is International Women’s Month, so it was only appropriate that a modest group of women and their supporters marched around the Howard County Courthouse in recognition of the designation. Approximately 40 people gathered on March 7 to celebrate women and to bring awareness of their ongoing struggle to find true equality.

Those in attendance bore signs in support of women’s rights, many of them critical of efforts nationally to silence their voices. But it was the stories shared and the words spoken that held impact. Led by Operation Blue Horizon, the celebration gave women the opportunity to lift up each other in solidarity just a day before International Women’s Day, which was celebrated on March 8 as part of the signature month.

“We gather not just to celebrate women, but to stand guard over the rights women fought for generations to secure,” said Hannah Guillaume-Wenger, an organizer of the event. “International Women’s Day is not only about honoring the past but protecting the future as well.

“The truth is simple. The rights women fought for are being challenged again. Women marched, women organized, and women risked their safety and their freedom so that one day we could stand in the voting booth and have our voices heard.

“The right to vote was not freely given. It was won through courage, persistence, and sacrifice. And now, more than a century later, we see new attempts that make voting harder to access; proposals that threaten to put new barriers between women and the ballot box.

“We know what it is. We have seen it before. When democracy expands, there are always those who try to shrink it back. But women do not move backwards. Today, we march for every woman, for justice, for opportunity and safety, for mothers raising the next generation with courage and hope, for soldiers who serve this country with strength and honor, for those who heal our community, for science and pushing the boundaries, for business owners just beginning to find their voices, and for trans women who deserve dignity, safety and the right to live their lives without fear.”

While several women spoke at the event between tours around the courthouse, it was one story that held attention and brought tears to many in attendance. Chancey Mussial, a mother, an athlete, a victim of domestic violence, and now a warrior in the fight against cancer, shared her story with the crowd.

“I want to ask you to think about something for a moment,” said Mussial. “Think about a time in your life when someone made you feel small. Maybe they told you you weren’t good enough. Your dreams were unrealistic, or your voice didn’t matter. Now, think about the person who helped you realize they were wrong.

“Most of us have experienced both. International Women’s Day reminds us of the courage it takes simply to be a woman. We grow up hearing messages about who we should be, how we should look, how quiet we should stay moment. The moment we step outside those expectations, we get labeled: too loud, too ambitious, too difficult, or worse, not enough.

“Sometimes those messages come from families. I know this because I’ve lived it as a girl. I was told I wasn’t pretty enough to be a model. Later, when I finally chased my dream of surfing, it was framed as though I left my children to go party, but they were right there with me. When you grow up hearing you aren’t enough, you start to question your own voice.

“At 14, I experienced sexual assault. Later, I found myself in a controlling, abusive marriage. Domestic violence isn’t always visible. Often, it is quiet manipulation and isolation. It’s suffocating. One day, I reached my limit. I packed everything I could into a laundry basket. I told my daughters, pick out your favorite toy. We’re going on a trip.”

Mussial and her children ended up in the Open Arms women’s shelter, operated by the Kokomo Rescue Mission. That resource was vital for Mussial’s family, and she never forgot the compassion, love, and assistance she received.

“Something incredible happened there,” Mussial said. “Women I had never met stood up for me. They didn’t see my mistakes. They saw a human being who deserved dignity. I realized then sometimes the family we are born into cannot give us what we need, but community can.

“That experience became my mirror, my armor. I realized if I could survive fleeing to a homeless shelter with my daughters, I could survive anything.”

Open Arms made an impact on Mussial, and she did her best to return the favor. Years later, she swam three miles, from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco, to raise awareness and funds for the shelter. It was her way to lift up those who had done the same for her.

But another battle was ahead.

“Today I’m facing cancer, and even in this fight, the domestic violence and family attacks continue,” said Mussial. “That neglect is brutal, but this journey has reminded me that dignity and healthcare should never depend on luck or privilege.

“No one gets to decide your worth except you, not a system, not a critic, and certainly not people who doubt you. Every morning, before I get out of bed, I repeat a simple mantra to myself, sometimes 20 times: I am worthy, I matter. We are worthy. We matter.

“So today, as the rain falls and the world begins to bloom, I leave you with this: Lift other women up. Believe women when they tell you their stories. Stand beside the woman fighting the battle you cannot see.

“I stand here as a survivor of abuse, addiction, hardship and now cancer. No one gets to make you small. Your voice matters, your story matters, and the courage you show today may be the very thing that gives another woman the street to stand up and say, ‘I matter, too.’”

Guillaume-Wenger’s parting comment to the crowd underscored Mussial’s story and the fight that remains, despite all the progress made.

“Our bodies should not be a political battleground,” said Guillaume-Wenger. “Our healthcare should not depend on a zip code, and our autonomy should not come with conditions. We know the truth. When women have control over their own bodies, their own votes, and their own future, entire communities thrive.

“Women rise because women have always been the builders of progress. We are not going backwards on voting rights, not on bodily autonomy, not on equality, not for our daughters, not for our neighbors. Today, we march. Tomorrow, we organize, and every day we vote.”