This year we asked the women who make up the Belle Et Rebelle team what they think about International Women's Day, their vision of femininity, and what they love or hate about being a woman. Our perspectives are different yet complementary, and that's what makes our team so wonderful.

Séverine

"For me, International Women's Day is 365 days a year. It's when I debate with my family, my friends, my partner about the injustices that billions of women experience around the world. It's when I watch films directed by women, read books written by women, or listen to music by all-female bands. It's when I help my sisters and support my friends. It's when I'm a feminist. When I discuss feminism, the pressure builds, a ton of energy takes over my brain, and I become passionate and unstoppable. Often I feel angry about all these injustices; sometimes, once that energy is used up, I feel drained and powerless, but I always feel proud to be a woman, to educate myself about these injustices, and to stand up to our detractors. Being a woman and being proud—that's what a beautiful day is for me!"

Daniela

"International Women's Day is for me a day when I look ahead, while reflecting on the actions of the women who, before me, paved the way I walk today. It's a day where future and past blend in my mind, leading me to reflect on the place that feminism proudly occupies in my life. Every year, I realize that it is more important than ever to highlight the obstacles we face, because the fight for women's rights is not over until it is over for ALL women."

Anne

"Every year, I try to redefine my own role as a woman, and every year I drift a little further from the one I had created for myself. The 'strong' woman role I had given myself feels old-fashioned. I want to reclaim our vulnerability; it has been stifled too often, with the idea that being a 'wonder woman' was what feminism was all about. That's wrong. No matter the role or the labels we give ourselves, they end up suffocating us. The older I get, the more I feel suffocated by this role. This year, I don't want to talk about women, but about freedom—the freedom to simply be, regardless of the gender we identify with. I'm talking about freedom: I am a white, heterosexual, middle-class woman living in a wealthy country…"

The facts cannot be denied:

• Nearly one in three women has experienced abuse in her lifetime. Currently, 130 million women worldwide have undergone female genital mutilation.
• Each year, approximately 4 million women and girls are sold for marriage, prostitution, or slavery.
• Up to 70% of murdered women are killed by their male partners.
• Rape is a crime of which we only perceive the tip of the iceberg.
• Gender pay inequality remains very high worldwide. Two-thirds of the world's illiterate population are women, and 80% of climate-displaced people are girls and women.

Léa

"Four months ago, I woke up with an anxious and almost painful question: What is the thing I love most about being a cisgender woman?

What is the element that makes me a woman, and what I'm most proud of? I admit I was caught off guard by my own brain. So I started searching, which was all I had to do because it was November and the atmosphere and the weather felt like a pile of manure.

Do I think I'm funny? I like absurd things, I like to make fun of David Goudreault's intonations: seriously, pay attention to his tone of voice, you might burst out laughing. I'm a woman who's close to punk culture, I wear ties, I'm a redhead and I listen to Patti Smith, I fall asleep to the sound of rain, and I believe I'm someone who's passionate about the people around me.

So, I'm someone who loves. But what does that have to do with being a woman? Loving doesn't make me a woman… it doesn't categorize me as a feminine being.

It's not binary. Disappointed, I did what any good young adult would do and asked my mother.

My mother, who was a sailing instructor in 1991 and who used to pick magic mushrooms, whose body is sculpted by ancient muscles, my mother who always has six things to do at once. My mother who no longer has time to waste.

With all her patience, she replied, "I don't know what I'm most proud of about being a woman," but promised she would come back to the subject. She hasn't spoken to me again. Empty-handed, I turned to my dear colleagues. Some found the answer difficult to give, thought about it hard, but couldn't find anything deeply binary. In any case, nothing that couldn't be categorized as gender.

Until Marie-Ève, whom you surely know, a native of Sainte-Julie Beach, if you hear Céline Dion playing at Belle et Rebelle, it's from her.

She told me: dress cute. Just as simple and natural as that, without thinking. Obviously.

In all her femininity, Marie-Ève ​​prefers her ability to want to look pretty for herself. Wearing tulle dresses, tights, and barrettes. A fairy. Being true to herself. It's not about weighing the pros and cons of gender injustice or her passionate outbursts about the sexist rhetoric of men that has been around for decades. Powerful men who exploit teenage girls. It's about putting on heels. And that's perfectly legitimate, because she's true to herself.