Today is International Women’s Day, and I hadn’t planned on writing anything specifically on this topic, but then two things happened.

The first relates to Captain Marvel debuting in theaters, an event I found wholly appropriate for International Women’s Day. However, since its first screenings late last night, it’s been review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes by what appears to be a group of delicate men who 1. Think Brie Larson is dull, and 2. Dislike the whole idea of a woman-led MCU movie, from what I gathered via Google search.

Now, this has no effect whatsoever on my plan to see the movie with my family tonight. My boys and I have been looking forward to Captain Marvel’s origin story since the moment Fury summoned her at the end of Infinity War, so hearing about the review bombing was irritating. But it’s also not unprecedented. Similar review bombings occurred with the female-led Ghostbusters reboot and The Last Jedi.

The second reason I decided to pen this post was a blog post emailed to me by a company I’ve patronized (click here to see the whole post). It’s a simple collection of quotes from famous and historical women, and while all were inspiring, I have a few favorites.

Every name was recognizable, which made me wonder about other women who changed history but aren’t likely to be noticed outside a museum.

Women like Margaret Hamilton.

Photo: nasa.gov

And Dorothy Thompson.

Photo: biography.com

And all these inventors.

Source: women-inventors.com

Women have had to overcome, and must continue to overcome, cultural biases and sometimes, outright attacks. We haven’t had the right to vote for even a century yet, pay inequality is still a thing, and we may find it difficult to advance in our fields, especially if we’re in more “masculine” ones. And of course there’s this:

I’m thankful to the women who came before me, who made a difference and who mostly remain nameless. We’ve only gotten as far as we have because of them. So in honor of the day, I encourage you all to do two things: lift up a woman in your life, and go see Captain Marvel.