Too many people consuming resources,
Pumping our trash into land, sea, and air,
Cooking the planet, unleashing the forces
Of wounded Nature, who cries in despair….

To comprehend this requires education.
And, when we’re looking at college today,
We notice our women, throughout the nation
Matriculating on admission day.

More education, to seek a profession,
Means fewer children, or not giving birth,
Feeling the ire of a right-wing obsession:
Their view of why God put women on Earth.

Are women on Earth just for reproduction?
Is that the job that all women must do?
Scientists say human overproduction
May cause catastrophes we can’t undo.

Women obtaining much more education,
Than fellow males of a similar age,
Rise out of centuries of their frustration,
To take a leading role on the world’s stage.

Will they do better than men have been doing?
Can women clean up the mess men have made?
Our planet suffers from human subduing
Will women nurture where male leaders preyed?

Changes are coming as women are rising. (1)
Ceilings will break as our females are freed.
There’ll be fewer babies from this uprising
With women freed of the duty to breed.

What does this mean for right-wing coalitions,
For Trump and Vance and their misogyny?
Can they advance from their old superstitions?
Or will they stick with white male tyranny?

Our world has problems in need of solution,
Which new perspectives may help to set right.
So, let’s ask women for their contribution,
Let’s show the whole world that we’ve seen the light.

(1) See, “And Still, I Rise,” by Maya Angelou, August 1978.