An anthem for International Women's Day

They’ve said many things to me, underestimating what I could achieve.

“What will you do working in a magazine at this age. What do you know about reporting?”

“They must have hired you because you have a pretty face. Who knows who got their eyes on you!”

“Is your employer a friend of your father’s?”

“You’ve brought these subjects to the meeting. But from whom did you get these, whose work did you copy?”

“Did you really write this news story or did other reporters help you?”

“How can a woman publish a men’s magazine?”

Comments like these haven’t stopped.

“Her husband is probably writing the script of her TV show ‘G.A.G’.”

“What kind of courage of ignorance is this? Shooting a sitcom is not a joke…”

“O.K. you’ve brought three episodes you’ve written, but what else is left? Your stories seem to be over. Will you be able to continue this?”

“I heard that she has a staff, and that it’s a lie that she’s writing the scripts on her own. She supposedly hides this staff from the public.”

“It was a one-time thing; the second one will not be as successful.”

But the best one was: “Women don’t have a sense of humor.”

“Who is she to write a column? She should continue with her acting.”

“Shooting a TV show is easy but the silver screen is hard. She will hit the bottom so hard.”

I’m sure no young male reporters, not a single male editor publishing a women’s magazine or a male humorist heard any of the statements above — not once in their entire lives.

But I don’t care.

The list can go on and on. But I have picked the funniest ones for you.

The owners of the aforementioned statements have seen two things: My beautiful teeth (because I smiled when I heard these) and that they, themselves, are grossly biased, jealous and outdated fools.

International Women’s Day is in two days, on March 8.

Women much more brilliant and successful than me have been hearing far worse statements for centuries.

Who knows how many ninnies told Marie Curie, a pioneer in the study of radiation, to go home and cook dinner instead of becoming a scientist.

Some doctors, on television programs, claimed “women scientists are few in numbers because women’s and men’s brains are different.” But we are talking about a gender whose members have been getting equal education to men — even though there are still women unable to get education — just for a few centuries in the 7,000-year-long history of education. It has not even been a century since women won the right to vote. On top of all this, women also have another job: Motherhood, which they work for 24 hours a day at least for 10 years.

It is men who should be worried about the future; women have presented many scientists, doctors, lawyers, artists, engineers and architects in such a short period of time, with such intensity, determination and speed.

Dear children, girls and young women, the main obstacle you will face when achieving your dreams will be the phrase “You can’t do it!” rather than the difficulties of the work, fatigue, failure, obstacles or loneliness! You will not solely hear this from your surroundings, from those irritated and jealous, but even from the ones close to you with good intentions.

Nevertheless, whoever you hear this from, always smile really big and think about how shocked those people will become when you achieve your dreams. I promise, it is really satisfying!

Dream endlessly and limitlessly. Plan well, study, work really hard and make your dreams come true. Or if you have a more efficient method, apply that.

Do not forget that “determination” and “motivation” are more valuable and magical than “talent”!

On top of these, always follow your nose! Maybe that’s why I did not get a nose job — my long nose always showed me a clearer way.

There is a song called “From me to you” by the singer Nil Karaibrahimgil whose lyrics I admire.

“They will come from the dark and preclude you/ they will have yellow teeth and pointed claws/ you will think that they will catch you but you will always win/ I will teach you how to run and laugh up your sleeve.”

So, let’s call this column in honor of the song “From
me to you.”