The hand that rocks the cradle, so it's been told, rules the world.

How true is this? Can women demand and command the kind of attention men get as a matter of fact? 

We can and we do. We can and we have. We can and we will.

History shows women to be powerful members of society. While so many stories prefer to depict us as silly, frivolous, shy, weak, and ...let's be kind and say not so intelligent, but you know what I mean, if you dig deeper you discover women are STRONG, POWERFUL, INTELLIGENT, DETERMINED, WAYWARD, INDEPENDENT. We have been pillars of the society we live in from the beginning of time. Historical time, that is.

In the bygone years of the Paleolithic era, cave paintings previously thought to be done by male hunters, have been shown to more likely have been created by women. 

This is merely one instance of reporting. Searching history, discovering articles in dozens of publications, we learn that phenomenal women have existed since the dawn of time. 

From Ideas to Independence , shared via the National Women's History Museum, carries the phenomenal woman story through a century of accomplishments.

Why then do we hear so little about the women who have contributed amazing things in science, technology, the arts, and even politics? Is it because the women themselves are too 'shy' to stand up and take credit? Is it because the women were diminutive and small and overlooked by the gigantic men beside them - men who may have helped create but were not actually the creator? 

It's all of those things. It's a sad commentary on who we are as members of a vibrant, dynamic society on the brink of remarkable discoveries - for which we may not receive proper credit, even today.

I predict otherwise. I predict that rise of the phenomenal woman will change history and show the power behind our smile, our walk, our voice, our talk, everything we are and do.

The rise of the phenomenal woman is happening in cities all over America, in cities all over the world! We gather in groups to give testimony to our sex and our intelligence. We gather in groups to demand recognition - long deserved recognition! We gather in groups to show our daughters and our sons that we matter! That we have a voice and it needs to be heard!

The rise of the phenomenal woman is here. In some places, it's quiet. Not out of fear or retribution, but out of determination and purpose. Quiet does not mean weak. In other places, it's loud and raucous - tinged with anger at a society that continues to dismiss us, ignore us, treat us as after-thoughts, with little regard to our very well-being, from cradle to grave. The kind of regard that asks us to step back, be quiet, stop complaining!

It's in thanks, I believe, to women of our historical era - women like Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, and so many more; women who said no, I'm not sitting in the back of the bus; no, I'm not giving up my quest for equal treatment under the law and the right to vote; no, I'm not going to lose weight to be in your movie; no, I'm not going to wear dresses, I like wearing pants, thank you all the same.

It's a new century. We are a new breed. 

The rise of the phenomenal woman has arrived. Phenomenal Women will not be ignored.Take note, world. She has arrived.