Honestly, we’ve come a long way. Our society and government have made some HUGE steps towards gender equality in the past century. From Title IX of the Education Amendment, to Sally Ride, to the #metoomovement, we are making progress. Progress- that is the key word here. Thanks to the strong, powerful women of America’s past, women nowadays have many more rights than we used to. That being said, we still have room to grow and many more fights to win. We have voices that need to be heard.
Women have faced prejudice in the home, workplace, etc., since time began. We’ve been denied education, freedom to vote, freedom to our own bodies- list goes on and on. On top of that, women of color and women in the LGBTQA community have had an even bumpier road to equality. I’m happy knowing that as of 2019, most women can get an education, can vote, can fight on the front lines, and can speak out for everything else we deserve. Sadly, “most women” is not the same as “every woman.” People don’t realize that there are millions of women that still don’t receive the rights they should. One problem is the very apparent pay gap that many tend to overlook: “In the U.S. workforce, women earned less than 81 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2016.” According to Inequality.org, as of 2018, only 256 women ranked among the world’s 2,208 billionaires. Of that 256 women, 77 are from the United States. These statistics are unnerving, and show the significant difference in what men earn versus what women earn, especially in countries other than the U.S.
“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”