August 2022 will be the 101st birthday of the passage of the 19th Amendment in the United States, which granted women the right to vote. This was seen as the end of the women’s suffrage movement to many people. But it wasn’t, women to this day still struggle with discrimination based on their gender.
under representation of women on the supreme court
It wasn’t until 1981, over 200 years after the first Supreme Court of the United States, when a woman served on the Supreme Court. Sandra Day O’Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan. She served on the Supreme Court for nearly 25 years. Since then, there have been four more women to serve on the highest court in the nation. One of the most memorable feminist icons who also served on the court is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Even in her later years before she passed in 2020, Ginsburg constantly fought for equal treatment under the law, and she got her way. In 1992, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice was nominated, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. And now in 2022, the first black woman to be nominated for the Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson. It truly has been long overdue for more diversity on the Supreme Court. For such a long time, men were determining cases that primarily handled women’s rights. Although it’s easy to look at the negative side of this by looking at the lack of women on the Supreme Court, it’s truly inspiring to look at the number of women increase as the years go on.
“When I’m sometimes asked ‘When will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]?’ and I say ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Under representation of women in the executive branch
2020 was such a memorable year for so many reasons. One of the most monumental things to happen in 2020 was the election of the first woman vice president of the United States. At the start of 2020, 15 women were heads of state in UN countries. Many people were angry over the 2020 election for more reasons than one. What sparked many people’s anger was the election of a woman for vice president. If something were to happen to the president, she would be first in line to assume his position. Many people who are angry about this tend to use excuses when asked why women aren’t fit to lead. The idea of not being able to have a “First Lady” or that women are too emotional comes to mind when I first hear that. On the bright side, a poll taken in 2016 reports that 94% of Americans would vote for a woman president. Hopefully one day we will have a woman in this position and break the chain of male presidents.
All in all, being a woman in 2022 can be difficult for more reasons than one. Not only is there severe underrepresentation of women in the government but there’s also a large number of crimes against women that can make it scary for us to live our everyday lives. The sexism that still lives in this country is sad but the amount of young, smart, and ambitious women that are coming in with new ideas and changes to be made will cause changes in America. During Women’s History Month, it is so crucial to learn the history of women’s suffrage and what women in the past had to do in order to gain the rights that we have today. Look back at the amazing accomplishments of influential women in the past and strive for a better tomorrow for women all over the world.