Women and men are working on becoming equal, but we have a long way to go. There have been countless studies done to show that women are still fighting to get the same salaries, raises, positions as men. There is definitely an invisible glass ceiling for women in the workplace (I can speak from experience) that seems to be only penetrable for men.
There is exponentially more money allocated for men's health problems and studies in comparison to women's. Also, there are still many double standards regarding sex, not to mention that rape is still a crime for which a man will get less time for, than for robbery or drug possession.
Let's not also forget that America is still one of the few countries left where we have never had a female president in our entire history and that the women that are involved in politics, as our representatives, are few and far between.
According to Eagleton Institute of Politics, at Rutgers University, "In 2007, 87 women serve in the U.S. Congress. Sixteen women serve in the Senate, and 71 women serve in the House. In 2007, women hold 87, or 16.3%, of the 535 seats in the 109th US Congress - 16, or 16.0%, of the 100 seats in the Senate and 71, or 16.3%, of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives." Enough said. Women make up close to 50% of the population, yet a measly 16% of the US Senate and House of Reps are female. One has to agree that this is definite proof of a continuing trend of disparaging inequality between men and women, most especially in politics.
There's something to be said for equality, but everyone knows that women and men, no matter how equal we get, will always be different and possess particular qualities. Women, in general, have distinctive manners of communication that vary from men. We process information and react in a contradistinctive way. That is the beauty about Nature. She has given traits to women that men do not possess; it is about time we tap into them.
Hell, I just think that we have been living a certain way for centuries now, with men in power. The bottom line is that we are due for a change; it may be scary or uncomfortable, but it is needed desperately. We make up 50% of the population; we can make this change happen! I think anything is better than what we have now.
The thing that worries me is that the first few women to get into office will probably make it a point to try to prove themselves as tough, capable of doing just as good a job as any man, even if that includes stifling the very feminine qualities that could potentially be what make a woman a great leader. Our next female leaders will definitely find it a challenge to balance that femininity with the necessary "balls" that it takes to be in power. It will be up to them to show that a woman's emotions actually can be what will make her a better conductor.
Perhaps after many years, and many strong women in office, proving the stereotypes wrong, only then will the saying change to "it takes ovaries" to get it right.
It really troubles me that nowadays there are less women interested in women's rights and just accept where we are in the women's movement or think the fight has somehow been won.
ReplyDeletein all honesty, many women hurt the cause or discredit it in certain ways with the value that some put on beauty and sexuality, etc even though they think being allowed to care about these things is "liberation." Not that it isn't, I just think it can hurt us more than do good to move forward with women's causes.
I actually went to see Barbara Berg recently and she read from her book "Sexisim: Alive, Well, and Ruining our future. She didn't really talk much about things I didn't already know but it was interesting, and I hope to eventually read the book.