Time Magazine has been publishing an issue at the end of the year with someone they name the Person of the Year. Since 1927, the beginning of this tradition, there’s only been 4 women to ever be named this and Angela Merkel, Time’s 2015 Person of the Year, is the first woman since 1986 to receive this title.
In the world, we have always had an issue with economic, political, and social gender equality.
According U.S. Department of Labor, 57 percent of women in America participate in the workforce while 69.7 percent of men in America are working. Though this seems like a low percentage, women working has increased by 46.1 percent since 101 years ago in 1915. This major increase is admirable, but women are still projected to represent less than half of the labor force at 46.8 percent in 2022.
The reason for less women participating in the labor force is that there are still jobs that have been discouraging the inclusion of women, especially in higher positions. According to CNN, women make up only 14 percent of CEO’s in businesses or enterprises in America.
Women are also affected economically by this patriarchy. In 2015, The U.S. Department of Labor says, women in America were paid 79 percent of what men were paid. The average American male will make $50,383 while the average American female will make $39,621. These statistics are staggering considering that the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which declares equal pay between gender, was signed decades ago. There really should not be a difference in pay between men and women in the same position considering that they typically have the same capabilities.
This inequality is also shown in our U.S. House of Representatives as well. It seems ironic that the House of Representatives has women misrepresentated. Out of the 435 representatives, only 84 or 19.3 percent of them are women. It feels wrong that people who get to make decisions for American women aren’t mostly women or advocates for women. Since 50.8 percent of America’s population is women, about half of the HOR should be women.
In high school, women already feel gender inequality with the dress code and stigmas against girls taking certain classes. But when young women leave high school, they will experience very serious things like making significantly less than men, having laws made against their freedoms, or not being represented equally as men.
To get rid of this stigma that women are less deserving and valuable than men and that women can’t be as successful as men, we need to discard these thoughts and views at a very young age.
Adults in a child’s life need to show that both men and women are equals and should be allowed the same things in all aspects. Young girls need to have powerful female role models to show them that despite their demographics, they can still do great things in life.
According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, “Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.” Meaning, a feminist is a person who supports gender equality, which is why everyone should be one.
Some people, even women, often make the argument that they’re not a feminist because they are afraid of being misjudged.
There’s always been this common misconception that feminism is exclusive to women, but the only way we can truly change and succeed in this movement for gender equality is if our male counterparts speak out on supporting feminism as well and get help to dismantle the patriarchy in our society.
Everybody should be a feminist. Support and awareness of both men and women is crucial for this movement to grow and eventually lead to the end of gender inequality and a truly equal society where women don’t grow up believing that they’re less valuable than men.