Trigger Warning: Minor Talk of Rape and Sexual Assault
In honor of Women’s History Month, I want to talk about something that is really important to me and issues that are really important to women everywhere. In the past couple of weeks, there has been numerous events that have transpired that has lit a fire under women everywhere and I think it is finally time that we talk about sexism. From Sarah Everard to the gender disparities in the NCAA, I think it is safe to say that women are tired of it. These issues have been around for centuries, I think the only difference is more people are starting hear women but that still isn’t enough. Just because sexism is no longer written on paper, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Fundamentally, I think most people can agree with the concept of equality, the issue is that people think that is no longer exist and we see the same issue with racism in our country. The denial has created an endless cycle of movements forming and dying with no hope of real progress. I am still very young, and it seems the more I read about women’s issues, the angrier I got, and I started to think about the world my mom and grandmother grew up in. It was a world where men crawled on the backs of women to get to the top and then gave women no access to ladders to help themselves. I cannot even image that world because of all the opportunities I have been given from all the women who came before me, but still in 2021, the job is not finished.
The issue that sparked this conversation was the kidnapping and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard that happened in South London on March 3, 2021. Sarah did everything she was supposed to do, she carried her keys, she called a friend, and she walked home in a well-lit area. This is a story heard a thousand times before and I am almost positive it won’t be the last. In the wake of this, a movement started that targeted the narrative of protect women instead stopping men. With every movement, comes a counter movement that people come up to protect themselves. This countermovement has adapted the term “It is not all men” and yes, I know what you are thinking, I heard that one before. There is so much harm in that phrase that I don’t think a lot of people understand. Not only are you invalidating women in general, but you are showing that a man’s reputation is more important than understanding women’s safety. People understand that it is not all men, but it is too many women. A survey in London take a couple weeks ago said the 97% of women have been either sexual assault or harassed before the age of 21. Another study taken in the United States said the 25% of college girls will be raped before they graduate and 95% of college girls will be sexual harassed or assaulted. These are not even the cases that go unreported as only 60% of rape and assault are taken to the police. This same study examined men and found that 1 and 3 men said that they would rape a girl if they could get away with it. That doesn’t even count the boys who probably lied. These numbers speak for themselves. This issue comes down to that it should never be a question of what the girl was doing but should be why the man did what he did. Women are simply luxuries for men, but people of their own right.
People often discredit sexism within our society because of the idea that people have a hard time looking beyond themselves. A perfect example is women in sports. The NCAA has a history of treating the men’s and women’s team very differently from better food options for the men to only giving the women’s teams 30-pound dumbbells and a couple yoga mats compared to the seemingly state of the art weight room the men got. These women are competing at one of the highest levels in college basketball but can find more respect from the Planet Fitness down the street then the organization they essential work for. The NCAA said it was a miscalculation on their part of what the women might need, but let us call it how it is, it is sexism. Don’t even get me started on salaries of women in sports. Venus Williams, who is one of the most decorated tennis players of all the time, won Wimbledon in 2000 and received $430,000 while the men’s winner won $477, 500. In 2019, when the USA women’s soccer team won the world cup, they made less money than the men who lost in the first round of the Men’s World Cup. This earnings match with the equal pay fight between men and women. The gender wage gap is also still around too. The 2018 Census Bureau data said that women earn just 82 cents for every $1 earned by a man. Many people would call the gap a myth, but I am here to tell you that it is not, and it is a very real threat to equality. The world that we live in is revolved around money and money equals value. Just like when you shop, you price things based off their value so by making women dominated fields have lesser salaries, you are saying that they are less valued. The same goes for woman athletes who get paid less than their less successful men counterpart. It is far too easy to accept the way things are, but we must make it our duty to change them.
My thoughts. I live in a world that was not made for me. I live in a world where my value is judged based off my sex. I live in a world where institutions would rather regulate what I wear to school more than they regulate guns. People often do not wish to change a world that already suits them because they do not know what it is to be without power. Women have gone far too long without power. This issue is not about blame or us versus them, but about a system that values people differently. This is not just about pay or getting the right sports equipment, but about respect. Women matter on their own, not in relation to a man. We should not need our husband’s paycheck to live wealthy, we should not need a boy to walk us home at night in order to feel safe. We are individuals with our own minds and hearts. This is about a society that feels uncomfortable with women and it seems that we are the ones who must pay for this discomfort. My job is not to be someone’s but to be someone of my own veracity. My mother taught me that and she also taught me that women are not made whole by men. Women are made whole as soon as they come into this world. She taught me these lessons and I will teach these same lessons to young girls as the women who came before me did. Are voices must be heard not only for ourselves but for the women who got us here and for the women who will be here after us.