Women are the reason everyone is here on earth right now. It’s true through birth women bring human life to earth. Women rock, I was raised by a strong woman and have had the guidance and support of strong women in my family and friend group for my whole life.
Today is International Women’s day and we should of course take the time to celebrate and thank the women in our lives but we should also adhere to and promote this years IWD theme which is Embrace Equity.
Equity is fairness and impartiality. There is a major difference between equity and equality, equality provides men and woman equal pay (this is not currently happening) equity is providing every worker what they need to be successful. Often, women are the primary care care providers for families and because of this role many women may need (as well as equal pay) flexible schedules or childcare provisions and support and understanding from colleagues.
I am willing to bet that among my two readers of this post there is not a person who can change women’s pay in their workplace or their schedule however there are probably, among my tow readers, at least one person who works with a woman. As a colleague you can be a voice and an advocate and a help. For our women coworkers we should be willing to sacrifice and help bring equity to the workplace. Working around their schedules and in rare and extreme circumstances when we can sacrificing our personal time for women in the workplace.
These actions and advocacy will help influence the culture and ultimately change the workplace and maybe the nation. Do you believe it? I do, but let’s all work towards equity and see if it’s true.
It has been 100 years since women have gotten the right to vote in the United States of America and there is still dramatic inequality when it comes to women’s and men’s rights in the United States of America. Right now The United States is ranked 17th for women. Just all around there are 16 more countries, all of which have less money, influence and power than the United States and yet women are treated better there.
It’s not the money, or military might that makes a nation good or bad, it is the way the nation treats its citizens.
The United States has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, if the anti choice movement takes away the right to abortion it can be assumed that this rate will grow even larger. In 2020 17 women died for every 100 000 births. To compare the UK was 7, New Zealand was 3, and South Korea was 2.8. In the top ten richest countries in the world the United States has the highest rate for killing women while they are giving birth.
1 out of six women in the United States have been raped in their lifetime. Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark are among the top ten safest places for women, the United States is the tenth least safe country in the world for women.
After the civil war came the reconstruction period in the United States and that was the beginning of Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action is a plan to address racism in the United States. The program was working well and getting better until somethings happened in the supreme court and the White House.
In 1978 the supreme court ruled that quotas for measuring affirmative action were unconstitutional, in 2017the Whitehouse advocated for using “ace-neutral alternatives” for admitting students.
Affirmative Action was moving and had a way to measure it’s success however there have been some bumps in the road. Affirmative action also benefits women when it is executed and protected.
The playing field is not equal women and minorities start and often stay at lower levels than white men. To argue against this is to argue against the numbers and facts.
To make the United States better for women we must treat women with more that respect. We must bring women to the level of the white male in all facets of life. In the home, the workplace. the religions, and the government.
Women are 51% of the population but only make up 20% of representation in the government. That has to be fixed and it starts with our votes. The majority of Americans did vote for a women president however the antiquated broken system that the United States uses to count votes made it so that the unpopular male won. So we are getting there now we just need to look at the rules that have been created by the white males to keep white males in power. Its a lot of work but it can and will be done and it needs to start with men. We need to show women more respect than we do our fellow men. We need to be sure that we always consider representation when we are hiring, and we need to be aware of our training and unconscious bias against women.
Instead of scoffing at this post and ones like it perhaps consider your own actions or inactions. I certainly am going to try. I know that we can do better than 17th place!!
I took a class in computer programming. The class dealt with math done by the computer. We learned about mantissa, floating point, and exponents. It was math and it was hard.
In 1992 The Mattel corporation released a talking Barbie Doll that 270 phrases. One phrase was “Matt class is tough”. The corporation faced backlash from women’s groups and the doll was retooled so that the phrase Math class is tough was removed.
Math is often tough, but a Childs toy that is meat to inspire children should not reinforce how hard a school subject is. One stereotype that is not well deserving is that women are not as good at math as men. The toy that is marketed for women helped reinforce that stereotype.
I think we should make it a point especially during women’s history month to erase and not promote any negative stereotypes about women.
“I am going to watch it you should to.” A friend of mine made this suggestion to me yesterday concerning the movie, Amelia, a bio pic about Amelia Earhart. After a quick google search I realized that the movie was on Netflix and now the DVD is added to my queue (ha no it isn’t but remember when that was a thing?), I plan on streaming the movie this weekend on Netflix.
When Amelia Earhart fell in love with flying she could think of nothing else and she was told by almost everyone that women did not fly. That was a mans world. Amelia kept a scrap book as a child of women who did “man things” like, film directors and producers, lawyers, and mechanical engineers.
Amelia drew inspiration from the women in the images of her scrap book. I am sure that as the women were in film, law and engineering school they were treated not as well as the men, I am also sure that in their professions they were paid far less than the men. Today women are still treated poorly and paid less than their male counterparts and there are apologists who defend, maybe worse there are those who say it doesn’t exist! Sexism is still alive and well and women are still underpaid and treated poorly. Sexism like racism is still baked into the laws and culture of the United States. Defending sexism and hiding our heads in the sand only make things worse.
Amelia, the women in her scrapbook and women today face sexism in a major systematic way and it is through other woman breaking the glass ceiling and finding success that future generations find inspiration and inspiration is important. You may not think that being a successful attorney, producer, or engineer is a big deal but there could be a young woman out there clipping your picture and putting it in her scrap book.
The United States Constitution is quite possibly the worlds most famous social contract. The contract was created to be a living document with the ability to adjust it as the nation grew. It is a good thing too because one of the most powerful social contracts created did not take into consideration women or black men and women.
In 1920 the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote in the United States. For democracy to do what it is intended to do Govern the consented. A vote is a form of consent. When you vote for a certain policy or a leader with policies you are consenting to that leaders will and policies. If that leader pulls a “180” you can wait till the next voting cycle and vote against that leader and for a leader that better aligns with your world view.
Part of the reason the United States constitution works as well as it does is the right to consent to government. The Constitution was signed and adopted in 1787 that means women were governed in an unconsented manner for 133 years! The women’s suffrage movement worked tirelessly to make the 19th amendment happen. You can read about some of the heroes of the suffrage movement here. I remember when the U.S. Mint struck a coin with the image of Susan B. Anthony on it. Seeing that image made me read more about the woman and the movement. This is why history is so important. Our children need to understand that a social contract only works when all of society is involved in the contract and there were and are brave women out there fighting to secure and protect rights of everyone.
Today access to voting is being denied in the United States and the social contract is in danger again and there are women who are fighting for the right and opportunity to vote. When I think about the right to vote today in the United States I think about Stacey Abrams and her work to protect the vote. Stacey Abrams and her work to protect the vote in the United States is a Susan B. Anthony type of figure that we can point our children to and another role model to spotlight in March which is Women’s History Month.
It is day 4 of Women’s History Month and its seems appropriate to address the Matriarchy, or the lack thereof in the United States. A matriarchy is a system of government in which women women rule. Currently there are 6 functioning matriarchies today, in contrast there are 195 governments in the world and all but the 6 are in practice patriarchies. Some may take this moment to argue against the previous statement and if you are among the some than you are part of the problem.
See, I put the word in practice there and I would challenge you to show me one government that has equal representation for men and women. It doesn’t exist (if it does please comment on this post so that we can celebrate the steps forward).
When confronted with the reality of the patriarchy in the United States and how it has shaped the treatment of women I have to ask myself why and how. Why do we think a government that does not accurately represent women is ok and how did this happen in a nation where we hold fair democratic elections for office?
It happened because few women run for political office and few people vote for the women that run. Teach your daughters, and nieces that they are equals. Support your sisters and wives while they are trying to break through the glass ceiling and reject the gender stereo types. There is nothing wrong with a father who stays home with the children.
Teaching and voting is serious business and the United States of America is from form equal and definitely a practicing patriarchy. When you teach the children in your life girl or boy please teach them that gender does not determine what they do and how they do it. When we vote lets all make a conscious effort to vote for someone who will fight or true equality and if we can vote for a woman to balance out representation. If you are a woman in the United States consider running for office and enacting some real change!
The Corrigan Encore 