Rights are not equality
The United States was ranked 31st in women’s rights around the world in a survey concerning a combination of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health, and political empowerment. Land of the free? All men are created equal? Yeah, that’s us. As a nation, we are behind most other developed western countries and most Scandinavian countries including Finland, Norway, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the number one ranked: Iceland, in women’s equality.
In our country, what is considered to be ‘generous’ in the world of women’s rights, is women gaining the sacred privilege of being able to take the roles that men usually have. Basically, women acting like men is considered equal; however, once a man decides to look like a woman, controversy stirs.
Usually, people are okay with women wearing men’s clothes, even at the point of serious masculinity. Why? Because it is okay and respectable to want to look like a man. However, see a man wearing a women’s clothes, and you can immediately feel the rumbles of groups that wish to ‘save’ them, ignorant and uneducated people begin using discriminating language, and grimaces of disgust. Why is this? Because it is inherent in society that having to dress as a women is unfavorable and immoral; something that would not be as prominent in a society with more gender equality.
In current music videos of artists like Lil Wayne, Drake, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Adele, Brittany Spears, etc., women are often placed in an objectified position that creates an unofficial precedent for what is sexy and attractive. For most of these videos women have to be nearly naked in order to play their part, and in Taylor Swift’s case, her career might end if she decided to write about anything besides a boy, diddo for Adele. Respectable women figures in society are just not popular, and once young women begin to idolize and emulate the actions of these other popular figures, a cycle of endless double standards and disrespect continues.
Sure, women are working now and making money, but there is still an overall aura of looking down on women. Old fashioned gender roles are still expected to be filled and women still fill those roles. In asking several young men about their opinions of women’s rights, some said “What rights?” others made comments about kitchens or cleaning. This is not equality, and in order for women to reach their full potential as equal individuals, feminism is an absolute necessity.
Feminism too extreme
Women have actively fought to be considered equal to men and have finally reached a vantage point where it all evens out.
Women are seen daily in the workforce among men, earning significant salaries and bringing home the bacon.
Today, it is seen as a paradox to be a feminist because women should not have to be; women have earned countless rights, as seen in the nineteenth amendment of the United States Constitution, and Title IX, an educational reform that abolished discrimination based on sex when participating in sports and coed activities.
The status of women’s rights have come a long way from the era when there was a drastic difference between the treatments of men and women and the fight for suffrage was imperative.
Successive generations do not have to be preoccupied with being treated fairly in the workplace or even in society because of the great feats women have overcome. As seen from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2011, women made up 46.6% of the labor force and comprised 51.4% of management, professional, and related positions, with numbers continuing to expand through the years.
This shows the progress that women have attained by becoming more prominent in the workforce and taking a place among men.
Some reason that there are arguments to persist with the battle for women’s rights and to be a feminist, but the truth is that there is not anything more women need to acquire in order to be equal to men.
Women and men are equivalent in cases of voting, working, driving, and owning property and money. They share the same basic civil rights and are symmetrically intelligent, dedicated, and capable.
Women should not possess the need to fight for additional rights because they have been granted them. The dispute should not be over equal rights, but for equal respect.
It takes effort from both men and women to achieve the goal of mutual courtesy and admiration without becoming a full-blown feminist.
Women should be held in the same regard as men, despite gender. Feminism does not have to be the only route to take to acquire respect, it should already implemented.
Men and women will continue be different in the aspect of physical ability, body type, and emotional behavior, but gender should not have an impact on the perception of a person. A person must be held in esteem solely regarding their character.
