Let’s just get this out there first: I am an independent thinker. I don’t align with either party but fall somewhere in the middle. I’ll lean left for some issues and right for others. But like most people, I think my views are fairly logical.
Scientific studies are factual. Marriage is marriage. Women are equal.
Record scratch. Freeze frame.
Women aren’t equal.
As women, we are treated better than we used to be. We are no longer expected to be homemakers, to have husbands, to be silent partners. And we aren’t expected to be baby-making, dinner-cooking, laundry-folding machines.
But at one point we were. And that’s where this issue starts.
I can’t argue against the fact we’ve come a long way in the past 100 years. Even the past 20 years. We have strong, free-thinking women to thank for that. They challenged what they were being told by perceivably stronger, conformity-thinking men.
How scary for them.
They did the highly unpopular thing and had a voice. They fought. They marched. They signed petitions. They sneakily built a platform to stand on.
So women have it good enough, they say.
Well I say we don’t.
It’s 2017 and women, who make up approximately 50 percent of the population, are lesser than because 80.7 percent of the House seats are sat in by men. These men are making decisions for our bodies. Bodies they’ve never lived in — therefore, they don’t know how hard it is to keep healthy and safe and childless.
That’s just one reason women PEACEFULLY marched on Jan. 21. We are scared. Just like Elizabeth Stanton, Maud Wood Park, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks all were. And we want our voices to be heard. We need them to be.
The women who organized these marches and marched in them should be celebrated for taking action when they are worried about their rights. What do you do when you’re frightened? I know I would prefer to stay in bed, read, watch TV or snuggle my dog. But no, we marched. We left our homes to put our bodies on the front lines to show just how passionate we are.
And we didn’t just march for the quintessential woman.
We marched for all women and all issues at stake: including women in other countries, women who are told they can’t because they’ve aged, women who are catcalled because they have breasts, women who don’t want another kid but can’t afford birth control, women who love another woman and are worried they won’t ever get to marry, the woman who gives us life each day: Mother Earth.
We marched for collective human rights.
We did not discriminate in our march. We’re asking you not to discriminate against us.
So I’m sure some of you skeptics are wondering: Where do we draw the line between sexism and feminism?
Yes, I like a man to open my car door. That’s a tradition backed by love and respect, not a lesser-than mentality.
Yes, I prefer vacuuming to mowing the lawn. That’s not me buying into gender roles. After having done both, my partner and I decided to split chores in this way. It suits us.
Yes, I cook dinner. I love to cook and bake and eat. I also happen to cook for a man. Mostly because he resides in the house and it’s convenient.
So the answer to your question is, we draw the line wherever we damn well please.
Because it should be our CHOICE.
That’s what this is really about it. Choice.
Make abortions legal so women can choose if that’s something that works for them and their partner and their life (yes, because sometimes it really is life or death).
Make pay equal so a woman can choose which job she’d rather have — if she even wants one at all.
Make it so the woman who chooses to advance her career instead of add to her family isn’t judged while her husband is applauded.
Make it so the female who chooses not to march isn’t fighting against the women fighting for her.
I truly don’t understand why women are so offended by other women trying to make the world better for the gender. No one is forcing you to get up and march on a Saturday. Or use your phone minutes to call senators. Or take 3 seconds to sign a petition.
It’s your choice not to. As it is ours to.
Why is it so hard for women to support women?
I support that there are women who don’t want to join the efforts. What I don’t understand is the women who are attacking the efforts and saying there’s no reason to protest.
Below are a few reasons I’ve heard FROM WOMEN as to why the women’s march wasn’t necessary.
Reason 1: That it was teaching our daughters to throw temper tantrums to get their way.
Actually, it was showing her that when something makes her uncomfortable, she can stand up and fight for what’s right. She can take action. We’re showing her it’s OK to be in charge of her own body. That she has a powerful voice that will be heard.
Reason 2: That U.S. women have no right to be upset because we have it better than other countries.
You’re telling me you truly think that’s a logical reason to sit back and be complacent? That it could be worse, so we should be happy we have what we have. I don’t think so. Plus, we weren’t just marching for U.S. women. We were marching for all women everywhere, who yes, have fewer rights than we do. But guess who marched in solidarity anyway? They did. Because change is change. Women are women. And they, too, will be influenced by who’s in office in the United States. They already have. Have you heard of the Mexico City Policy?
Reason 3: You’re pro-life so you didn’t march.
First of all, everyone is pro-life. Technically speaking, you’re just anti-choice. If abortions are legalized, no one will force you to get one. You’ll still have your right to abstain from it. We trust that you’re intelligent enough to be a parent, so trust that we’re smart enough to evaluate our circumstances and decide when we’d like to become one.
Reason 4: You don’t feel unequal.
Lucky you. You’ve never been catcalled while running? Never been made to feel uncomfortable by a powerful coworker? You weren’t hired just because you’re pretty and the men in your office needed eye candy? Your salary is exactly the same as the male with your same title? You have access to mammograms, birth control, pap smears? Seriously, that is great! I wish all women could say that but until that’s the case, we march.
Reason 5: That women were put on this planet to do what men can’t.
So females are the filler sex? The one that makes up for the almighty male? I guess by way of that thinking, if you’re a straight woman, you can “benefit” from this and have a perfectly evened out household. But what about women who love women? The ones who get none of the male “perks.” What about them? Is it human to say it doesn’t matter?
My point is that human is human and human rights involve all humans being treated equally.
Put simply, it’s about choice.
Choice /CHois/ noun: an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.
But women aren’t faced with possibility, we aren’t faced with decisions and we definitely don’t get to choose.
Choice is a funny thing. It makes women feel strong, but when women have it, I guess it makes men feel weak.
What I wasn’t expecting was this from women as well.