Feminism: A Fight For Equality
Only 20 percent of women make up Congress, 23 percent serve in the U. S Senate, and 19. 3 percent serve in the House of Representatives. The United States was ranked the 49 country for gender equality worldwide this gender gap can be closed in 100 years. While the U. S isn’t as far behind as Saudi Arabia, where the ban of on women driving has just been lifted it isn’t as advance as Iceland which is “the world’s best place for working women”. The United States is considered the number one power country but yet women have a long way to go to close the gender gap. From the 1920’s when women finally got the right to vote to the Women’s March of 2017 women have been fighting for gender equality, more women in office, and violence against women. The fight for gender equality in America has been going on forever, from equal pay to the manspreading women in America have are treated like second class citizen. The wage gap has narrowed but it hasn’t changed much in the last decade. Women make up half of the workforce and 40 percent of them are the breadwinners for houses with children.
Claudia Buchmann a professor of Sociology states that, “In 1978 full-time working women earned 62 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earned. ” In 40 years, a woman’s dollar to dollar ratio to a man’s has only gone up 18 cents. While a man is making a dollar on average a woman is making 80 cents, black women making 63 cents, and Latina women are making 54 cents. Buchmann goes on to say, “Even women with a college degree continue to earn less on average than men with a college degree. ” A female doctor is paid $20, 000 less a year than a male doctor. A woman who has studied and worked as hard as a man to become a doctor is getting paid less because of their gender. On August 18, 1920 the 19th amendment was passed which finally gave the women the right to vote. In 1922 Rebecca Felton become the first women to be serve in the U. S senate. Women make up 51 percent of the population but they only make up a quarter of state legislatures and 19 percent of congress. By 2117 women are going to have the equal number of people serving the government as men. There hasn’t been one female president in America.
The closest a woman has gotten to be elected president is Hilary Clinton, she ran twice for but yet fell short both times. America wasn’t ready to have a female president because of sexism and the social role theory. Men tend to be in position of power while women are still viewed as the homemaker and caregivers. In the first time running for president Clinton lost to Barack Obama and the second time to Donald Trump. Barbara Stark a professor of law states, “According to the deputy press secretary at Emily’s List, more than 25, 000 have contacted her organization expressing an interest in running for local or state office since Trump’s election. In the first nation-wide elections since Trump took office, there was a clear surge in women’s political visibility” Since Trump has come to office many more women have been running for office. Women are more likely to introduced and push bills that are in favor of women rights and children. Women know what women need yet the people in government are mostly all me.
Ever since Donald Trump has been elected president any advisements women had been it is going back words. Trump doesn’t not respect women he said, “The conduct Trump bragged about on the Access Hollywood tape clearly constituted sexual harassment as well as sexual assault: “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything. ” If the president of the United States talks so poorly about women how are people that work for him going to view women? When Trump first took office many women were upset and took the streets with the Women’s March of 2017 and the took to the street again in 2018. Trump has push back on women’s health care from rolling back on birth control to maternity leave. Trump is at war with women and women are fighting back by protesting and running for office.
