Women Empowerment

“It is universally known that humans are born with certain basic rights, the first one being “We are all born free and equal. We all should be treated in the same way” (United Nations Universal Declaration). Unfortunately, this right is not completely enforced because women and girls all around the world face oppression due to their gender and have been fighting to be treated equally for at this point – an embarrassing amount of time. This should not be the case, especially since they are supposedly entitled by nature to be treated equally to their male counterparts.

Inequality is not only disadvantageous for females, but for everyone. As established in the past with the predisposed roles of being either a mother or a housewife, women greatly contribute to the health and productivity of families and communities, a world without feminine energy would be vastly different. This is a vital cause to be invested in because making sure women have equal pay, opportunity, and are treated with respect will help economies worldwide and result in revolutionary progress that benefits all of humanity. Upsettingly enough, women are still far from achieving full equality but there are ways to ensure that progress rolls faster (Spoiler alert: Everyone can play a part in pushing for equality – the fight is not just for A-list celebrities with extra money to donate or a couple of organizations)!

To further understand why female empowerment is a pressing issue and inspire more change, it is important to take a trip to the past for a moment and consider how previous changes affected our world positively. In 1848, Elizabeth Stanton, a female human rights activist, wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, a detailed description about how women were oppressed such as having no right to vote, own land, earn wages, enroll in college, and have any say in divorce/child custody proceedings. Then in 1854, she secured reforms that allowed women to gain joint custody of their children after divorce, own property and participate in business transactions. After her death, fellow women suffrage activist Susan B. Anthony went on to help push the 19th amendment into ratification, which finally gave women the right to vote. It is baffling how at one point women could not do any of those simple but important things. The world would be dangerously behind now if women like Elizabeth Stanton or Susan B. Anthony didn’t take a stand.

Of course those historical events made an astronomical difference for mankind, but that is not the only way to push for more equality. It can be done minutely too, throughout everyday life. Take the real-life novel “Half Broke Horses” by Jeannette Walls for example. It is based on a woman named Lily Casey Smith who lived around 100 years ago, and she personified feminism accurately by acknowledging that she does need men in her life, but more often than not she can live without them, all it took was just challenging society’s gender roles. When learning to fly a plane, her instructor made a big deal out of the fact that she was a woman, but she replied “Don’t you ‘little lady’ me … I break horses. I brand steers. I run a ranch with a couple dozen crazy cowboys on it, and I can beat them all in poker. I’ll be damned if some nincompoop is going to stand there and tell me that I don’t have what it takes to fly that dinky”

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