Writer: Mari Minear
As we enter Women’s History Month, which occurs during March every year, it is important to reflect the personal empowerment we have of ourselves. No matter what gender you identify as, it is important to acknowledge the gender inequality is still happening within today’s society. Told through personal stories and the items I love, here is my reflection on gender inequality as I get older.
Growing up, I was always curious about women’s representation in popular culture, specifically in superhero movies. I remember back to second grade when I was at a birthday party. At this party, the family of the birthday kid handed out cups with superheroes printed on it. With my beliefs in women’s representation at the time, I chose the cup with the girl on it. Only one girl out of about ten people. I believe I still have the cup up in my cupboard dedicated specifically to cups, so maybe I could count to a smaller percentage.
This was only the beginning of a realization I still have to this day: “Oh my goodness, women aren’t represented for who they are in today’s culture.”
Another connection I made to women’s oppression was my (somewhat obscure) love for government. Ever since I was in kindergarten, I have been able to name all the presidents. For a brief period, I really wanted to be a president. This dream may be weird for a little girl to have, but what can I say? I was driven and ambitious, even as a five-year-old. I always had my priorities set, which are still visible to this day (although maybe on a smaller scale). There was one slight mishap to my dreams: I was a girl, and all the previous presidents were men; however, that is not what discouraged me; it was my mom telling me it would be a lot of work. (This part of my work ethic has luckily died down).
As my love for government has developed into the other branches, mainly the legislative these days, I realize there is still a lack of women’s representation within our history today. We may have women in both the House and Senate nowadays, but that did not start until 1917 for the House and 1922 for the Senate. Currently, 25.2% of House delegates are women and 24% of Senators are women. This is a step in the right direction, but still not what it should be in comparison to the US population.
And despite the growing women’s representation in Congress, they still experience discrimination from their colleagues. A notable example was in 2020 when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC, was called “disgusting” and “out of [her]...mind” by Republican colleague Rep. Ted Yoho. After Yoho “apologized,” AOC responds to Yoho’s comments in the truest way I can imagine possible, saying, “It is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting of violence and violent language against women. An entire structure of power that supports that.” I find this quote to be one of favorite examples of women’s empowerment. We want to reform the government and society to have more influence from women because we know we have more personal input than men would. We want to challenge the society to our fullest capacity, and with Women’s History Month, we will be able to follow through with it.
My previous two paragraphs may have lost you from my general argument about how this is personal to me. But it is personal to me. A problem a woman faces has certainly been faced by another. I have been told I was crazy for having dreams as a woman. I have been misrepresented for who I am. But in the retrospect, I have felt empowered to have more women speaking up than ever. For me, for you, for everyone. This is what we want. This is the future.