30 Day Challenge: Day 2 - Part 1

Something I Feel Strongly About

Wow, this could be a lot of things.  But to stick to the prompt and choose only one, I'll have to go with the first one that came to mind: Women's Rights.

I'll keep it to the U.S.A.  Although women's rights are being denied all over the world. 

Women right to vote was recognized in 1920. Notice I didn't say we were given the right to vote, because we always had that right, we just weren't allowed to exercise it. 

1920!! That was only 98 years ago.  Not 200 or 1000, but women in America have had the right to vote or run for office for ONLY 98 years.  That's not near the beginning, but it's a good start. 

Here's some information from Wikipedia:

In the 26 September 2011 issue of Newsweek magazine a study was published on the rights and quality of life of women in countries around the world. The factors taken into account were legal justice, health and healthcare, education, economic opportunity, and political power. The rankings were determined by Lauren Streib by uniform criteria and available statistics. 

Top ten

Rank	Country	Overall	Justice	Health	Education	Economics	Politics
1	Iceland	100.0	100.0	90.5	96.7	88.0	92.8
2	Sweden	99.2	90.8	94.8	95.5	90.3	93.1
3	Canada	96.6	100.0	92.7	92.0	91.0	66.9
4	Denmark	95.3	86.1	94.9	97.6	88.5	78.4
5	Finland	92.8	80.2	91.4	91.3	86.8	100.0
6	Switzerland	91.9	87.9	94.4	97.3	82.6	74.6
7	Norway	91.3	79.3	100.0	74.0	93.5	93.9
8	United States	89.8	82.9	92.8	97.3	83.9	68.6
9	Australia	88.2	80.7	93.3	93.9	85.3	65.1
10	Netherlands	87.7	74.0	95.0	99.0	83.0	68.4

This was done last year and the United States is only #8.  Are you kidding me?!
Our lowest score was Politics, where women are still discriminated against year after year.



Oh, and let's talk about media in America.  Women in America are supposedly free from slavery, yet we are told on a regular basis to latch ourselves to our makeup and closets!!

To be considered a professional a woman must wear the right clothes, which are often uncomfortable and even harmful to our bodies (high heels anybody?), always have perfectly placed hair, and wear make-up to conform to pictures we see and are told are "real" women when the only thing real is that they were photo-shopped!  Oh and men, they wear a suit and they're done.  Maybe shave their face.

Check out this video by Dove if you think I'm lying: Dove Evolution



Oh and the sex slave trade.  Women of all ages are still being forced into prostitution and other types of slavery every day.  Visit OATH: Oklahoman's Against the Trafficking of Humans for more information on statistics and what you can do to help.


All in all, women are still treated as second class citizens in America.  This doesn't even take into account if the women is an ethnic minority or in a lower socio-economic class, which only increases the discrimination.



Yes I feel strongly about this, but I haven't done much to change it other than write about it occasionally.  Challenge accepted.