103 years. Only 103 years ago on March 8, 1908, the government allowed women the right to vote, to work without being criticized too harshly, and for women to work shorter work hours. Now known as International Women’s Day. Women have always been thought of as below men, even today and it is something we need to get a handle on for it is true: women deserve more respect from fellow peers and people. It is unfair for us to keep on fighting a battle that should’ve been won long ago. Women should have the same rights as men and it is not fair for women to still be fighting to earn the respect they deserve, to not get paid the same amount as men, and it is not fair that individual governments get to take away the rights of women.


People may have thought that women would finally be treated equally with the ratification of the 19th Amendment on May of 1919, but they are still fighting around the world to be taken seriously and to make a difference. Even back in the 1800s, women were thought of as less than both slaves and men(Deborah, Lee). We are now past those horrible events as those are just memories for both genders; but for females, they still fight for their rights every day. Women around the world are struggling to prove themselves against others; not only to other women, but most of all to men. Discrimination among genders will perhaps, remain with us forever as it is more like a rule rather than a question to be put to the test(Deborah, Lee). There are examples of discrimination everywhere, seen at almost every time of every place and one of those examples is the school cafeteria. At every lunch table, the boys and the girls always sit apart but for those very few who have a mix of both sexes. In a way, the world is like that. There is and will always be discrimination among genders. Another example of discrimination is in our very own military. Even women who are fighting for our country get harassed. ‘Over 21 percent of female troops reported military sexual trauma, compared to under 2 percent of men.’(Hally, Will) Men cannot show respect to the women who fight alongside them and therefore, harass them, thinking it will show that they are tougher than them and thinking it will show that women do not belong on the battlefield. There is discrimination today in offices, political parties, and even in the government(Deborah,Lee). Why is this fair? Why is it fair for men to come out on top even when a woman may surpass him? The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, ‘...the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world...’ (Deborah, Lee) which is basically saying that each and every individual has equal and natural rights, same to another who stands beside him. But this does not hold true. Men today have more freedoms and more rights than a woman has and our governments, our countries, have allowed this while women are so desperately trying to be heard against these very people who have said it is unfair for another to be treated better than another person. Men, some may argue, are one of the number one reasons why women have to yell to be heard against others as seen by the amount they get paid compared to women.


Women these days are not paid the same amount of money as men because of their physical stature; whereas men get paid more to lift things, none may hire a women because they are thought of as weak in muscle and it holds true. Women should not get paid more to lift things they cannot while if one may hire a man, he gets paid correctly, even if a woman thinks this is bias, it is not. It is a known fact with dealing with sports, jobs that include your physical attention, and athletics: men can lift more weights and can handle more than women. However, why should this be included in a job? Women should be paid the same amount as men because it is unfair for them to get paid less even when doing the same job. On July 4, 1776 the US was founded on a Universal principle: ‘that all men are created equal’ which was changed multiple times and eventually went down in writing as, ‘that all men and women are created equal’ (Deborah, Lee). We have equal rights which means a set of rights allowing women the same access as men to certain privileges (Quezzaire). So why is it fair to not have women and men as equals in jobs with the amount they get paid? This same thing is happening in jobs all over the world, is even happening in colleges where women are considered less than men. When people leave behind high school and enter into college, all the women will be worth less than equally educated men (Richard). The American Association of University of Women conducted a new study that shows when men and women enter the same college, pick the same major, and accept the same kind of job, women will earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns (Richard). Senator Tom Harkin said that, “Even more troubling - the study found that at least one-third -- or about 11 cents -- of the pay gap is caused by pay discrimination against women -- and this is 38 years after the Equal Pay Act became law.” (Hally, Will) So, even when you, if you are a woman, are more intelligent than a man, there will be a more likely chance that a man gets into the same college that you get into, perhaps quicker than you and will get paid more than you even when doing the same job. Women perform 66% of the world’s work, but receive only 11% of the world’s income, and own only 1% of the world’s land(Hally, Will) and so tell me why is it fair to treat a women like this when she does more than half of the world’s work by paying her less? Around the world people should be thought of as equals and yet we still have gender discrimination everywhere we see. At least in America, no matter how unfairly you get paid, women here are luckier to choose their own futures and husbands rather than the women living in individual governments who cannot.


We, as the U.S.A., have already stuck our nose into too many countries businesses and so by doing this again with individual governments, it may cause them to treat women with more ruthlessness and it could be upsetting their religion by making rights to women available. We should not help the women in individual governments because it would just be upsetting them, their governments, and their religion. By making sure the individual governments treat their women with the respect we treat with ours, we may just as well stick our fingers into a hornet’s nest for it will get us nowhere, cause pain, and we should just leave them be to their own private world. But why is it fair for more women, just because they live in an individual government, to not be treated with the respect they deserve? We should help the women in the individual governments because it is unfair for us to stand by and to do nothing. It is imbalanced for individual governments to take away the rights of women. Women and girls around the world are still being forced to marry those who want their hand, even if they do not want to wed(Sara)and most of these women and girls are married as children and then forced into labor and sex slavery (Sara). Most places with individual governments treat women as if they’re nothing and have raped women as a weapon of war in places like Sierra Leone, Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and Rwanda(Hally, Will). As Americans, we believe the right to freedom and to choose what we want to do, so why should a freedom like that overlook a child? A girl? A woman? Even if they live under different rules, they should still have the basic rights everyone should have. Here in America, everyone has access to education and schools and if you don’t put your child through, you actually get into trouble, but to the women and girls who live under individual governments, they are refused access to education and political participation (Sara). The Humans Rights Watch is working towards the realization of gender equality and more rights to women (Sara) but their goal is still years away to actually reach the ears of those who need the hope. It is biased for America or any other country to look away while women are being forced into work or being grossly exploited in a foreign country because it is neither fair or unfair for America to ignore cries or pleas for help(Deborah, Lee).Women here in America still face harassment from males and other females in general, but those ‘threats’ are nothing like those compared to Iraq or South Sudan for example and we should be helping those who need the USA’s help so desperately, even if it means looking away from our own problems for a small amount of time.

Women should have the same rights as men and it is not fair for women to still be fighting to earn the respect they deserve, women to not get paid the same amount as men, and it is not fair individual governments to take away the rights of women. All men have respect. Only some women have respect, not all and so it is prejudiced for us to keep refusing women the respect they have already won long ago. It is also prejudiced for a women to only make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes if they do the same job because by refusing a woman the full amount she should get paid, we are no better than the individual governments who think of women as nothing. We are all equals as human beings and so by refusing a woman her own rights even as an individual government, we as America, should step in and try to help; to try to reach out to them. We are all human beings. We are all equals. At least that is what documents claim, but women’s rights are being wronged, even in America where everyone is ‘free’ and we have to put a stop to it before it gets even worse. Before we have riots in the streets once again. Before we have another International Women’s Day because a person could not get over their pride at having a woman beat him at something. This has already gone far enough, we just have to make sure it stops forever this time.