Whoa, Woman!

There are many issues that plague our society, and many are valid. However, global issues are a little fewer. And when it comes to global issues, many aren’t too treatable. Despite this, I think that sexism is something that can be treated.

Sexism in the United States isn’t as bad as it is around the world, but it’s not exactly a solved issue, either. Here in the states we are constantly gaining more and more freedoms from the gender divide. The age gap is closing, women are being represented more and more, and—believe it or not—the legalization of gay marriage has helped, too. Because of gay marriage, the idea of general equality is becoming more widespread and thought than ever before.

And yet, despite all this, we still have some issues that we, as a society, need to face. Females are represented rather poorly in most forms of entertainment, either being to meek and fragile, or being far too over sexualized. And these aren’t just scattered incidents: this happens in almost every Hollywood movie. The situation is progressing, but very slowly. Many people don’t see where the issue is in this, but it’s very simple: art is a reflection reality. When a young girl sees Ariel on the screen with a waistline that’s smaller than the point of a needle, it’s possible to form that as the true idea of beauty, which is hard to obtain. Granted, not all situations are like this, but it has become an issue.

These issues are still big issues, and they aren’t to be taken lightly, but we have a vastly superior situation than other nations do. In places around the world women are treated horribly. They are refused an education. They are basically just used to create and take care of offspring. These women can’t do anything. They can’t rise up and fight back because they’re either taught to be silent (and thus believe that their style of life is normal and they don’t understand that anything is wrong) or they’re kept from resisting and creating a group. And while we have people like Malala Yousafzai, the world can’t get by with just one advocate preaching in the wilderness. From the seeds of Malala’s testimony and faith, more advocates need to rise.

My final point is directed at Sweden. Sweden has a government that actually pays for their women to go on a maternity leave. Not only that, but the fathers are paid for a simultaneous paternity leave. These are small advancements that have caused a big impact, rippling over here in the states. This is a positive move toward treating women and families as they should be treated. This is a positive move toward portraying a positive and less sexist image of a country.

While there are many issues that still need to be resolved, and many more that may arise because of this, these steps are worth it. Each individual should be treated as an equal, and sexism is just one facet of that. Sexism is a global issue, and is becoming to be treated as so. We have Anti-Sexism advocates all over the world, and I consider myself as one of them. Hopefully, we’ll be able to help resolve this issue to the best of our abilities.