Access to Education

The United States is fortunate enough to have grown throughout the years to recognize women as equal to men but in countries around the world, the reality of life is not so kind to women. The US recognized at a very young age that it is important for everyone to be educated. Through views such as Republican Motherhood, a woman would receive the same education as a man to educate her children and raise them with good moral, principles and strong views backing democracy. This gave women an opportunity to have a valid voice that was backed up by the idea that their ideas were not less than a man’s because she was just as educated as the men around her. In other countries, women are not even being given a chance. It is estimated that in developing countries, one out of every four girls had not received their primary school education. Without an education girls cannot so easily acquire a job to make money and support herself. She can not adequately teach her children. She is not aware of all the things going on around her and is not aware of the opportunity available to her. In developing countries, women are estimated to work two-thirds of the amount that men do but receive one-tenth of what men  make. In these same countries women are struggling to family plan. There are about 74 million unplanned pregnancies every year ultimately resulting in 36 million abortions annually. One in three women are also estimated to be victims of sexual violence in the form of sexual trafficking, rape, domestic abuse, or gender based violence. Another shocking piece of evidence is shown through the statistic that 140 million girls will be married to older men while they are children between the years 2011 and 2020. These are issues plaguing the women of the world and these are issues we should be concerned about.

Women in the Military

In the 1700s, women had little role in war or in the military. The extent of their involvement came from being laundress, nurses, or cooks after proving to the commanding officers that their presence would be beneficial. Due to women not being allowed to fight in the U.S. military, during the Revolutionary War, Deborah Sampson disguises herself as a man and fights in the military until she is injured and discovered to be a woman. She was honorably discharged and given a pension from the Continental Congress in following years. Many women did this throughout the years. For instance, Elizabeth Newcom in the Mexican War and many in the Spanish-American War. Women were given more responsibility in the war effort during the Spanish-American war with 33,000 acting as spies and support staff and 400 nurses die in the line of duty. It was not until 1948 when Congress passed the Women’s Armed Service Integration Act that granted women permanent status in the military and allowed them to recieve from veterans benefits. In 1991, Congress authorized women to fly in combat missions and in ‘93 authorized women to serve on combat ships. Since then, we have seen a great amount of change. In 2008 16,000 women were serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Germany, and Japan. Today it is agreed that everyone should have equal opportunity in succeeding in the military and though not all women meet those qualifications, the opportunity is present.

Gender roles

A common theme in society today is the misconception that for women and men to be equal, they need to be the same. In short, the misconception that gender roles need to be destroyed for women to succeed. Gender roles are a vital part in the success of a society and differences in sex are real and should be acknowledged and celebrated rather than looked at as a weakness. Males and females are genetically engineered differently and have strengths and weaknesses parallel to each other. On gendermatters.org, the website’s authors do a great job breaking down the importance of gender roles by explaining the differences between men and women and addressing their differences. It explains that women are genetically built to be mothers and it is well known that children do better with a mother figure and men are genetically built to be fathers and children also do better with a father figure in their lives. While it is important that people live freely and the way that they want to, it is also important to address the importance of gender roles as a natural trait in humans.

Value Human Life

Out of all the arguments made in regards to the feminist movement, one of the most controversial is the topic of abortion. Both sides of the argument bring forth valid points in addressing concerns of both sides of the issue. My personal opinion is that abortion is morally wrong and while that may be considered an insensitive and naive stance to hold on a topic with such depth, I will explain why and hopefully defend myself against inevitable accusations of intolerance.

In 2012, almost 700,000 lives were taken in the form of abortion (cdc.gov). The ratio stands that per every 1,000 live births, there were 210 abortions (cdc.gov). After the freedom of slaves, the 14th Amendment was ratified forbidding states from denying anyone the inalienable rights of “life, liberty or property without due practice of law.” It took until 1868 to make the final decision that all people have a right to freedom and life. Previous to ratification, people truly and thoroughly believed that they should have the right to own slaves due to their own convenience, similar to abortion now. In one of the GOP debates, Marco Rubio stated that in years to come, our children would look back on the legal stance of abortion similarly to the way that we look at slavery’s stance in our ancestor's society. I would like to think that may be true and that we will take initiative to address the fact that 700,000 lives are denied every year in a country that promotes freedom, equality, and life for all.

With that being said, you cannot legally instill morality in a society. This is shown time after time in history in times of slavery, prohibition, drug restriction, and same-sex marriage. It is a lesson that we have yet to learn. So while morally, I am against abortion, I am not sure that I agree with what Marco Rubio had said as much as I would like to. I am not sure that as a society we will look back to see abortion as a flaw in our country’s character as much as a landmark of further freedom. As stated in a previous entry, “The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens” (Jimmy Carter Jr.). Who would be more helpless than the lives of unborn children who cannot vouch for themselves? Women should not be able to take the life of someone else away and the fact that it is so easy to do so just instills in society how invaluable human life is becoming in this country.

 Transgender Bathroom Use

Prior to writing this blog, I knew little about the transgender population in the United States. It’s recognition in the United States social hemisphere has brought it to the attention of Americans all over the country. Some claim that it’s relevance is unnecessary due to how minimal populations of transgender citizens there are. According to livescience.com, there are 700,000 transgenders in the US, accounting for only .2-.3% of the populations entirety. While I, to an extent, question why so much attention is being given to such a small percentage of the population while we have so many other social obstacles to overcome and focus on, I also cannot help but recall a quote that states “The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens” (Jimmy Carter Jr.). So this validates the relevance of this topic and while we have other obstacles to overcome, because it is so heavily discussed and debated, I will address it.

A question that has been posed, in regards to the transgender population, is whether or not they should be allowed to use any bathroom they would like whenever they would like to. Public places such as Target have openly addressed concerns by stating that their policy will allow any gender to use any gendered bathroom they prefer to make sure transgender customers are comfortable while shopping at their stores.

While many have attended to the store’s new policy by boycotting it due to the fact that they fear for the safety of themselves, their wives, their daughters, their friends and their sisters, I believe that this is a small point to make. The point does not take into consideration the people who the policy change was concerned for and makes the false accusation that transgender women will pose threat to a normal woman using the restroom. Realistically, transgender women using the bathroom are doing just that; they are just using the bathroom. I could not imagine that they would want to pose harm on anyone around them more than they just want to use the bathroom and be comfortable with their self-identification in peace. The point does address a valid concern that men will be able to use the women’s bathroom and who is to say they cannot? If confronted, who is to say that they are not transgender? Posing a whole other problem. Target has taken a toll from the boycott and the effects are so deep that they are putting 20 million dollars into single stall bathrooms in stores nation-wide.

While I personally believe that it truly does not matter what bathroom someone uses, I do believe that the media so heavily covering the topic has turned it into an issue much bigger than it needed to be. I also believe, contrary to popular belief, that this is a slippery slope to moral decay. With room for opinion and disagreement, I conclude this entry.