Women's Rights

What’s The Concern?

The goal of women's rights campaigns is to guarantee equal treatment for women. Declaring women to be equal to men does not suggest that women are the same as men in every respect or circumstance. In some situations, women can be legitimately different from men without being inferior. Ensuring equality in these instances is particularly important for both women and men.

I go happily through my week and suddenly I bump into another moment when I am startled that discrimination against women still exists.

Discrimination against women can be hidden, even from women, because it is often concealed in language, laws, and social norms that may seem reasonable and fair on the surface, but are actually to the advantage of men. We are accustomed to these systems, so their injustice can be invisible to us. As an exercise, try to imagine a man who you care about living your life for one week. What would he be shocked to discover?

I have a job and a career and just when I think that all is well, I am reminded that we women are at an economic disadvantage.

Women are still paid considerably less than men. On average, women receive 73 cents to every dollar men receive. Minority women earn even less. Black women earn 67 cents and Latina women earn 55 cents. Workers should receive equal pay for work of equal value. This is the principle behind comparable worth or pay equity. Don't you think you deserve equal pay?

Because women are often defined as simply mothers or potential mothers, this limits the ways that we think about ourselves.

Do women compromise the family when they experience themselves in many roles? Although motherhood can be a central and meaningful experience in many women's lives, not every woman can have a child, adopt a child, or wants a child. Yet, because "womanhood" is often defined by "motherhood," issues relating to reproduction and childcare are often labeled as "women's issues." Although reproductive health and the care of children should be a concern for both men and women, women are often expected to be responsible for contraception, childcare and education, and to compromise their careers in order to raise children. How do we balance our various roles?

Violence against women, verbal and physical, is pervasive.

Violence is perhaps the one issue that threatens all women, regardless of race, class, ethnicity or belief. In particular, domestic violence is a threat to women because this type of abuse is often obscured or legitimized by the family structure. How would you explain domestic violence to your daughter?

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