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With trending topics like #OscarsSoWhite, much attention has been brought to the public about the resurfacing of the ongoing racism and sexism. Many have expressed their concern with not only the Academy’s preference of race but also gender, with popular figures in the media like Ashly Perez, a BuzzFeedViolet Video Producer, live tweeting during the 2016 Oscar’s, using hashtags like #OcsarsSoManly.

Despite what may seem as progress, women still face issues in the workplace such as sexual harassment and assault, wage gaps, and are still underrepresented at almost every level in businesses. The fact of the matter is not that they are not as qualified or seeking the proper opportunities, it is that women do not face a level playing field.

For every dollar a man makes a woman make 78 cents! This is a ridiculous gap that should not exist in the workforce. Women deserve every right as that of a man, whether it is in the workplace or in society, and currently there is a barrier that is not allowing women to advance in almost every form.

Actress Patricia Arquette sparked an insight into women’s rights during her speech at the 2015 Academy Awards when she won Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Recently Arquette has released a petition to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and currently has over 75,000 signatures.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced in the early 1920s by Alice Paul but has never, since then, been passed, leaving women’s rights up for interpretation at the hands of whoever is elected into office and appointed to the judicial bench.

This had led to many falsely accused victims of sexual harassment and assault. Women too often lose cases due to a clear bias of men over women.

Pop singer Kesha filed a suit against her record company to void her from her contract with Sony Music due to her claims of sexual, physical, verbal, and emotional abuse from her producer Dr. Luke, and she was denied a court injunction on February 19^th by a New York judge. The injunction would have allowed Kesha to record new music – apart from her record label as well as Dr. Luke.

Fellow singer and actress Lady Gaga has shown her support for Kesha as well as other victims and survivors of sexual harassment and abuse. During her performance, at the 2016 Academy Awards, of her Oscar nominated song Til it Happens to You, from the campus sexual assault documentary The Hunting Ground, Gaga was joined by survivors of rape on stage. As the survivors exited the stage, Academy Award winning Actress, Brie Larson hugged each individual survivor to show her support for the cause.

“If I have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a $2 haircut explain to me what rape is, I am going to lose it,” said Actress Tina Fey.

Women, as they enter the workforce, are at risk of sexual harassment and abuse and nothing, as it seems, is being done about it. These victims (not only women) believe, as they have been told, that it was their fault and that should not be the case.

An ad campaign for women’s rights once stated, “As women’s rights keep being dictated by men, let’s agree that a woman’s place is in the House… and the Senate.”

Did you know? There has only been 31 women elected into Congress and 20 of the 31 women are currently serving in the 114^th Congress (2015-16). There are 535 voting members of Congress: 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. That would mean that only six percent, roughly, of the members of Congress are women… not cool!

Even in the film industry there is still a huge differentiation between films with a male lead and films with a female lead. Statistics have shown that movies with female leads typically make more money than movies with male leads and yet, somehow, these women still make less than a male actor whose film earned less money.

Movies with female leads make, based on the average gross over budget of top-earning films from 2006 through October 2015, 45.5 million dollars more than movies with a male lead.

The United States is also one of the seven countries (Suriname, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, United States, and Palau) out of all 196 developed countries IN THE WORLD that has not set laws regarding paid maternity leave. While a few companies many provide paid maternity leave, only 40 percent of women qualify for unpaid leave.

The US provides 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave with POSSIBLE job security!?! Compared to France, who provides 16 weeks with an allowance per month until the child’s 20^th birthday, and Finland, who provides the necessary requirements for raising a child and offers public day care, the US looks weak.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the military to open all combat jobs to women in December of 2015. The armed services had until January first to submit their plans to make the changes. It rejects arguments from the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman that the Marine Corps should be allowed to dismiss women from certain front-line combat jobs, citing studies that showed that mixed-gender units aren’t as proficient as all-male units.

Society is so fixed on double standards that many people feel that feminism has found a connection to man-hating.

Actress Emma Watson once said, “Fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there’s one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

Feminism has gotten, at some points, so close to man-hating that groups of men have started to call themselves meninists.

“I have encountered riotous mobs and have been hung in effigy, but my motto is: Men’s rights are nothing more. Women’s rights are nothing less,” said Susan B. Anthony, an advocate for women’s rights in the 1800s.

The roots of this glorious celebration goes all the way back to the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Women socialists and trade unions held an earlier women’s day on the last Sunday in February of 1908.However, the first International Women’s Day was held on March 19, 1911, but is now observed on March 8^th of every year. This holiday is sponsored by the United Nations and the focus of the day is meant to be aimed towards working women and the advancement of women rights in the workforce, politics, and society.

Of course everyone is different and has conditions that we may need to work around, but when we start to view one group of people superior or inferior to another group that is when something needs to be done and so far not much has been done about it, whether or not it is religion, race, or gender! We need to show people that everyone can have the same opportunity as anyone else.

Nothing is ever easy and it is not like we have to hand everything over to women but they at least deserve the right to pursue their own goals and happiness regardless of what their personal definition of that may be.

“Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”   -Maya Angelou

#EqualMeansEqual