Dear Future President,

A lot of people argue that women have made great strides for equality in this country such as having the right to vote, being able to go to school and work, being able to choose who to marry, etc. Which is true. However, we are not completely equal yet. Even though Amendment 14 states both men and women have equal protection under the law, women are still not completely equal to men in many different ways. This problem needs to be solved immediately. According to www.voanews.com, the United States of America is ranked 28th in the world for women’s rights. It is time to make a change raise that number. Men and women need to have equal rights.

One of the largest gender equality issues women of America suffer from is the wage gap. If you're not familiar with this, for virtually every occupation, female full-time workers only make 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. This is a wage gap of 20%. Many people say that this is because women take lower paying jobs, so they get paid less. However, this is wrong because based on earnings data for both men and women, on average, women make less than men even when they have the same job and are doing the same work. This is unfair because according to the Department for Professional Employees women make up about 47% of the workforce. That is almost half of the employees. What’s even more unfair is that according to the Department of Labor, nearly 60% of American women make up their workforce. Yet, women are still paid less than men. Some people have said that it isn't the government’s responsibility to fix the wage gap and that it should be each individual business’s decisions. But, if there is federal minimum wage that businesses have to follow, then it is not an absurd idea that businesses should be required by the law to pay male and female employees with the same occupation the same amount of money.

Another important subject to address is women targeted for rape and abuse. According to an RAINN article, 1 in 6 women have been a victim of rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. Despite these shocking statistics, it isn’t taken into consideration as a serious threat to many women. It is seen as an unlikely danger that will “never happen to them”. Yet, most of the time, that is not the case. Many people fear being attacked by a shark than being raped. However, according to thewildlifemuseum.org, the chances of a shark attack happening are only 1 in 3,748,067. Compared to the statistics of 1 in 6, that is a huge difference. Adding on to this topic, some people ask, why don't women just take precautions or fight back? The real question is why do men rape or abuse women in the first place. Also, with drugs like Rohypnol being used and elaborate planned attacks, it isn't always possible.

While it may be true that in this fight for equality of genders, men are affected too. Nevertheless, women are significantly more affected. Equality is for both men and women, but in this situation, women are the minority. This somewhat relates to the Black lives matter protest compared to all lives matter protest. Everyone's life is equally important but all lives cannot matter until Black lives do. This relates to gender equality because all rights cannot be equal until women’s rights are. More often than not, women are seen as more delicate than men. This is incorrect because although some women may be more delicate than others, these stereotypes do not define women as a whole. Women are people. People are not defined by adjectives. So why are women put into a category and described with certain words that society decides for them? Why do most parents of baby girls choose pink as a color for their nursery? Why are the terms “hit like a girl, scream like a girl, and throw like a girl” used as insults? This is the box that society puts women in. While it may be true that there are gender norms for men too, the words used to describe them are words of power like “strong" or tough” and it is also true that not all men are particularly strong or tough, yet, women are described with patronizing words like “weak, fragile, or frail." This shows that women are viewed differently than men. This can change and we can all be seen as equals if you as the future president help change society’s mindset.

In conclusion, men and women need to have equal rights. This includes closing the wage gap, spreading awareness of rape and abuse, and eliminating the gender norms society categorizes men and women with. This is a change that needs to be made and with hard work and dedication to bettering our country, you as the next president of The United States of America can lead us to the path of complete equality of both genders.

Sincerely, 

Taylor C.