Dear Mr President,

As a concerned citizen and student, I would like to take a moment to tell you more about the gender equality problem in America. Most people would like to think and say that we need to teach more women about math and science so they have higher paying jobs and they will help close the pay gap. I would like to say that this so called “Gender Equality” means that everyone is equal. In our current society we not only push women to be a part of the workforce, but we don’t let men be stay at home dads, nurses, or hold occupations that we deem “feminine”. Susan Fisk describes this perfectly when she says, “So if equally qualified applicants apply for a male-typed job, such as a computer engineer, male applicants will be advantaged relative to female applicants. But if two equally qualified applicants apply to a female-typed job, such as a nanny, the woman would be more likely to receive the job offer”. When will we dare to look at people as humans and not look at their race or their gender.

We force colleges to maintain a certain percentage of women! Why does that have to be a thing and why aren’t we able to see people by their accomplishments and their goals? According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 57% of college students were female! That doesn’t seem like much of a problem to me. We no longer have to worry about women going to college, but rather pushing people to find a job that they like and will enjoy. The number of students going to college is rising. So, why do colleges have to hold maintain the number of women? We are all equal and we all deserve an equal chance in education. This problem also consists in the workforce. Many employers are forced to pick a woman with less credentials than a man who has a better resume. Don’t we want qualified people working in our job force?

Finally, we should change the way younger generations look at gender roles or even get rid of them all together. Sava Berhané says, “If we can reimagine leadership as a more collaborative, supportive vocation, those qualities won't appear so gendered in the first place”. So Mr.President, I encourage you to show America that gender roles are irrelevant and that we as the people create society. We don’t need to put each other down for the careers we choose or how we achieve them. Let’s start to see everyone around us as people and not as a statistic.

Yours Sincerely,

Paige Fiet