Dear Future President,

Living in this generation makes us more aware of different issues that concern us all. Today I would like to address an issue that I am very passionate about – equality for women. Equality for women would look like not being biased towards the other gender, respect to a women’s body, her decisions, and that she is not an object that males can own and then throw away. I remembered my 7th grade math teacher telling me that she once had job in a technology company and  that she had this exact same job as this other male, but she was doing a better job than him so why does it make sense that she was paid lower? That doesn’t make sense. I would to like to be paid based on my quality of work and not just because of my gender.We should make more of an effort to level the playing field and put more players on board. This way we would have more people to help run the economy. Girls should be more encouraged to take on jobs that are labeled as jobs for guys and we shouldn't be put into lower exceptions just because you are a girl.

 Boys are often expected to contribute to society and girls are often expected to be a pass time and not contribute to society. For example, “ Sexism and objectification of the female body is rampant in popular songs and advertisements. Little girls are usually given dolls or stuffed animals, while little boys are usually given Legos or video games. In science class, we learn about the contributions of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, but we rarely learn about the impact of female scientists such as Hypatia or Rosalind Franklin. From an early age, girls learn that they are not expected by society to become scientists, engineers, innovators, or leaders”  (Hu). This quote is important because it shows that guys are encouraged to build with Legos and learn many other skills that will help in a future job. While girls are often given dolls and aren't expected as much. This just shows how low of a expectations people have for girls. Maybe instead of giving an young girl a doll maybe give her toys and let her choose what she wants instead of living in a pink world where everything is perfect. Girls should be encouraged to take on a sport and she should know that her parents are supporting her and she can make her own decisions.  

Women are widely ignored while the contributions of men are widely celebrated. They are not expected to make a difference and occupied lower positions while males occupied higher positions. Young girls know that they are not expected much so why try? Why try in school and in life when males only acknowledge that they are more superior? When I am saying males I am not calling out every male, I’m calling out the ones who don’t believe in equality for women. This is just proving that inequality is still here because many people have a wrong opinion about women.  How many girls have you seen that committed a large crime? It’s mostly male that commits this crime. What should happen, are that young girls are raised to believe that they can do anything and be anything they want they also would be encouraged to be their own knight, which sets up their own independence early on. That would mean that they don’t need to depend on anyone. They would be encouraged to take jobs in engineering and technology. This will also help 3rd Third-world countries because some of these countries look up to us and changing how our society is would help save so many girls from being sold as slaves and being sold into other trades. This will also help stop people from abusing women because they will have higher respect to women. They will also help arguments about abortion and abortion will not be frowned upon.

 The pay gap still exists and it discourages women to try for higher jobs. A piece of evidence would be, “In 2015, female full-time workers made only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 20 percent” (Pay Equity & Discrimination) This shows that there is still a wage gap and it still exist. There are still people out there that a wage gap does not exist and they run away when it comes to the facts. There is enough evidence to prove that we still have no equality for women. I think that’s weird since we claim to be a fair and just country but we are still struggling with women inequality. Instead maybe we should try paying people equaling and not biased. This will encourage many girls to aim for higher jobs and other jobs that are branded for guys.

 If we do have equality it will look like more women having higher up jobs. My last piece of evidence would be “A year after the strike, in 1976, Iceland formed the Gender Equality Council and passed the Gender Equality Act, which outlawed gender discrimination in workplaces and schools. Five years later, in 1980, Iceland elected its first female president, Vigdis Finnbogadottir, who held office for four terms, until 1996” (Bianco). This shows how our country would look like if we had equality for women. Ireland ranks 1st in equality and they have taken steps to ensure that they are rights for women, If we do have equality for women then, just know we wouldn’t have our first female nominees and more jobs will be filled because of jobs being known as a guy job. This would have helped society develop and flourish. We will have more female leaders. If we do fail then we can keep trying, because these steps are baby steps and you have to keep taking baby steps until you can learn how to walk. We can make this work for us by encouraging more women to get jobs in places of authority, this would mean women in higher up jobs would encourage more girls to aim higher and higher to be anything they want to be because they are many people who look up to a higher figure and that would encourage more girls to go in those field.

Someone who does not agree with my views would say that women should still be inferior to their male counter parts. They are many people who will agree with this side. They would say that, their religion doesn’t say that they’ll be able to have rights. They also believe that women shouldn’t learn or women shouldn’t be bold or rule. Some people view trying to break the pay gap is absurd and women shouldn’t work. They have to stay at home and stay obedient. I would respond that, a woman is a human not an object. We do not want to be treated like zoo animals. A woman is her person and she is not owned. A woman can be better than a man. A woman has the capability to change the world if they are given the opportunity. Women should have rights; we are not doll or an object that you can will to do whatever you want. We are strong independent and proud to be a women. We are not ashamed of our mistakes because it made us grow into a better person. A woman should be judge based on the work she does and her work ethic just like men are and not because of someone’s biased ideas. Women are people not property and they can decide what they want to do with their lives and women should not be judged because of our anatomy, women are just as capable as men if given the opportunity. Everyone is different intellectually, no one thinks the exact same way and everyone is capable of amazing things if given the opportunity. Religion did not tell you to scorn women today or over-sexualize them; they did not tell women should make less than men because of the sex they were born. Religion is not an excuse is not an excuse to treat women like second class citizens, to do so makes you sexist, and behind the times.

As my paper stated, we should try to have equal rights for women. We can do this by enforcing at a young age that there are no boundaries to what girls can do. We can also make it a law to pay equal pay to both genders. We can encourage girls to go for jobs that are higher up but we have to do something. Women might not be on equal footing today or tomorrow but if we take these steps we will be assured that it will happen and it is going to happen. The world would also change to adjust to what we are like and that means more rights for women who don’t have a voice. So today I would like to encourage young girls to do any job that you want. We are the voice for those voiceless women… What are you going to change today?

Sincerely,

Amy D.