National Women's Equality Day

I think it's pretty fitting that National Women's Equality Day falls on the first day of my Fourth Year of college. On this date in 1920, women earned the right to vote. Today, we are doctors, lawyers, teachers, mothers, students, and more. We have come so far, but we haven't even reached our potential. It's no secret that women are often not treated as being equal to men in the workplace. Our salaries are still lower and bossy or bitch is frequently thrown around as the word to describe a women with drive and leadership qualities that are admired in men.

This day is what feminism is all about. Feminism is not about putting down men, burning bras, or saying that a man can't open a car door for a woman. Feminism is about saying that a woman should be equal to a man and that she should have the same opportunities afforded to men. Yes, most of you have read this on my blog, or someone else's blog before. I am sure it still gets a bit old, but some people don't understand it. There is a Facebook page with over 22,000 likes dedicated to "Women Against Feminism." It amazes me that with all the publicity amazing famous and successful women get, that women choose to tune out the meat of the message and focus on the extreme cases that just don't embody feminism. Bustle published a wonderful article about it, absolutely disproving some of the anti-feminist messages that these women were posting, so if you get the chance, please take a look at that.

Just the other night after the VMAs I was amazed to find people hating on Beyonce's FEMINIST moment. Seriously, hating on Bey is bad enough on it's own, but to scoff at her use of the word, that's crazy. People were saying that the use of  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's speech and that word was a laughable juxtaposition to her performance and message. Guess what? It wasn't. First of all, a direct quote about needing feminism from Adichie's speech is "We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are." I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure she thinks Queen Bey can get up there and perform whatever she wants because she has the right to. That is what feminism is, it is the right to make your choices and have the same opportunities.

Like any movement, there will always be people denying the need for it or shooting it down. Luckily though, this movement seems to be gaining momentum as people start to understand what it means to be a feminist. Notably, Taylor Swift traded her uncertainty on the subject to feminist support, saying she'd thought it was a women v. men movement, but that now she understands that the modern movement and the word is all about equality.

So Happy Women's Equality Day, y'all! Oh, and happy last first day of school...I seriously can't believe it.

xx,
Erin