Today’s world is plagued by a multitude of problems affecting the human race including bullying, access to quality healthcare, the drug war, sexual assault, domestic violence, poverty, famine, and terrorism. To pick one issue that is the most critical in terms of the detriment it is causing to the world at large is almost impossible. To do so would require that one issue to affect at least all the aforementioned crises. It is because of this factor that I believe the most crucial issue facing the planet right now is the mass injustices facing women worldwide. Both here in America as well as abroad, women are suffering on a daily basis from physical and sexual abuse, limited availability of career options, discrimination, objectification, and poor healthcare. While discriminatory practices tend to vary from country to country, women remain at the low end of the totem pole regardless of the nation in which they reside.
Even here in America, although we fortunately do not have sex trafficking, genitalia mutilation, dowries or arranged marriages (at least in American culture) in the same numbers as many other countries, women are degraded via their objectification in the media and through pornography and strip clubs, and this objectification contributes, if not causes such traumas as eating disorders and sexual assault. Each of these in their own right cause such severe emotional distress that it is worthy of being called a crisis. When you incorporate the billions of dollars the United States economy annually loses due to mental illness causing workplace absenteeism, tardiness, and decreased productivity, these problems affecting women also affect the country at large. And they are fairly easy problems to fix, when you realize all it requires is simply respect for your fellow mother, sister, daughter, or friend.
Globally, the problems facing women are much more drastic and pressing issues. Everyday women face discrimination at the hands of their government, and even their loved ones as they are prevented from attending school or having careers. Those who are allowed an education have a higher drop out rate than males because females tend to miss school while they are menstruating in order to avoid other people. In some places women are married off at ages as young as ten or eleven years and used as little more than a means for creating sons. Newborn daughters have a higher rate of death by negligence because they are not cared for as well as the sons. Some countries in Africa practice genital mutilation in order to ensure the women remain virgins until marriage. Any deviation leaves women shunned from their society. In other places, women of all ages, are kidnapped and used as sex slaves in brothels, at times getting them addicted to drugs in order to ensure they remain in the situation, as it is the only way they can be assured of their fix. Combining the egregiousness faced by women in America with that faced in countries around the globe, the 8 originally listed crises facing the planet are all accounted for as a part of the injustices women alone face. By respecting women, and treating them as equals, we would be well on our way to positively affecting all major issues facing the human race.
Why is it that women are the only sect of humanity that is consistently put down, in any culture or country? Throughout history, women have been seen as the weaker sex, both physically and emotionally, but how did this view, which is scientifically sound, create a worldwide culture of female oppression? Humans evolved from animalistic behaviors that saw females in submissive roles. Many species have the males as the dominant sex, being the aggressors and initiators in sexual contact. Although the species Homo sapiens evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago, we have still yet to evolve out of this oppressive behavior, and actually have somehow managed to aggravate it. I believe that our increased ability to rationalize, and to understand the nature of animals and ourselves as actually caused us to exacerbate the problems facing women, as we can now understand the place females hold in animals, and use that as a reason to maintain that subordination in our own species.
While still in the womb, males and females develop differently. The advent of testosterone leads different areas of the brain to grow and mature in the two genders, causing the differences we see in men and women once they mature even into children and then adults. Females, on the whole, talk more and tend to be more emotional, while males tend to be more aggressive and are better at employing spatial reasoning. Some people use this as a basis to keep women in the roles of housewife, while men should dominate the areas of defense and science. I believe these people are misguided. The differences seen among people do not dictate their place in society, regardless of what those variations are. As a woman, my stance on women’s rights should be a given, as I’ve experienced firsthand the injustices we face. However, since unfortunately not all women share the same ideals, my fervor for this issue stems also from my involvement in the Violence Against Women Prevention Program, a peer education group I was a member of during my time at the University of Connecticut. I am all too aware now of how the media and society aim to objectify women and the power these media have over our culture. In every magazine ad, billboard, music video, television show, or movie, women are seen as objects of desire. Scantily clad females are everywhere, regardless of what they are advertising. How can women learn to respect themselves when we are constantly being told, both explicitly and subliminally that in order to fit in, we must cater to an impossible and undignified ideal?
Resolution will only come from a mutual respect between men and women worldwide. Education of the grave injustices and oppression is only the first start towards aiding women in their struggle for equality. The answer seems simple, and it is because of its simplicity that it may never come. The world has become so accustomed to throwing money at problems that it has forgotten the basic human needs of empathy and caring. These emotions, too, are more readily available to the female half of the species, the emotional half, that to garner help from the part of the human race that has come to rely on aggression will be even tougher. It cannot be solved by money, war, legislation, or affirmative action programs. The authoritative figures of the world cannot be relied upon to change the minds of the people they govern. Instead, a worldwide change must come gradually, through changing the minds of each individual person. Women themselves must be called upon to fight the system and respect themselves. Men must be relied upon to love and nurture, instead of beating and neglecting. America has certainly come a long way, but it’s dangerous to put too much stock in how far we’ve come, as there is still a distance to go. Nations overseas, as well, are making progress, but again, it’s important to look ahead in order to avoid stagnation.
The myriad of problems facing the globe today are seemingly insurmountable. How can we solve famine, poverty, terrorism and genocide? To make the world a better place, the answer to every problem is simply to care. If we all can care enough about our fellow human, every manmade problem can right itself, but we need the help of everyone, and so far, we’ve been neglecting half the species, by neglecting women. By eradicating the oppression of women, we can truly begin the crusade to a better world.
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