LETS GET OUR INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY ON!

Today’s International Women’s Day Theme here at Important Blog is:



Why women’s liberation you say? Didn’t that already happen? Haven’t women already been liberated? Aren’t men and women equal now?

Well, my friends, the answer is no, no, and definitely not!

Over at The National Council for Research on Women, they provide a very comprehensive list of the many reasons why the women’s liberation movement is still relevent and why it still needs to be very much alive, but I’m going concentrate on just a few that I feel really indicate the inequality that still exists between men and women in the world today.

First:

Women are still trafficked. Women and girls are the majority of the 800,000 to nearly 4 million people trafficked internationally every year.

An article on CNN.com details the struggle of one girl who was sold at age five by her parents to a brothel that caters to sex tourists and is very much worth reading to gain more insight on this issue. Please go and read the whole article because it is truly enlightening, but for the purposes of this blog, here are some important facts presented in the article related to the trafficking of women and children for the sex trade:

• More than 1 million children in global sex trade each year, U.S. State Dept. says
• 50,000 to 100,000 women and children involved in Cambodia's sex industry alone
• Gang rape, AIDS, torture afflict the women and children in this field

So, these women and children need to be liberated in the most literal sense of the word.

Second:

Girls are still unwanted in many countries.
In many countries, including India and China, girl children are still considered less desirable by parents, many of which are neglected, put up for adoption, or killed.

You may say, what does that have to do with me? At least women in the U.S. are equal right?

Negative GhostRider!

Right here in the U.S.:

Women are still underpaid. Women earn only 76 cents to every dollar earned by men – and have done so for the past 20 years!

Seriously. Ew. If that doesn’t scream “Women Still Need Liberating!” I don’t know what does. Remember, women only got the right to be involved in the political processes of this country less than 100 years ago! (Which is why we ALL HAVE TO VOTE- we haven’t had that right for very long and our grandmothers fought very hard for that privilege- so we sure as hell better use it.)

One example of late that proves that women are indeed NOT considered equal in this country is the question:

Are we ready for a woman President?

How many times have you heard this as we head into the 2008 Presidential Election? I have heard it way more times than I'd like to recall. If we were truly considered equal, than this question would never be voiced, because no one ever wonders if we’re ready for a human president.

(This of course also applies to any minority running for President.)

So in short my friends- don’t get all lazy and rest on the laurels of those who came before. There are still many steps that need to be taken (cheesy metaphor alert!) on the road to gender equality- the majority of which I wasn't able to mention here for lack of time and space.

Support Women’s Liberation and support Blog Against Sexism Day- there are tons of blogs involved, so check them out!

And now, I leave you with a final thought:

*Many thanks to The National Council of Research on Women for the information that I gathered from their site.

*Thanks also to feministing for the image above.

**To any concerned readers- my extremely pointless and nonpolitical posts will resume tomorrow. This issue warranted a step off the Pointless Path onto Serious Street, if only for a moment. I thank you for your support and understanding.