Issues in Modern Day Society for Woman | Teen Ink

Issues in Modern Day Society for Woman

April 25, 2021
By morgancarmichael BRONZE, Burlington, Ontario
morgancarmichael BRONZE, Burlington, Ontario
1 article 1 photo 0 comments

Life during the 20th century was difficult for women, and though we have made progress increasing the amount of gender equality in Canada, women unfortunately still experience discrimination. In current times women experience less blatant forms of inequality, compared to the 1900s when women would simply not have rights. Though these acts of inequality may not be as severe compared to how women were treated in the past, these acts still should not be taken lightly, as some women face these issues daily in their workplace, community, school, or at home. Women are said to be seen that way in the eye of society, but yet experience things like Sexism at School, Power of a Women’s vote, Sexual Harassment, the lack of Women in Powerful Positions, and Domestic Violence. Most girls grow up with gender inequality and do not even realize it. A young girl asks a boy in her class if she can join their basketball game, he says no, she feels confused as to why, “I thought these guys were my friends,” she thinks. The young girl asks him why she can’t play, and he responds simply with, “because you’re a girl.” The perception that girls are not equal to boys in things as simple as sports, can severely damage a girl's confidence. Some boy’s attitude regarding the intelligence of a girl is that girls are lesser beings than them and they as boys are in fact smarter. This is an issue that has been tolerated for an extensive amount of time and really has not changed. Dress-code, the restrictions on clothing that should or should not be allowed in school. 60% of all girls in Canada will be unnecessarily dress-coded in school before they are 16. Some dress codes are practical like you cannot just wear your bathing suit to school. But others are unnecessary and put in place there because showing a body part as simple as a shoulder can be distracting to men. This goes back to the 1920s-1930s when women started straying away from the typical full coverage attire into clothes that they wanted to wear. Another topic that relates to gender inequality is sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from verbal transgressions to sexual abuse or assault. Often it happens to girls in high school, or in their 20’s-30’s. For teenage girls, sexual harassment can range from sexual assault to making unwanted sexual comments at them. This type of behavior can make young girls feel disturbed or insecure in their own school, it can also have serious effects on them like; headaches, trauma, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and chronic pain. Women also face these symptoms after being sexually harassed or assaulted. In a workplace, women should feel safe and free to wear a skirt without a man objectifying her or harassing her.  Sexual assault in the workplace causes 40% of all job leaves in Canada for all women. Women no longer feel comfortable in their work environment so they feel forced to quit their job. Women in positions of power have been going through sexual assault for decades, men sometimes feel threatened that their boss is a girl. We don’t have enough women in power all around the world, look at Hillary Clinton compared to Donald Trump in the election, though Hillary was the obvious candidate, Trump used her gender as a sign of weakness during his rallies, or on Twitter. Until after WW2, we didn’t see many women standing up for their rights or leading protests. There are few times when a woman in power doesn’t experience any backlash, and that's scary. Your gender should not define your leading capabilities. This also correlates with women voting, for so long we struggled to get the right to vote, and now that we have it, women choose not to vote. Statistics say that 46% of all women in America did not vote because their “husbands” already voted. As an individual with human rights, women should vote no matter if their husband did or not, the perception that a husband still is in charge of things like voting is just clearly incorrect. The last topic regarding current-day issues women face is Domestic Violence. When violent abuse happens from someone who has promised to love and protect you, it can be a terrifying shock. For some victims, this originally unanticipated behavior is simply written off. It is viewed as a one-time thing. Once it starts to become a recurring problem, sadly, sometimes excuses are still made or those affected are entirely knowledgeable of the issue but feel as though they have nowhere else to go. Since times at late as the 1700s, women faced abuse from their family to the people they married. Though it is less accepted now and is considered illegal, girls and women all over the world face domestic violence. For someone who has never encountered domestic abuse or seen it happen to someone close to them, it can be easy to ask why the person does not simply leave. It is simple to make assumptions about victims who choose to stay in abusive relationships. In reality, the most significant obstacle to ending the abuse is not a concern of whether the victim chooses to leave, but whether the victim can safely escape. This should never be a concern of which a woman has to worry about in her home. The struggle that women have faced for decades is absurd, we create life, some of the best ideas in history have come from women. Our gender does not define our capabilities and does not excuse inappropriate or violent behaviors towards us. We are strong. Society needs to embrace womanhood, we have improved over the years but, until are truly equal to men in everyone’s eyes, we still have to fight for our rights. Women can change the world and already have.


The author's comments:

My name is Morgan and I wrote this paper to spread awareness of the unfortunate and unethical struggles that women go through in today's time. I hope that you take away the strong and powerful message that being a "girl" doesn't justify you as a lesser person, or make you less qualified. Anyways I hope you enjoy this piece!


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