When asked about his or her country, many Americans will utter zealously, and with vivacity, something along the lines of, “America the great!” or “America the free!” However, this is not a complete picture of the nation in question. Its state is not quite ideal; a concept to which many aren’t cognizant. The United States is plagued with inequality. Such a term generally brings to mind racism, or prejudice against the LGBT community. However, there is another instance that is missing in the minds of the majority of US citizens: women’s equality; an idea generally only discussed as an issue when referencing third-world countries.

It may appear that women are true equals in society. This idea comes from the progress made by women who worked exceedingly hard relatively recently in the country’s history. Women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries fought for equality, with suffrage on the front burner, in the first wave of feminism. This was followed by further attempts to achieve general equality, most notably pushes for reproductive and sexuality rights for women, the addition of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution, and the removal of the housewife ideology and expectation. Occurring between the 1960s and 90s, this movement was deemed as the second wave of feminism.  As a result of these efforts, women can now vote, hold jobs that were once considered “men’s jobs,” are allowed admittance into all colleges, and are no longer removed from existence by coverture, among other things. Thus, these privileges make many women believe that they are equal. A great number even snarl at the word “feminism,” thinking it an unnecessary notion, aggressive, and male-hating. Yet, lamentably so, this only indicates that women have grown accustomed to the misogyny all around them.

Women are frequently portrayed as objects, encouraging violence against them. A Jimmy Choo ad features a dead-seeming woman lying in the trunk of a car with her legs hanging out to show off the featured brand of shoes, while a man sits on the edge of the car with a shovel in his hands, breaking into the earth. In a music video, Jay Z raps in a room full of well-dressed models strung-up by their necks. An American Apparel ad comprises a man holding the feet of women’s legs spread before him. In a SKYY Vodka ad, a man straddles a woman in a highly-revealing bikini. Innumerable TV shows and movies include instances where men do what they please with women, putting their desires above those of the women, and aggressively grab them and make out with them, which is pushed to be perceived as romantic. In an even broader sense, women are simply under-clothed in the media. These depictions of women, as objects, most frequently sex objects, are what enforce harassment, rape culture, and domestic violence. If women are just objects of pleasure, then why not treat them as you wish? Why not slap their behinds, compliment their figures out on the street, or bruise them? What does it matter? This ideology degrades women’s perceptions and reality of safety. Men may strut through the streets or spend time alone out in the world as they please, only needing to avoid rough areas to prevent being mugged. Yet, almost no place is guaranteed safety for women.

The media’s featuring of mostly young, beautiful women also aids in the devaluation of women. The majority of women in the United States are older than 30, yet, women in their 30s or younger compose most of the female roles on television and in movies. Though 62 percent of the female population is over 40, females 40 and over made up only 30 percent of all female characters on TV and in movies in 2014. It is common to see lead male characters onscreen in their 50s, but their girlfriends or spouses are consistently in the 30s-or-younger age group. A prime example is the movie Unknown, where actor Liam Neeson, then 59, was married to 33 year-old actress January Jones. Men of varying age appear on both the TV screen and big screen, yet acting jobs for women seemingly fade away once they’re greeted by their 40th birthday. Women in their 40s or older are kept off the screen, yet, George Clooney, 54, John Stamos, 52, Johnny Depp, 52, Brad Pitt, 51, and other middle-aged-or-older actors are seen as sex symbols for many, even though they’re past the days of their prime. Older men appear on TV and in movies as many as 10 times more frequently than women. This sends an ugly message to the sex other than men that’s in Hollywood; only young, beautiful women matter to society. This concept is what funds “anti-aging” creams, Botox, plastic surgery/face-lifts, and the declining self-esteem of older women.

Women have also been falsely-portrayed in Hollywood, degrading their image. Hollywood neglects to regularly give them high-quality roles on TV or in movies. Too often are women two-dimensional, revealing their beauty after taking off their glasses or letting down their hair, supporting the main male character no matter what. There aren’t a great deal of women in leading roles, and generally if they are, they’re portrayed as bossy and universally-hated. Meryl Streep plays a major fashion designer in The Devil Wears Prada, who meets all her needs by ensuring that everyone is wrapped around her little finger. She is a woman in power, and nefarious just the same. Not many movies exist where women are in high-ranking, respectable roles where they’re well-liked.

Women are unable to receive fair treatment in the job market as well. To this day, women only make 77 cents on the dollar of what men make. There even exists a day called Equal Pay Day, which marks how many days into the following year it would take for women to earn what men earned in the previous year (which varies each year). This gap is difficult to close as employers generally don’t condone discussing paychecks in the office. Hollywood is a big offender in regards to paying women less. The tremendous wage gap between actors and actresses was brought to light to actor Bradley Cooper by his Silver-Lining’s Playbook, Serena, and American Hustle co-star Jennifer Lawrence. One example he discovered was that he and his male co-stars in the movie American Hustle made a considerable amount more than their co-star Amy Adams, who was nominated for an Academy Award. He has thus pledged to partner with the actresses he co-stars with when negotiating his contracts for upcoming films. More astonishing numbers exist in the world of CEOs. Median pay for the female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies is $1.6 million less than the median pay for men, or even the entire group. In addition to the pay gap, there remains to be a glass ceiling; women aren’t being invited to all the important meetings, hindering how far they can progress in a company. The world of CEOs can be referenced once again, as women make up just 4.8 percent of the chief executives in the country’s 1,000 largest companies.

A foul message has also been sent to women in the way of a distressingly small portion of school curriculum devoted to women’s history. All through elementary and middle school, I never heard a word about feminism, the women’s movement, or suffrage. It wasn’t until I was enrolled in US History my sophomore year that I learned anything about how women have fought for equality. I found the unit to be extremely fascinating, but it ended before I was satisfied that I had enough information and a full mastery of the material. As I discussed my passion for the unit with my teacher, irritation radiated from her and she developed an intensity about herself. She uttered, nearly between clenched teeth, that we couldn’t continue much longer with the unit. We were limited to a very narrow slot of time; less time than was permitted to all our other units. We both acknowledged the repulsing fact that the school curriculum allowed for women’s history to be briefly acknowledged without getting into much depth, when the rest of the country’s history is a white man’s history. The only consolation to this is that the school created a semester-long women’s studies course. Yet, it is optional, and US History is a required course.

Thus, there is much to be done to reach full equality among the sexes. Hollywood must stop portraying women as objects, feature more women in their 40s or older, and give women high-quality roles in TV shows and movies where they’re respected individuals. The workforce, Hollywood included, also needs to be put in check. It is necessary that it start paying women salaries equal to their male counterparts, and allow women to climb up the ladder to success. There also must be reform in regards to school curriculum to give women’s history a longer duration of time in the spotlight before the focus shifts back to a white man’s history. If all these things are accomplished, women will be closer to equality in society.