Over the years, and still today, Women have not been treated equally. Lots of girls/women get underestimated for playing sports, applying for jobs, being physically stronger, etc. Maybe because they’re meant to be done by boys? It’s common for women to be treated differently than men. But why?

Stereotypes (associated colors/clothes)

Everyone knows pink is for girls, and blue is for boys, right? Well, that’s what most people think. Women/girls are normally expected to like the colors pink or purple, wear skirts, have long hair, wear makeup, and just, be, well... “pretty”. Babies, for example, are usually seen wearing either pink if they’re a girl, or blue if they’re a boy, but really, that’s just stereotyping kids. Boys and Girls don’t have to always like the same colors they are expected to like, because they are not obligated to, people just THINK it’s best like that. People should give boys and girls a chance to choose what color they truly like, not some color that everyone likes. Gender does not define what color you should like, or what you wear.

Dress Codes 

Dress codes are something that have been around for a long time. They are put in place so that students don’t “dress inappropriately or create a distraction.” Over time, dress codes have mostly been targeted at young women and girls. This doesn’t happen in every school since not all schools have dress codes, but girls can get dress coded for wearing crop-tops, wearing ripped jeans, wearing “short” shorts, dresses, skirts, and wearing tank-tops. According to schools, they are “showing too much skin” when dressing like this. Apparently, it is “distracting to the boys.” Yet, nobody is attracted to shoulders, kneecaps, and belly buttons. And can’t boys keep their eyes to themselves? To be honest, it’s not even distracting to them. Coming from experience, they have never been distracted by this. What some schools are doing is just simple sexualization which may even start at a young age. They take the easy way out of by doing this. They force girls to cover up instead of solving the bigger issue. Because of this type of dress code, girls are forced to cover up for no valid reason. 

Sports 

There’s the NBA, NHL, NFL, etc. are any women included in those leagues? Well, the answer is no. Have you heard of any teams or competitive sports that include women? There are leagues that do include women, but they aren’t as well known, take, for example, the WNBA, why not just the NBA? Why does there have to be a separate league for basketball, JUST for women? Why can’t it be women and men? Over the years, and still today, there are sports leagues that are JUST for women and ones that are JUST for men. Normally, the sports leagues that just have men, are more well known. People might argue that if women don’t have their own league, then very few women would be included in professional sports. Most women’s professional sports don’t have as many views as men do, why do we like watching men’s sports so much?

Pay

Another big issue, not just in professional sports leagues, is pay. If you look, you can see that women are being paid extremely little compared to men. For example, male athletes in basketball, golf, tennis, baseball, and soccer make anywhere from 15% to nearly 100% more than female athletes. Many women’s sport’s leagues have protested and fought for equal pay. Has that changed or helped, though? Slightly, but not enough. In addition, to pay, jobs in general, have big pay gaps between men and women, one of which, is Broadway. What actresses seem to realize is that their pay is much smaller than their male colleague’s/partner’s pay. Sometimes when it happens far too many times, actors would stand up for their female colleagues/partners. Sadly, this happens so frequently, that it happens to so many women in a lot of different jobs. Pay has now become so unfair for all women, not just in broadway, or sports, but in most jobs. 

Gender Signs On Bathroom 

The signs on bathrooms divided by 2 genders (men and women) normally have a sign that says “girls” and “boys” or “men” and “women.” The women/girl’s bathrooms have a person with a dress on and long hair, symbolizing a female person, and the men/boy’s bathrooms normally have basically a naked person with no hair, symbolizing a male person. This is a big sexist stereotype that about clothing and appearance. It shows that this is how people view men and women. That clothing and hairstyles are separated by somebody’s gender. 

As a result of inequalities towards women, women haven’t gotten as many opportunities as men have. This outcome is hurtful towards many people, specifically women. You shouldn’t stereotype or discriminate against people just because of their gender.