They are underrepresented in the realms of political and economic power and overrepresented in poverty, while barriers ranging from gender-based violence and lack of political and economic opportunities to laws that force women to meet a different standard block the path to progress. From a global perspective, one of the greatest challenges women face is educational inequality. Despite the many advances of modern feminist movements in the Americas, Africa, Asia and beyond, many continue to believe that women are less worthy of the same educational opportunities as men. While there's no denying that poverty, geography, and other factors contribute to enormous disparities in education, patriarchy justifies this denial of opportunities.
It feeds the message that men must exercise power and women must occupy a subordinate position in all spheres of society. This outdated, yet persistent, viewpoint fuels educational inequality and a host of other gender disparities at the national and international levels. Another incredibly vulnerable population in the United States today are LGBTQ+ women. Many of these women experience discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, affecting their physical and mental health and their access to work, housing, health care and much more.
Once the battle cry was sounded and Americans realized that women were capable and deserving of the right to vote, women fighting for suffrage continued to face countless obstacles. First, many women opposed their own suffrage for reasons such as those of dissident men. They strongly agreed with the belief that women's place was in the home and the community, not in the national public. Some were completely suspicious of politics and thought that, if they were granted the right to vote, male politicians would take advantage of them and manipulate them.
Because of women's participation in their community, women already had a political sphere of influence. Unfortunately, even with adequate education, women in the United States, as well as women in much of the world, continue to lack equal access to opportunities. The threat of harm is a human constant, but from any reasonable standpoint, American women are among the safest, freest, healthiest, and wealthiest women on the planet. And in Afghanistan, authorities recently decided to introduce mandatory photographic projection at polling stations, making it difficult for women to vote in conservative areas, where most women cover their faces in public.
According to an 1894 New York Times article, “granting suffrage to women would only increase the ignorant vote and put refined women in touch with an element that should not be part of their lives. We need more women leaders in the global health sector and beyond to ensure that the COVID-19 response addresses the specific needs of women and girls. The convention establishes an international declaration of rights for women and girls and defines the obligations that states have to ensure that women can enjoy those rights. The greatest challenge facing women internationally is the fundamental inequality of political and economic opportunities faced by most women in the world, but which Americans take for granted.
While the health sector performs well when it comes to women's participation, it continues to discriminate against women in terms of income, and full-time employment and leadership roles for women are lagging behind...
Leave Reply