Women Of The World, You Are Heroes

In early society, women were simply pushed aside and not given the opportunity to go to school or even vote. At least, that’s what many people believe. But the fact of the matter is this wasn't early society. Those events weren’t that long ago. In the U.S., it took us a disgraceful one hundred and forty four years to really even acknowledge women as people, from the year the U.S. was formed in 1776 to the year women were able to vote in 1920. Not only has sexism been prevalent in the U.S. but the discrimination based on race, religion, and beliefs have been major problems as well. And because of these problems, our society has failed to accept many wonderful people for these meaningless reasons.

Take Malala for example. She was a highly intelligent young lady in Pakistan who was unable to go to school in response to her gender and thus spent much of her life fighting for those rights. Her heart was in the right place but still, she was attacked both verbally and physically.

And Harriet Tubman saved hundreds of people from slavery in the south by traveling back and fourth one hundred miles 13 times and helped construct the underground railroad. However, she wasn’t even permitted a spot on the twenty dollar bill arguably due to both her gender and race. Instead, 7th President Andrew Jackson, a slave owner and practically the complete opposite of Harriet was given the space he was in my opinion, undoubtedly unworthy of.

And another wonderful woman, Maya Angelou, a civil rights activist, poet, and singer was taken advantage of, many times by her boyfriend by being sexually abused. She went silent for five years straight because of these inexcusable acts.

Susan B. Anthony was a women’s right activist and anti-slavery petitioner who in 1872, was arrested for voting, a right only men had at the time.

And despite their hard work and efforts, women are still taken advantage of today. They are still paid less. They are still a minority. They are still, in a sense, discriminated against.

Instead of the incredible, powerful women they are, many women still continue to have the expectations placed on them of acting like perfect Barbies who simply cook, clean, and sit there all day.

Being a Girl Scout I know this first hand. I wanted to join Girl Scouts in Kindergarten to explore and make a difference in the world and instead all I’ve learned is to cook, clean up the room, do arts and crafts, and sell cookies. I’ve actually gotten multiple badges for doing those exact things that I don’t really think are that necessary compared to what the Boy Scouts do. They go on 10 mile hikes. They camp out. They can actually even get a higher rank in the military automatically from getting their Eagle Scout Badge.

But what about girls? Are we just supposed to sit there and learn how to cook? I’m sorry, but I'm sixteen years old, and I've already learned of these repetitive lessons we’ve learned way more times than it takes even a dog to understand. And it’s not because we females aren’t capable of working hard.

I worked so hard all throughout my middle school career, striving to get on Principal's Honor Roll every quarter, even when I ended up only on High Honors. I’ve ran faster than ever before trying to get 1st, even when I placed 2nd.

But still, I’m only a girl. And maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m truly not capable of doing a ten mile hike. And that’s where many girls and women today make their mistakes. They’re told they’re wrong once and in fear they’d be wrong again choose to stay silent.

But so long as I live I've chosen to make it my duty to face my fears and I will stand up for what I know is right. And I know what is happening isn’t right, for I’ve visited countries where men have stared at me simply for not covering all my skin from showing. And in those places it is dreadfully hot. There is no choice to cover your skin if you want to and not to if you don't. Not if you're a girl. And while I’m here complaining about having so many projects and tests at once, many girls my age have never even been to school because of their gender. This is the painful truth.

And there will more than likely be no one to save us when we are faced with such discrimination. We will in our lifetime probably always be thought upon as a minority. But we don’t need to think that way. We need to be our own heroes and stand up for what we believe is right.