Oct. 11, any other day in the eye of the people throughout the world, but to young girls, Oct. 11 is known as International Day of the Girl. In the world today, there are 3 billion females, these women create an environment full of creativity and knowledge. Many of these knowledgable girls are turned down because of their gender. While women were “granted equal rights” back in 1923 they have not been granted FULL rights. Employers are still paying some women less than men and some employers are even pushing women away from the job opening. These actions don’t show that women are equal to men.
It is 2016, the first year a female candidate may win the election. 93 years later and a woman MAY be our president, 93 years, and still voters do not see it is fit to have a woman in office. Senior, Kelsey Borbeck, says “ A woman can run this country just as effectively as any man has ever and will ever run it.” The running candidate, Hillary Clinton, has represented the women population of America for these past months. The fights and debates she has held are showing what the American women are capable of. Clinton is not the only female figure fighting for equal rights, such as Carol Moseley Braun. Braun is the Women’s Rights activist, Civil Rights activist and a U.S. Representative. Braun was also the first black woman elected into the U.S. Senate.
There are many more female activists who are all portraying the same message. Women should be granted equality, not through laws or Congress but through the respect of the American people. The acceptance of women’s knowledge and skill to be just as good as men. To earn the right of not being an object to a man, but being a piece of mind and intelligence to America. Candidate, Donald Trump, likes to repeatedly remind the women of America that they are nothing but “a bimbo, a dog, or even a fat pig.” During this election women have had to sit and listen to Donald Trump brag about sexually harassing and groping women.
Women also had to sit and watch while Brock Turner only had to serve three months out of his lenient six month sentence in prison for three sexual assaults. As the judge of the case liked to state, he was a successful student athlete at Stanford and this “stupid boy act” shouldn’t take away from his life. But Turner’s victim made her voice clear, stating, “Your damage was concrete; stripped of titles, degrees, enrollment. My damage was internal, unseen, I carry it with me, you took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, and my own voice, until today.” Thousands of women have dealt with this same thing, and yet rape is still not recognized as a serious offense.
International Day of the Girl shouldn’t be overlooked, the worth of a female shouldn’t be ignored and the respect women deserve should be granted. At Pleasant Valley the female population is strong, and PV does a great job at making sure the women have a voice. The clubs, Girls Learn International and Young Women’s club represent many females at PV. Borbeck says, “I don’t think women are treated fairly at PV, it starts with the dress code. It is pushed more on girls than it is on boys, and again inequality comes into play with sports. Why are we promoting the boys functions more than the girls?” While many girls face these problems at school, Pleasant Valley has tried to create a better environment with the feminist clubs. All around the world people are striving for the non-law respect that women deserve. It all starts in small places, at schools and in clubs and then grows into voting for what many hope to be America’s first female president.
