Women won their right to vote 100 years ago, so why does it feel like we still don't get an equal say? According to Represent Women, Only 25% of the U.S Senate is female, while 23% of the House is also female. But this trend does not just happen on the Federal level. When it comes to state elected executives and legislators, 29% are women, and only 22% of mayors with populations over 30,000 are female.

So, why are we so underrepresented?! Of course, there is the fact that we are still fighting centuries-old stereotypes that lead people to believe a woman is unfit to be in power. But we are also dealing with history taught from a man's perspective—a history built to show men at the wheel and push women to the side. We talk about great women as if they are a rarity. When, if you dive deep, you can find examples of incredible female leaders everywhere! For instance, Cleopatra was not the only significant female Egyptian leader. There was Hatshepsut, Merneith, Nefertiti and so many more.

For some reason, our society has decided that women, while just as capable and powerful as men, should not be remembered. There are subconscious ways this happens, such as slips of the mind or not even thinking to ask where the women were in history. But there are very obvious and conscious choices to remove women. Like men interrupting women when they speak, not promoting a woman who has more experience than a man, and assuming that a women's power comes from her sex appeal.

So, what can we do to change it? Organizations and lawsuits for our rights help, but we need to do more than just change the laws. We need to change our culture. And doing that takes more than beyond reason-of-doubt arguments. It takes bravery.

We have to speak up in every situation, not just when it is convenient. We need to have uncomfortable conversations about why things are inappropriate. Like when your roommate decides to hit on that waitress, as if she is not a professional and deserves the right to do her job without people hitting on her. We need to be willing to buy pink items for nephews, sons, and cousins because girls are not the only ones forced into gender roles. And most importantly, we need to make sure our movement is growing and including all women, not just one or two types. The suffrage movement was great, but it also did not include black women, lesbians, and poor women...whom continued to face the same issues as a straight-white-middle-class woman of the 1800s did, for longer than them.

The feminist movement has come in waves, slowly adding in more groups. In this 4th wave, let us stand taller than ever before and stand together because we owe it to those who fought for this beautiful right. We owe it to fight just as hard for all the women that will come after us.