First off: Good for you. This is a huge relief. We can hang up the signs, the activism, the fight for equal rights for everyone -not just domestically-, the pink hats, and all of the organizations. On behalf of all women thank you for letting us know.
The article that I'm addressing claims that there is no "war on women" because she feels she isn't affected by oppression in her everyday life. Every part of this piece is problematic and at points ironic starting with the headline and cover photo. The title of the original article: "I Am A Woman and There Is No War On Me" makes a lot of assumptions. The most glaring being that she assumes all women aren't struggling because she denies it in her own life.
It's not all about you. Privilege can have really interesting affects sometimes, one of which is making us think that we're the center of and the standard for everything. That doesn't just affect white middle-class America, but America as a whole. So, it's not entirely her fault. The headline alone also suggests that the war on women isn't an inclusive thing and the content goes on to do the same. The writer instructs us to forget all we're fighting for because girls and women in more corrupt governments like Saudia Arabia and parts of Africa have it more explicitly sh*tty. She distances herself from feminists in the original piece, but if she didn't consider herself apart from those who advocate gender equality then she may know that true feminism is intersectional. Feminists do not only care about white American problems. Those are white feminists and part of the irony lies in that the writer who doesn't care for pink-hatted feminists would resemble a white feminist in a way herself. The point being that problems for women exist outside of the sphere of white America both domestically and internationally. Intersectional feminism works for all women. That means women of color in the U.S. and abroad. Women from all backgrounds. That means we hurt for the women and girls suffering here and overseas.
The reason is because there's nothing that says that the war on women isn't a worldwide issue. Their struggles do not cancel ours out and if you're talking like they do then you're doing feminism wrong. By all means, hurt for women and girls who are treated more terribly. Don't forget that that was our reality less than 50 years ago. We can fight for girls who are kidnapped, and fight against rape culture. We can fight for girls who are forced into child marriages, and fight against our reproductive health being threatened. We can fight against mansplaining and genital mutilation. These fights are not mutually exclusive. Yes, problems for us and those abroad are different but many are universal and we -feminists- fight for all women. Yes, all women. Even one's who claim they don't need it.
Speaking of our reproductive health, that brings me back to the cover photo. The writer of the original article found herself a handy picture of women from NARL a Pro-Choice organization holding up signs that advocate the end of the war on women. There's something cheap about using protest images for your own opposite argument, but that's another argument for another time. The war on women is referenced most in relation to healthcare because that is where is chiefly lies. All of the issues that were already there when it comes to Planned Parenthood being unfairly persecuted and unfair laws when it comes to abortion are put into place. If a woman has to travel out of state to get an abortion then she does not have the option, original writer. Try again. The original writer isn't at all sensitive to reproductive health because she seems to have a thinly veiled bias towards abortion. (Refer back to: It's not all about you). Just because something doesn't feel like your fight doesn't mean it isn't a part of the overall struggle. If a woman is forced into burying her baby whether she prefers to or not after an abortion or a miscarriage that's not equality it's cruel and unusual punishment. If we are being punished for abortions then that is not an option to have one. That's destructive policy directed towards women specifically. There are many instances where policy perpetuates a war on women -take the luxury tax on tampons and pads for example-, but it's the worst concerning reproductive health.
It doesn't matter that things are "worse" abroad. The fight is ongoing. It's overall. All the issues that white women have when it comes to getting birth control and abortions are worse for black women. Many issues of sexism are as well. The fight is for all women. It's intersectional. Your argument isn't intersectional and there lies the real problem.