According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, gender is defined as "the sate of being male or female" and equality is defined as "the quality or state of being equal and having the same rights, social status, etc."

Recently, society has put emphasis on and drawn awareness to women's rights and equality. So, why is it now that society is starting to consider this? Yes, the fact that a female candidate is running for office plays a big part, but more importantly people are starting to wake up and realize the reality of women's rights, regardless of their own gender.

The argument of inequality has been going on since the early 20th century and before. Women had to fight for the right to be educated, work and vote because it was not given to them as easily as it was to men. Yet, the fact that it is 2016, the 21st century where the world is modern and technologically advanced, and women are still not completely equal to men.

Growing up, this issue never bothered me, mostly because I was too young and never realized how unjust it was. But today, at 18 years old, it strikes me. Being at the age where career options are becoming more significant and rights overall are playing a bigger role in my life, I sometimes sit ask ask why is this still a thing.

Unequal gender pay is a real thing and should not be brushed under the carpet. Women are paid 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, and the number is even lower for women of color. If I am doing the same amount of work and the same number of hours as a man, I deserve to be paid an equal amount.

In fact, let alone being paid less than men, women are the minorities in a workplace. It has been proven that women are not given equal chances when it comes to certain job positions. For instance, less than 30 percent of women are CEO's and only 20 percent of women make up Congress.

Aside from unequal pay, let's talk about sports. Whenever someone thinks about major sports organizations, the first thing that comes to their heads are the NFL, MLB, NHL, and maybe FIFA. In fact, they are all male associations. Unless you are a female athlete and follow major league sports, no one draws much attention to watching professional female games. In the United States, the WNBA is probably one of the only well known female professional associations to watch (even these women are paid significantly less then their male counterparts). Male athletes are praised and glorified daily because everyone knows about them, but only a few female athletes get that much notice in the news. Female athletes are continuously deprived of equal pay, opportunity, and funding when compared to male athletes.

As a whole, society has to do something to stop this inequality.

Therefore I leave you with this:

The word feminism has been thrown around and taken out of context in the recent years. Feminism is defined as "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." A feminist is defined as "a person who supports feminism." Nowhere in those definitions does it say solely women who support and advocate for women while hating men. Therefore, society has to stop stigmatizing feminism as something bad and something only for women to be involved in. The fact is anyone can be a feminist; however, a person doesn't have to be classified as a feminist to believe equality is deserved for both women and men. It just takes a smart person with common sense to believe that for every $1 a man makes a woman should make the same.