Earlier during this school year, I attended a lecture that focused on women in the workforce (such as the glass ceiling, the gender pay gap, and how maternity leave can cause career setbacks). While listening to a panel made up completely of women (all except one was on a doctorate level), I kept wondering-- why are we still discussing this? Why are women still receiving 70% of what a man makes? Why does having a vagina and birthing a baby cause women to start at the bottom of the career ladder after maternity leave?

I believe that the world is not prepared to let go of our gender roles. That women are still viewed as emotional and weak or that women shouldn't be in positions of power (only a tiny percentage of CEOs are female). Society loves to call women "aggressive" or "unhappy" when they seem to reach the top (poor Hillary).

The panel often brought up that women, while qualified and in some cases more qualified than their male coworkers, often leave careers early, do not rise through the rankings in their field, and often choose to limit their overall career goals. This took me aback. The panelist said that the want of children often slowed or halted the career of many women. Dr. Gunther-Canada (University of Alabama at Birmingham) presented data that showed that this setback could cost a woman up to a million dollars in overall losses throughout their career. This, coupled with the fact that the United States does not require employers to give their employees paid maternity leave (the only industrialized nation in the world who does not do this), shows the extreme inequality in not only gender roles but also the devastation caused by the pay gap between men and women.

Once again the question of WHY?

I personally believe that from a young age, girls are taught to be caregivers. One of the first toys a female child receives is a baby doll. The child plays with the doll by acting out the role of mother. She is surrounded by a world filled with pink, taught to be quiet and sweet, and called, “beautiful" or "pretty," rather than, “smart” or “courageous.” Parents and teachers tell her that the boy, who hit her on the playground, simply has a crush on her. She is placed in classes like ballet to learn discipline and grace, not activities where she can show aggression, such as football. From the beginning, it seems that society already has a place for girls, and it is not in places of power or where she can be viewed as an equal. Dr. Briggs (University of Alabama at Birmingham) told the audience, “I have five part-time jobs: my career at UAB, the laundry, the dishes, parenting, and preparing meals. My husband has one full-time job.” But why is this? Why can a woman not brush off her responsibilities (and then she is viewed as evil or heartless) to her family but a man can in the name of his career? Perhaps, there is some evolutionary trait that women have to make sure someone cares for the young.

Or maybe gender roles and society have a larger hold on us than we thought.

It is by far time to break the molds that the world deem as acceptable. Women should not look at the, “Declaration of Sentiments,” and see something that has yet to be fulfilled. In the words of Malala Yousafzai, “We cannot succeed when half of us are being held back.”