Many still uphold the misconception that women are weaker, more fragile, or less capable than men. They believe that women are good for one of two things, housework or child bearing.

False.

Women are so much more than that. Women are strong, beautiful, capable and worthy of every single opportunity that individuals try so hard to keep them from. It is time for society to stop viewing women as objects, or as simply somebody’s mother. We are people, and we have worth.

To show their solidarity with the idea of women being important and necessary, many wore red this past Wednesday, March 8, for International Women’s Day. On top of that, many women refrained from going to work or classes, in order to prove to their male counterparts how truly important women are within our society.

It is sad that in 2017, women are still fighting this fight. That we are still fighting for our God given rights. It should not be this hard to understand that a woman, who works just as hard as her male co worker, deserves equal pay. It should not be this hard to understand that a woman, who is the sole owner of her body, deserves the right to decide what happens to her body. It should not be this hard to understand what women are still fighting for.

As a woman, our bodies are not yours to dictate. They are not up for grabs, they are not something you can ‘just have’ and they are certainly not something that you can abuse and then use our unresponsiveness as your freedom.

We are not a meal your ‘fame’ can have whenever it wants. We are not an animal you can scoff about in the locker room, and we certainly are not an inferior that you can prevent from obtaining the jobs that we outqualify you for.

We are women. We are mothers. We are daughters. We are CEOs. We are people.

The time to get onboard is not today. It was not yesterday. It was the day that we began our existence on this Earth.

Respect is not something obtained by being a certain gender, by dressing a certain way, or by having certain body parts. Respect is every single person’s right, simply because they are a human being.

We are not fighting to limit your rights, or to discriminate against men in any way. We are fighting to finally be seen in the same light we have seen you in, and our fellow women in, every single day.

Being a woman is nothing to be ashamed of. It is not an insult.

I run like a woman, because I am a woman. I hit like a woman, because I am a woman. I think like a woman, because I am a woman. And you know what? There is not a god damn thing wrong with that.