Last week I was hanging out with a bunch of people on what so happened to be International Women's Day.
Two of my friends (both female) were in the bathroom, and one of my guy friends made a joke about it: "Always in pairs," he said.
Everyone had a good laugh but it made me stop and think. It was International Women's Day, a day devoted to celebrating women, but also examining the issues that surround womanhood, and this gave me pause.
“Women’s issues” can be a buzz word, especially in an election year. But what are women’s issues really?
Often times people say women’s issues referring to access to reproductive health, whether it be the luxury tax on tampons, access to birth control, or abortions. Other times it’s about equal pay, maternity leave and glass ceilings.
These are important, yes. But what about this as a woman’s issue: The ability to move through space and reasonably expect safety and autonomy.
Any woman reading this has experienced the heaviness of the male gaze, whether it was walking down the street, sitting in class, or at work. Every woman has seen the objectification of her body.
Women consistently feel discomfort in public spaces, and this discomfort shrinks in comparison to other threats. Sexual harassment, assault (sexual and otherwise), rape and other threats are a reality that women live with daily.
Sexual harassment is not a by-gone issue, one in three women are sexually harassed at work. In the year 2015 alone the EEOC received 6,822 reports of harassment, while a vast majority of harassment is unreported for a fear of retaliation. Additionally 8% of rapes occur at the victims place of employment.
One in five women are sexually assaulted during during their college years, and only 90% of these assaults are reported. The risk does not disappear once of campus with one in five women will experience assault in her lifetime. 1 in 10 women being assaulted by an intimate partner.
Eighty-one percent of victims will experience long or short term PTSD.
Eighty percent of victims are under the age of 30. Forty-four percent under the age of 18.
An assault occurs every 107 seconds.
Someone was assaulted during the time you've spent reading this.
I could go on and give you more statistics, but I don't have to.
These are terrifying numbers. Numbers that weigh on women every day, numbers that are possibilities, numbers that represent trauma.
I could go on and talk about the way society aids this, by not punishing offenders, by the socialization of both men and women, or the media. But that would be an even different article.
I do not mean to demean other issues facing women. Sexism is difficult to confront, and it can be difficult to feel heard and taken seriously as a woman. But this alarming trend must stop.
Women's issues are about the ability to exist. And that's something we can't just sweep under the rug or a political platform.
