In 1607, the English came to North America and began to settle in Jamestown. At the young and innocent age of 11, Pocahontas laid her head upon John Smith's, saving her future lover from the fate of execution.
Anne Frank and her family lay hidden behind countless walls and bookshelves, completely and utterly erasing themselves from the outside world. Little did they know what beauty they'd find in her diary when they found her. Despite the evils she had endured, at 13 she wrote, "I really believe people are good at heart."
Mary Shelly, the founder of science-fiction, wrote of monsters and their creators at 16. Taking leaps and bounds for the era, her ideas and words were remembered long after her.
Joan of Arc heard God call her, so at 17 she willingly picked up her sword and lead the french into the war, without any military training whatsoever, she was still able to guide them to victory. Jackie Mitchell, 17, when she struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on April 2, 1931. Mitchell shook up these grown men so badly that within days, women were banned from professional baseball, inferring "women aren't tough enough."
Cleopatra, was only 18 when she was dubbed queen of the Nile. Sacagawea was 18 when she carried a baby on her back leading Lewis and Clark across all of North America. Nelly Bly was 18 when her undercover journalism brought justice to the asylum patients in NYC.
If this doesn't scream women's capability to achieve greatness, I don't know what does.
Yes, women's rights have come such a long way in the past 100 years. That is obvious; we earned voting rights, educational rights, we entered the job force, etc. But the fact of the matter is, women are being effected by gender inequality on a daily basis. We just haven't fully achieved equality yet.
One in every four women is sexually assaulted, yet society still has the nerve to ask, what were you wearing? Because the length of your skirt somehow dictates whether you deserve to be raped? Makes total sense. And the absolute necessity of consent is still viewed as a joke, but instead of trying to teach boys that no, does in fact mean no, we tell women not to wear certain clothing, not to drink too much, or flirt too much. Wait, isn't that Victim-blaming? *cough cough*.
Because Women's bodies are used to sell everything from burgers to cars, but don't you dare try to breast feed in public. Somehow doing something completely natural is viewed as "indecent."
Because society tells young girls to value their appearances, what they wear and look like, over education. Because the number of "brand named" clothes in your closet is more important than the number of books you've read on your bookshelf.
If that wasn't enough for you, how about the fact that in 2013 there were over 700 bills proposed to regulate a woman's body. Yet, 80 percent of the political body making those decisions about my body is... male.
Sure, women have entered the job force, but for every dollar a man makes a woman makes only 80 cents for the same exact work. The same pay for the same work is a fair request. That sneaky pay gap will only continue to widen unless we bring attention to it.
Women are capable of so much more than we think. Honestly, living in a greatly governed country without equality of the sexes is simply and embarrassment; we should be setting good examples, not making a fool out of ourselves by belittling women because of their pluming. This change, this equality, will not just happen over night, but we can stand up for our future children and grandchildren in the hopes that change will have occured for them.
