Why we need feminism

“We don’t need feminism. Everyone’s basically equal nowadays.” As those words fell out of her mouth, I felt my frustration levels starting to rise. I tried to form cohesive sentences in order to explain all that is wrong with her statement, but before I could, she walked away, leaving me dumbfounded. There are so many reasons why we still need feminism. Here are just a few of them.

Because on average, women make $0.77 for every man’s dollar. Because instead of telling us that our dancing is bad, my ballet teacher tells us to stop “dancing like girls”. Because one in every five women will be raped/sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and one in every three women will be beaten. Because my eighth grade english teacher would constantly call girls sluts, or tell us we were asking for attention when we wore shorts. Because globally, there are 31 million primary education aged girls not enrolled in school. Because as a 15-year-old girl, I already know how I’m going to balance work and running a family when I’m older, and I can guarantee that my male counterpart does not. Because according to a 2009 study, half of the girls aged three to six believed they were too fat. Because I have worried about getting raped since I was nine years old. Because governments control women’s bodies. Because when looking at my “girls’ rights are human rights” bracelet, a boy in my class actually laughed out loud and told me that my bracelet was stupid. Because a woman has yet to be elected president. Because whenever I’m out late, my mother stays awake until I get home because she’s too scared something might happen to me to sleep. Because less than 20% of the seats in Congress are filled by women. Because if a female teacher is in a bad mood, my male friend will ask if she’s on her period. Because people dressed up as Ray Rice and his abused girlfriend for Halloween. Because when playing hospital, the little girl I babysit for told me that she was the nurse, and her brother was the doctor because “women can’t be doctors”. Because abortions/contraceptives are becoming harder to get, and we cannot go back to a time where hangers were used for more than just holding clothing. Because I want to live in a world where I am respected and valued. Because I want to live in a world where I feel safe. Because I don’t want my future daughters to be told that because they are female, they must look a certain way, act a certain way, be a certain way. Because I believe in equality.

This world is anything but equal. When people walk around saying that we don’t need feminism anymore, they don’t realize just how incorrect they are. We’ve come a long way since the women’s suffrage movement, but we still have a few big battles left. So feminists: let’s band together, fight the good fight, and work towards the day where we can confidently say that “we are all equal nowadays.”