While women have had the right to vote in the United States for nearly 100 years, women still make up less than 25% of state legislatures. Many other countries are making progress at a faster rate than we are. In 1998, we were ranked 59th in the world for the percentage of women elected to our national legislature. Now, we’re ranked 98th (only 20% of our national legislators are women). Take a look at all of the countries that have more women in office than we do. Iraq has a higher percentage than we do.
This is what drives me crazy about people who try to argue that feminism isn’t needed because women have “already achieved equality.” Yes, we have come far – but we have to keep pushing forward. If we would put as much energy into equality as we have put into other avenues of advancement, we would be in a much different place by now.
Let’s take a minute to think about just a few inventions that came out of the last 100 years:
Movies with Sound (1927)
Penicillin (1928)
As a people, we have accomplished some amazing things. I can’t imagine living without air conditioning or a toothbrush! And I hope that 100 years from now (hopefully less!), people will not be able to imagine living at a time when 80% of our national legislators were male.
Trynia Kaufman 