The Future Is Female: Progressing Feminism And Equality For All
I am so sad I was unable to march alongside all the nasty women and hombres yesterday, but I was supporting in spirit. The Women's March will be a day in history that I know I would want to tell my children.
To see all the women, men, and children come together in unity all around the world to support feminism is uplifting and empowering. I understand that the march brings up conflicting political views and stands, but for me, it's not about the president or which side is right. The march, for me, as a woman who has worked in a male dominated field, as a woman who grew up with Asian traditions where a man's life is valued over a woman's, I cannot express how important this movement is to breaking stigmas of women being weak.
Working in third world countries, I constantly see young girls, not even 10 years old, getting married off for one or two cows.
These girls don't even have the chance to find out what their passions or dreams are because they believe their purpose is to get married. Can you imagine your daughters not even having a dream as a child?
No matter how much sweat, tears, and hard work I put into my career, my coworkers would ask me "who's dick did you suck" to in order to get to my position. If I said anything curtly or directly, I was constantly labeled a "bitch." Even with a high position in the company, men assumed I was their assistant and would give me their work to do, when excuse me, NOPE (and then of course then be called a "bitch" again).
No matter what I accomplished on my own hard work, receiving full ride scholarships to college, paying my way through engineering by working three jobs, my older family members would constantly remind me that no matter what I've accomplished, it doesn't matter because I have no worth if I did not have a husband and did not know how to clean or cook.
But I KNOW that I have accomplished, seen, traveled to, overcame, conquered, and experienced a hell of a lot more than many, without needing a man by my side to hold my hand along the way. I made my own path, traveling SOLO as a female to countries most people have not even heard of. I want to raise my children to grow up in a non-misogynistic society that values their worth. To let them know that they do not need a man or anyone else to conquer their fears and to dream big.
I am so proud of all my friends out there, women and men, both, who were out protesting yesterday in person or in spirit! Thank you to all of you brave people for having the courage to speak up, to value a woman's life as much as your own, and to make progression in the world!
Do you know what is ironic? When I was initially writing this, I thought saying the exact quotes from men ('who's dick did you suck') was too vulgar and reader's would be offended since I was not ladylike in my words. Well, fuck that. No man felt the necessity to sensor himself when speaking to me, so why as I, a female, need to feel compelled to sensor myself in order to be a "lady."
THIS IS WHAT SOCIETY WIRES ME TO THINK, TO EXPECT OF ME BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN. Well, head's up, I'm actually a NASTY WOMAN.
I am absolutely not apologizing for my vulgarity in writing direct quotes that has been said to me multiple times throughout my career. It's infuriating that men always insinuate that I could not have achieved what I have accomplished at my work using hard work, my own capabilities, and intelligence and can only be where I am through sexual favors.
If you're wondering what inequalities women face, THIS, is one of them. This is what I deal with everyday in the working environment. Would you want your daughters to be talked to and treated the same way as I have in the office? To accept being devalued and harassed in the office? This is not what I hope for my own children.
**Photo is not mine, found on Google.com
