Ana Zapata

HD 361
Conceptualizing Social Justice

First Lady Michelle Obama once said, As women, we must stand up for ourselves. As
women, we must stand up for each other. As women, we must stand up for justice for all. I
dont consider myself a full-blown feminist, a modern day one, maybe, but it would be stupid of
me not to be on my own side. Upon reflecting on the topics discussed through lectures, in class
discussions and readings, in particular topics that were about women, I took with me that women
have endured so much. I feel irate at the injustices that this great nation has and is still putting
women through. Sure we have made some progress, slow, steady progress, but have not
progressed enough.
Women have come a long way but there is still more work that needs to be done. Lets
take womens suffrage for example. The fight for a womans right to vote took nearly 100 years
of humiliation of women, incarcerations, hunger strikes, violation of their bodies, treatments that
crippled their spirit and left them powerless. All this was to be endured by women in order to
finally exercise the right to vote. A right that was exercised for the first time in the elections of
1920. Only white women were granted the right. Not until the very recent 1965 were ALL
women (African-American) fully guaranteed the right to vote. Progress has definitely been
made. Nearly a century has passed since the first vote by women, and now in the year 2015, a
woman leads the democratic race for the presidency of the United States of America.
Sure weve made major progress, we now have rights to family planning which has given
women the choice and a chance at a higher education and not just procreation. Still even with
the right to a higher education and their productivity in the workforce, there is a big gender wage
gap that needs some adjusting. In the words of Malala Yousafzai, we cannot all succeed when

half of us are held back. This shows that despite the room for professional growth and a chance
at a higher income, women are still held back from opportunities of promotion. Men are still
seen as superior.
Gender equality is not just a womans issue, for it does not only affect women, it is a
human issue for it affects everyone and therefore it is everyones responsibility. In order to fully
reach gender equality, we must empower women. We must raise our daughters to reach as high
as humanly possible, to have determination, and to not be silenced.
If all human beings are born free and equal according to the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, then why are women to this day not equal? The rise of women does not mean the
fall of men and I feel there lays the problem. Just because women demand the same rights does
not make men inferior nor does it make women superior.