At one point, I said to a co-worker that it is a great time to be a girl in this country. He asked me how I could say that, given the fact that women only make 70 cents on the dollar compared to men.
Actually, according to Rutgers, women made 73% of what men made in 2000 (73 cents on the dollar). I can only imagine that this figure has improved, but even if it hasn't, I still stand by my original statement: It is a great time to be a girl.
To begin with, women in America currently have it better than most of the women at any point in history and better than many of the women of the world at this time. We have representation in the government, and our votes count for equal to a male's vote. We can define ourselves in any number of ways, none of which are restricted to how many babies we raise or how well our husbands are fed. In fact, many women are either waiting until later in life to marry or are choosing not to get married at all, preferring to stay single, which was not always an option unless one wanted to live with one's parents forever. We can own property without permission. Fewer of us die in childbirth than ever before, and birthcontrol is easily attainable with minimal side-effects. We can give and receive sex freely without being labeled publicly (meaning through the legal system) as immoral. We don't even need men to have babies anymore. So, when you think about the fact that even a century ago, women could not vote in federal elections and it was nearly impossible for a woman to succeed on her own without a man of some kind backing her, it is pretty remarkable that we have come as far as we have.
And I'll say it, as women in the United States, we are incredibly spoiled right now. (Women in other parts of the world do not always fare nearly so well.) For example, a woman in America today can choose whether she wants to stay at home or go to work. She can choose whether she wants to be single or get married. She can serve in the military (even though she can't fight in combat), but she can't be drafted. She can expect a man to hold the door for her, or she can get pissy about it. She can pick up the check or demand that the guy does. She can bash guys, especially single white guys, but they can't bash her. And even though it might be degrading, she can still use her sexuality to get what she wants, whether it be avoiding a traffic ticket by unbuttoning an extra button or getting the mechanic to run her car through the car wash by saying how nervous it makes her. She can also get almost anything she wants by crying, even though some of us refuse to invoke this method. In short, we women are currently having our proverbial cake and eating it, too.
Soon, the pendulum will start to swing the other way. It will dawn on men that we have "equal rights," and they will start looking at drafting us along with men into the military. Soon people will figure out that our equal rights are actually superior rights full of double standards. Soon, they will realize that for 27 cents more on every dollar, they could be getting far more from us.
Soon, the jig will be up, but in the meantime, I celebrate being a girl during one of the best periods and in one of the best places to be one.
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