Girls shouldn’t need the Women’s March
Kevin Cummings
Right this very minute, American women are serving our country in all facets of life - from the battlefield to the boardroom, from prayer services to parenting, to protesting.
The women who decided to march this past weekend were not just marching in protest of President Donald Trump, to say so would add to an ego that needs no more inflating and serves to diminish not only the thoughts and feeling of the people who marched, but the long, American tradition of women speaking up for themselves. What these women marched for was larger than one individual, one candidate or even one political party.
Moms should not have to teach their girls about feminism, protest or an understanding of the socio-political climate that would seek to claim certain rights about her body. They should not have to teach their girls about admirable, female role-models of the past (as these should be taught in school alongside the great accomplishments of all humankind), when they should be easily able to tell them to discover their own path, their own future. Moms should not have to do these things, but they do - as the events of these past weeks have resonated with so many women across the country.
I write this as a man. I write this as a husband to a woman who has taught me to be stronger in ways that no man ever could. I write this as a fellow human being, who hopes that one day his own children see everyone as equals and deserving of a say in all aspects of their own life. And, I write this as a feminist, because I believe that all people are equal.
Although President Trump was inaugurated Friday, the impact of his election and campaign have already had an effect on women. Not to mention, a government at the state-level, which has tried multiple avenues to cut access to reproductive-health clinics for some of the most in need in our state for years. (Only about 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services are abortions, according to that company’s 2015 annual report.)
Beyond a doubt, he did not create the economy, in which, according to a 2016 Congressional Joint Economic Committee report, a woman only earns about 79 percent of what a man does, based on median annual earnings - black and Latina women fare even worse, making about 60 to 55 cents, respectively, for every dollar a man makes. Nor did he create the existing patriarchic-hierarchy of American businesses in which women comprise nearly half of the private-sector workforce, while only holding about 4 percent of CEO positions at S&P 1500 companies, according to that same 2016 report. Female representation in government is better, though a large disparity still exists along gender lines.
It can also safely be assumed that his cabinet picks did not have a hand in creating a culture that sexualizes young girls on reality television shows, while the fact that one out of four girls will be sexually abused before they turn 18, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), is largely left out of the national conversation. It is also equally ridiculous to blame those cabinet picks for creating a culture on college campuses that allows for approximately one in five women being sexually assaulted while in college, according to the NSVRC.
However, President Trump has bragged about groping women. President Trump has insinuated that a woman only needs to be good-looking to get ahead in life. President Trump has shamed women because of their looks, while basking in the popular culture that has fashioned an unrealistic notion of “beauty” for women and, especially, young girls.
The women in Dallas, the United States and across the world were marching because they believe, as I - a man - do, that they deserve to be treated as equals in every way. They were marching because they believe that a woman is defined by what she accomplishes, not what she wears. And there is no better way - no Internet list, not op-ed in the local paper, no speech - to teach the next generation of women that they too are valuable human beings than a massive display of world-wide solidarity celebrating and standing up for all that it means to be a woman and all that it means to be an American.
Let's teach our girls to respect and value themselves. Let's teach them that they can become anything that they want to be. And, let's teach them that sometimes you have to stand up to the bullies - wherever they are.