What does it mean to be a woman? This question has been a topic of conversation for quite some time now. Women have been assigned certain stereotypes throughout the years. Some of these stereotypes have been shattered, but definitely not all!
In the past, the only job a woman had was to get married and have children. Luckily, that’s not the case anymore. More and more women are going to college and focusing on their careers. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with getting married and having a family, because there’s not. I’m just happy that woman know they have more options.
Women can do whatever thy want to, the possibilities are endless for us. But, does that mean we have as many opportunities as men? According to a study published on PewResearch Center, the answers are split. Some women believe the obstacles women once had are gone, and then there are others who couldn’t disagree more.
The study stated, “A 63% majority of women say obstacles continue to make it harder for women than men today, compared with the 34% who say they are largely gone.” The article went a step further to show the male point of view of this survey. After interviewing, 4,602 adults on PewResearch Center’s nationally representative American Trends panel, they found that, “Among men, 41% think women still face obstacles that make it harder to get ahead, while 56% say those challenges have mostly been eliminated.’
These results are rather interesting, especially when considering what’s going on within this political election.
Hilary Clinton, a woman, is running to be the next President of the United States. It makes sense that her running could be perceived as women being just as strong (if not stronger) than men. However, I don’t see it like that.
Personally, I think women have a lot more obstacles to overcome. I see stereotypes and gender inequalities every single day. The fact that Hilary Clinton is the first and only woman to make it this far in an election, shows me that gender equality still exists. Women are still being put into this “female” category! And it’s not just men labeling us, we’re labeling ourselves. Not every woman thinks they can do what men do, and because of that we don’t go for “manly” positions.
Women still have obstacles to over come, and one of those obstacles is ourselves. We need to start recognizing the way we’re perceived in this world, so we can change our outlook on ourselves, and the world’s outlook on women.
