To the women who do not understand why the women marched on January, 21, 2017,

Women have been fighting for equality legally and socially. It seems nowadays our biggest problems are now in the social concept however, it has been a long road and it is far from over. We have been fighting for equality since the mid-1800's! It is 2017 and somehow women are still not considered equal to their brothers, fathers, grandfathers, male cousins, etc. How is that okay? It's been almost 200 years and here we are. Marching for the big guys to hear us, so that people will begin to talk more about what women have and don't have, in turn that others like myself will write about this significant topic. I encourage you to continue reading as this goes into depth over the timeline of the fight for women's rights.

Lets start back in May, 1869 where Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton got together to start the women's rights fight starting with voting rights for women. In 1893 Colorado was the first state to grant women the right to vote. It took 25 years of women fighting for this right. 25 years of abuse to women who stood up to fight for some equality. These women who marched were gassed, beaten and jailed and yet they still are far from over on this right. It took them months sometimes to recover from the beatings they endured and they got back up. Alice Paul in 1913 started the fight for a federal amendment to give women the right to vote after Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had achieved the states to start granting the right to women to vote. 1919 the original amendment written up by Susan B Anthony (1878) is finally passed by both senate and house. This took 43 years to pass this movement.

Margaret Sanger started the American Birth Control League, it is 1921, which will then turn into the beginning of Planned Parenthood in 1943. Birth control is no longer seen as obscene and information is allowed to be sent through the mail in 1936. Throughout the 1940's and 1950's was a huge time for birth control acceptance. Information wasn't even allowed to be sent through the mail system at this time. In 1960 Food and Drug Administration approves birth control.

1961 John F Kennedy creates the President's Commission on the Status of Women, Eleanor Roosevelt is appointed chairwoman for this commission. Discrimination against women in the workplace as well as recommendations for improvement and fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave and affordable child care are all things this commission pin pointed on.

1963 Congress passes the Equal Pay Act making it illegal for businesses to pay women any less than what a man would make. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is established to abolish the discrimination of hiring based on sex and race, it is 1964.

The Supreme Court cracks down on the law that contraceptives not be used by married couples in 1965.

1966 the National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded by a group of feminists, this is the largest women's rights group in the U.S. NOW fights to end sexual discrimination against women. This was the start of public demonstrations for this time.

Lyndon B Johnson creates an executive order to grant women the same opportunities in education and in the workplace, 1967.

1985 most states have adopted the law that married couples may divorce if the choice is mutual. In 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment is passed by congress which was originally written up by Alice Paul in 1923. This took almost 50 years. 103 years it took for this equal voting act to finally pass completely and wholly.

1973 Roe vs Wade goes underway which results in women being granted the legal right to a safe and legal abortion. 1976 Nebraska is the first state to pass the law that it is illegal for a man to force sex onto his wife. 1970's was a time that women started getting their rights over their bodies.

Now I know this is a lot of dates and information but the point right now is to show how long us, women, have been fighting to be equal and have the same rights that men do. It took over 100 years for us to even gain the right to vote. Many acts and legislations have been created to stop discrimination and abuse to women but during this time those weren't always put into place. Hell it took centuries for minorities to be seen as half of equal to whites and yet we're still fighting for them and it's 2017.

In 1978 the Pregnancy Discrimination Act is passed making it illegal to be denied a position or promotion for being pregnant or the possibility of becoming pregnant. This was signed 35 years ago. It took even longer for businesses to start putting this act into action. 1986 sexual harassment in the workplace is seen as illegal job discrimination. 2003 the Supreme Court rules that families can sue companies for discriminating against the Paid Family Leave Act in a federal court.

2003 the Supreme Court reinstates the law that women have the safe and legal choice of abortion. In 2006 the "partial-birth" ban which is the first ban on a specific type of abortion.

President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act in 2009 which gives victims the right to file federal complaints against their employer for women who are paid less than their male co-workers.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had announced that the ban on women serving combat roles in the armed forces be lifted in 2013. January, 2, 2016 women are now officially allowed to serve in any role in the armed forces.

Over the last 200 years women have come a long way but we still have a ways to go. Today women are put under harsh, traumatizing and degrading questioning when they report a rape. Most of these cases result in the accused rapist walking off or receiving a minor sentence.

Women are still paid seventy-seven cents to every dollar a man makes, the fair pay act is obviously not enforced. Even today women are denied promotions still due to the fact they have a family or will later on down the road. Men make up a vast majority of the CEO and head of businesses whereas women are the minority who also find a hard time getting things in place solely to the fact that they are the opposite sex. Women are also left out in the workplace due to them being a woman.

This sounds like a lot of complaining but think of it this way; you have a daughter who's working so hard to receive that promotion at work, she keeps getting comments about her professional look she sports at work. Her boss had even asked if she was seeing someone. Getting irritated yet? Well the week comes and she finds herself bringing coffee in for her bosses (four out of five who are men) as they tell her they've made a decision and that Zack received the promotion due to his hard dedicated work since he's never missed a day and has always been the go-getter. She realizes over the phone as she's telling you this story that she's had to take sick days before for her brother being hospitalized a couple months back. During his recovery she stayed with him to help out which added a 20minute commute to her morning and found she was late to work a few times. Zack has no family, he grew up an only child and his parents live on the other side of the country. Is she not eligible for this promotion due to tending to her family?

I remember hearing a story of a businesswoman who was a CEO and she was pregnant. She was at the point in her pregnancy where she found herself having to go to the bathroom often throughout her day. Her male coworkers found it in their best interest to not fill her in on a meeting with another business because she would take too many bathroom breaks they thought. Is that okay?

What about Brock Turner? The Stanford university rapist who raped an innocent woman and shoved foreign objects inside of her. If it wasn't for the two bicyclists she most likely would've been in worse shape. This woman was found with pine needles in her hair as well as her pubic area. She had scratches and other things such a twigs, grass stains, etc on her and her clothes that were torn off her body. When you look up this case the media refers to Turner as a former Stanford University swimmer, not as a rapist. This man brutally assaulted and raped this woman and his sentence was three months of jail time because the court was afraid of what this time would have on such a good man.

That is proof that women are not treated as equal as men. We aren't taken as seriously as we should be. Rape is a topic that people always first jump to "what was she wearing?", "was she drinking?", "was he drinking?", etc. which are questions that should not matter. A woman should not have to rack her mind why she didn't get a promotion then come to the conclusion that she's too attached to her family or the fact she's pregnant is a factor in the decision process. How is this okay?

This is why we are still fighting. Many acts and amendments are not being put in place like they should be. It's unfair and unjust. However, this is just one side of the spectrum. The women's march is not just about women, it was about equality for all. That is what feminism is. Equality. Men and women of all races should be treated as equal.

This was more so for a history lesson over the achievements and road the fight for women has been. I hope you gained knowledge on how long it takes for things to take action on. This is why we fight because if we don't how are these rights ever going to be taken into action?

Saying women should be happy for all that they have is like telling a person with a treated lifelong illness to be happy because at least they aren't dying. I mean that can be put in the same situation. A stabbing victim who was stabbed in the leg and telling them at least they didn't get stabbed in the heart. It is all the same. No matter what it is at the end of the day if you can still fight for what you want then do it. There are worse things out in the world but that doesn't mean you should stop fixing the smaller things.

We sill never stop fighting and I hope you will join us.

Sincerely,

A fighting feminist

Sources:

"Women's Rights Movement in the U.S" (Anne-Marie Imboroni) http://www.infoplease.com/spot/womenstimeline1.htm...