this weekend i had a realization. no matter how old i am or how successful i become – no matter what trials i face in my life and what struggles i overcome – i will always be (to some people) just a girl. someone who is vulnerable and needs to be taken care of. someone who creates worry for others simply because of my gender. someone who is believed to be incapable of certain things because i don’t have the anatomy of a man. someone who does things the way a “girl” does. whatever that means. since i am female i would, ofcourse, do things “like a girl” but that should not mean that it is less than a boy.
you would think that since it is 2008 we would have gotten over the old way of looking at things, but i suppose that is not the case. there are some people that will always believe that women cannot do certain things. case in point – hillary clinton. after she conceded the election i heard a few rumblings from people about the fact that she probably would not have won anyway. this is a sad state of affairs. especially when you consider that her opponent (john mccain) is not the sharpest individual. in fact – he has even admitted that he does not know things that would be important for a president to know. ofcourse, he never puts it that way. his supporters like to call it “intellectual honesty” but it is really just bull crap. at least hillary clinton has actual intelligence and thankfully so does barack obama. hopefully the masses in our country will have learned the lesson of not electing someone who is actually stupid. we had 8 years of it and i do not think we could withstand another 4.
getting back to the girl issue – in honour of my realization – i am dedicating this entry to all the strong women in this world and especially to the girls that will become the strong women of the future. if we ever want to see a woman president we have to start to change minds. starting at home is the best place to do this mind changing, but if it cannot happen right away do not be deterred. changing hearts and minds is a difficult task that we must rise up together and work toward. if we do not do this now – we will continue to be “just girls”. if we do not stand up for ourselves the issues that affect us today will continue to worsen. wage equality will never be overcome. reproductive rights will be further eroded. gender discrimination will be allowed to stand as normal and right. the world will be a worse place for our children (especially the girls). visit one of the links below to join a cause. take a stand – many people believe that this is the only life we have to live so it is only right that we should be allowed to live it as equal to everyone.
peace, hippiegrrl
links for the feminist in each of us:
national organization for women (NOW)