Female empowerment in America

On November 19, 2021 Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman in America to take over the duties of the presidency. Even though it was only for 85 minutes, this is still a monumental moment in the history of the United States, helping us to take steps in the direction of sexual equality. 

Over the last century, female empowerment in the United States has continued to grow.

Google defines feminism as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.” It is the belief that any gender should be treated equally in the home, workplace, and any other aspect of their social life.

This is something that many Americans, both female and male find hard to do. For example, some people in America, despite Kamala Harris being the vice president, still believe that any presidential role is a man’s job.

The stereotype that the presidency is a role meant only for men is also based on the premise that women are hormonal and those hormonal fluctuations could lead to rash decisions. 

Women still face stereotypes that they should get married and settle down and be passive. The discrimination of women is historic and has not ended.

In 2019, members of the U.S women national soccer team took a stand for women everywhere by suing FIFA (their employers) to be paid the same as the men’s team. The women had won a total of three world cups and four Olympic gold medals, while their male counterparts had won 0 world cups and 2 gold medals.

According to the documentary LFG, in 2018 the FIFA awarded the men $400 million after not even qualifying for the world cup, while in 2019 when the women’s team not only qualified, but won the world cup they were still only awarded $30 million. 

This money doesn’t just get paid to the members of the team, but is used for equipment, training, ect. In fact Jessica Mcdonald, a forward on the team and single mother had once been working two jobs: packing amazon boxes and coaching kids to make enough money to support her family while training. 

In an article on NextAdvisor Mcdonald says “I was making $15,000 in the first few years while being a mom, and I had to start somewhere. At the time, it was for the love of the game. I wanted to be on the USA team, so that was a goal of mine, but there were a couple of times that I thought about quitting.”

Even after winning another world cup, bringing their total up to four, the U.S women nation soccer team lost their lawsuit did not get equal pay.

In order to get past inequality, both women and men need to break down the walls of what women should be and open the world to what women can be.