Is Everyone Really Equal in Today's Society?

 By: Allyson Wiggs

In today’s society, we think of women to be equal to men because we know how far women have come. Many years ago, in the colonial era, women had very few rights. They could not partake in politics of jobs. The women’s main role was to raise the children and to take care of the home.[1] This seems very strange to us now because we think of women as going to school and getting a job where she would get paid equal to what a man gets paid. Although we think men and women have equal rights now, they do not.

Many people do not realize that there is an amendment for equality that has not been passed for many years now. This amendment is called the Equal Rights Amendment. The object of this is to ensure equality no matter what the person’s gender is.[2] After the Civil War, many women started getting jobs and doing more things throughout the community which is when the hope for this amendment happened. Around this time is also when women received the right to vote which made them really feel as if they had a bigger part in the community. There are many people who support this amendment, but just like any other controversial topic, there are many people who do not support it. The people that are not in support of this often use the excuse that they were afraid if women gained equal rights then they might get sent into war. They were also afraid that all the work that was done to protect against abortion and homosexuality could possibly be reversed with granting equal rights.[3] Women and even men have been hoping that this amendment will be passed for many years now, yet it has still not been passed.

In my opinion, I think it is crazy that this amendment has yet to be passed. It completely blows my mind considering the way women and men are treated in today’s world. They are treated completely the same in almost all cases. Women have gained all the rights men have over the years. For example, women can go to school just like a man does and get a degree to be a doctor. If both the man and woman are doctors, the woman could possibly even make more than the man if she is better at her job than he is. I personally do not think enough people are educated on this topic. I think that the majority of people do not realize that men and women do not have equal rights in the constitution. If more people realized this, I think it would be made a bigger deal. Overall, I believe that women and men are already treated very equally, and that it would be best for the Equal Rights Amendment to be passed because then it would only confirm the way we already act as a country.

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[1] “Women's Roll Before and During the Colonial Period.” http://www.webconnections.com/mes5th/colonialwomen_b4.htm (accessed February 28, 2014).

[2] “The Equal Rights Amendment.” US History. http://www.ushistory.org/us/57c.asp (accessed February 28, 2014).

[3] Francis, Roberta. “The History Behind the Equal Rights Amendment.” The Equal Rights Amendment. http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/history.htm (accessed February 28, 2014).