Aug. 26 marked the 93rd anniversary of the 19th Amendment — the one that legally ended gender discrimination at the polls, where women had previously been denied the right to vote. The White House made an obligatory statement, “Women’s Equality Day” appeared on national calendars and everyone went to bed glad that gender-based discrimination is almost a century out of mind.
Unfortunately, our society cannot afford the luxury of ignoring the 19th Amendment. If we were out of the woods, Megyn Kelly would not have to rip Lou Dobbs for supporting an article which casts doubt on women as providers, and Malala Yousafzai would not have been shot in Pakistan for supporting a woman’s right to an education. Without discrimination, the wage gap is double sided and unpredictable from year to year.
Yet almost a century after the 19th Amendment, we remain a patriarchal society. The wage gap, currently placed around 33 cents, has actually been steadily growing over the past few years. While some will be quick to say the wage gap is not evidence of actual discrimination, it is still a disturbing statistic in the supposed golden age of equality in which we live.
This feels like the same old message that has been pounded into the populace through pundits, writers and social commentators. I would be hard pressed to find anyone who thinks that our society is where it should be when it comes to social equality. Regardless, apathy has a way of hindering social progress. If the wage gap backslide continues unnoticed, it will simply continue to grow.
Sadly, the paradox of social equality is that apathy is the end game. Society wants to stop thinking about it because they want it gone. Fighting the impulse to ignore red flags such as the wage gap is the key to preventing regression.
It seems like most of the tangible obstacles to gender equality have been overcome. There have been multiple serious female presidential candidates and there has never been a better time for strong feminist fiction. The last great hurdle resides within thought, and it is a massive hurdle to overcome. It is unlikely that we’ll ever truly eliminate discrimination, but apathy is a surefire way to fail.
It cannot be said that 94 years ago, women received the right to vote, because women have always had the same rights as men — the U.S. just did not begin to recognize it until 1920. People need to remember that blatant and legal discrimination existed toward half the population within the last century. It may seem like the constant reminders are excessive, yet they are the only weapon we have left.
It is easy to brush off the stream of antidiscrimination holidays, rallies and events. The message is always the same, and discrimination has been beaten into a shell of what it once was. But society has to pay attention, lest we be worse off on the 94th anniversary of the 19th Amendment than we were on the 93rd.