Heidi Cuevas | Opinion Director
Every March, we have the chance to learn about women, their struggles and how we can all work together to make a difference.
Despite the holidays and recognition, it feels like not much has changed.
Women’s History Month is supposed to be dedicated to honoring historical women while also recognizing women of today who are tearing down the gender obstacles women face every day.
Even though this seems obvious, it’s not always the case.
The month feels more dedicated to educating men on how to treat women by bombarding them with facts until they feel guilty enough to change – it’s unrealistic.
Women don’t need to be reminded about the never-ending gender pay gap or how our basic human rights are vulnerable at any given moment because women are fully aware of these issues.
Women need change to be made and that is what the focus should be on this month.
Instead these statistics and “fun facts” are catered to reminding men to care about the gender inequality women have been facing for decades and teach them how to treat women like people rather than objects.
Doing this devalues the significance of a month that took years to proclaim as Women’s History Month which initially started as only a week.
This is not to say that these issues should not be brought to our attention because they shouldn’t be ignored but at the same time we shouldn’t only care about them for a month.
Just because we learn about the historical efforts made by women for rights doesn’t mean the fight has ended, which is a misconception that this month tends to create.
During this month we learn about the historical efforts women made for the right to an abortion which led to the Roe V Wade decision. A decision that took decades to establish.
It was only two years ago that Roe v. Wade was overturned and gave states control over abortion rights. And it was only one year ago that the state of Florida signed into law the extreme six-week abortion ban.
In three years women’s reproductive rights were stripped away and the efforts made by historical and modern women were as well.
This month is critical to bring awareness to the issues women have been facing for decades. Still, the information shouldn’t be catered to educating men about the struggles of being a woman. We should be recognizing the issues that have been prominent for decades and advocate for change.
DISCLAIMER:
The opinions presented on this page do not represent the views of the PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
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