About a year has passed and not much has changed. I still get called floozy for the things I wear, a flirt because I am social and a nightmare because I stand up for myself. “Maybe you should dress different or act different if you don’t want to be called those things” I am constantly told by my peers. Well maybe instead of teaching teenage girls, myself included, that they are the problem, we should be teaching others to respect us.

Throughout the history of humankind, women have been oppressed for something as simple and as lame as anatomy. Speaking of anatomy, according to the anatomy department at SDSU, women have a thicker corpus callosum, a band of nerve fibers that connects the hemispheres of the brain. With a thicker corpus callosum, women’s right and left brain hemispheres are better able to communicate and transfer sensory, motor and cognitive information. This makes women better able to come up with multiple solutions to one problem and have better coordination. Even with science to back women up, men still have a hard time finding it in their hearts to appreciate women for just one day. Don’t get me wrong, I am generalizing men because there are plenty of men out there who are able to respect women, but until they all are it is all the more reason we need International Women’s Day.

According to an article written by National partnership, women on average are paid 80 cents for a mans one dollar. In South Dakota, women are paid 78 cents for a man’s one dollar while still doing 100 percent of the same work. After International Women’s Day, a few brave souls decided to share their opinion on Twitter. “The fact that people need a dedicated day ( IWD ) to give value to something is just stupid!” said one Twitter user. “Am I the only one that thinks International Women’s Day is just stupid?” said another twitter user. Until women are respected and accepted for their full worth, I will continue to question the rationality of these statements.

According to an article by National partnership, if the gender wage gap were to be eliminated in the U.S., women would be able to afford approximately one of the following; 15 more months of child care, 11 more months or rent, 8.7 years more years of birth control, 78 more weeks of food or seven more months of mortgage. Because of these lost wages, this means women and their families have less money to support themselves, to save, to invest, and to spend.Therefore, families, businesses and the economy suffer as a result.

Instead of seeing women as inferiors, we should teach boys at a young age to respect them and treat them as equals. Instead of teaching women to accept their fate, teach them to demand admiration and appreciation.

As another International Women’s Day came and went, I started to realize that even though not much has changed this past year, change is coming. As women continue to be treated as inferiors and be paid less for equal work, based on sex, there will always be a need for International Women’s Day.

#InternationalWomensEveryday