Women's Inequality Day

August 26th is Women's Equality Day. If we were
being honest, we would call it Women's Inequality Day. Yes, indeed, we
did win the right to vote 90 years ago, but that does not equal
equality. In that regard, we've still got a long way to go. As Catalyst notes,

Women hold 16.8% of seats in the U.S. Congress, while less than 20 female world leaders are in power. Women hold only 3% of positions of clout in mainstream media. Less than 10%
of TV sports coverage in the United States is devoted to female
athletes. And of the 250 top-grossing movies produced last year, 7% were directed by women.

Hell, we're even discriminated against when it comes to naming
streets--turns out that only 7% of the traffic circles in our nation's
capitol are named after women and when it comes to economics, that the
faces on our paper money are all male should tell you something.

While Women's Equality Day represents more of a wish than reality, I decided I wanted to learn more about it, and found this on Wikipedia,

Every president has published a proclamation for Women's Equality Day since 1971 when legislation was first introduced in Congress by Bella Abzug. This resolution was passed designating August 26 of each year as Women's Equality Day.

In a section on the modern observance of the event, there is also this informative tidbit:

GoTopless.org, a US organization, claims that women have
the same constitutional right to be bare chested in public places as
men. They further claim constitutional equality between men and women on
being topless in public. In 2009, they used August 26, (Women's
Equality Day) as a day of national protest.

That this is the best example the authors of this page could find to
illustrate the impact of Women's Equality Day certainly lends credence
to the fact that we're just not there yet.

But it isn't just Wikipedia that doesn't get it. Earlier this week, the New York Times ran a profile of political hopeful Reshma Saujani, or more accurately, they ran a profile about her shoes,

Finally, as we returned to her office, I asked: About those shoes?

"They're the Kate Spade
wedges," she said, sagging slightly, as if she had only just then been
reminded that she had feet. "They're these politician-woman shoes."

I'm not a big fan of high heels, so I might be inclined to vote
against Ms. Saujani if such things mattered. But actually, I'd rather
know where she stands on issues such as climate change, education and oh
yeah, women's rights. Long time political activist and writer Jill Miller Zimon sums it up nicely,

Women politicians should be covered by the media for
their issues and character and leadership abilities, based on their
experiences, accomplishments and vision for how they'll fulfill
expectations in public office should they win. Exactly as men
politicians.

It's beyond the pale now: there is NO QUESTION that the NYT did this
story to get up hackles and in the end, throw serious political
reportage of women candidates under the bus. It's an inexcusable dog
and pony show for readers and frankly, if I were that candidate, I
would have demanded a different article.

Now -- lest I be picked on for saying that a woman politician should be able to choose being portrayed anyway she wants, fine.

BUT I would then ask: WAS SHE GIVEN A CHOICE? Did the Times say to
her: we can either do a fashion piece on you and connect shoes to women
running for office, or we can do a piece on how you and Maloney differ
and what you bring to the table that she doesn't.

Let's celebrate all that we've
accomplished, and honor our foremothers for all of their hard work. And
then let's get back to work, because when it comes to equality for
women, we're not there yet.

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To learn more about Women's Equality Day, click here.