Sexism by definition is prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against women. We live in a new society where everyone is “equal.” Everyone is the same. Then why do men get paid more than women, why do women have to be looked at as weak or unable, why are women expected to think about staying instead of perusing their own careers. Now I know that this is point when you guys start thinking, “Oh great another speech about how bad and unfair we are, but this speech is not directed toward you because you are the problem, it is directed toward you because you guys can be a part of the solution. I ask you all today, are we all really treated equally. Women have disadvantages and women are looked upon from certain stereotypes. But can we change that? Can we come together as a community to change this?

In an article I read recently called “Play like a man, Act like a lady," Jamila Brown said “Successful female athletes are going to continue to be under the microscope because culture can’t handle the truth—that women can be powerful and still be women, can have different kinds of bodies and still succeed, and can eschew femininity if they want to and not desire to be men.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been picked last in PE or simply not passed to in basketball because I’m a girl. We have these low expectations that set us back. These things that people just assume actual effect us. For example, for female athletes, the unspoken expectation to excel at playing a “man’s” game while retaining their femininity is one of the main problems. Even though there are many skilled female athlete’s, they are unable to be good at sports and still have feminine qualities. Brown also said, “As a girl and an athlete, I recall my surprise when some of my favorite players like guards Cynthia Cooper and Dawn Staley started wearing make-up coincidentally around the same time the WNBA debuted. What I failed to understand at the time were the incessant rumors questioning their sexuality and even gender of female athletes who did not exert overtly effeminate traits off the court.” Female athlete’s have had to work hard and delicate their time to being the best they can be and at the same time people are questioning their femininity just because basketball is too manly to be played be a woman? I don’t think so!

There are many stereotypes women grow into at an early age. Girls can’t throw, girls can’t like sports, girls have to wear pink… the list goes on. Young girls are seen as weak and incapable at an early age and that being a girl is not something to be proud of. Girls are allowed to dress up like a boy and wear loose t-shirts and hats, but boys are not allowed to wear pink or do something to girly. Gloria Steinman, an advocate for gender equality once said said “We've begun to raise daughters more like sons... but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughter.” As children, we hear phrases like, “you throw like a girl.” If you were young and you heard people say this, would you grow up thinking girls were supposed to throw badly. I would, and I did. Chimamanda Adichie agrees and said “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, “You can have ambition, but not too much; you should aim to be successful, bot not to successful, otherwise you will threaten the man” (Chimamanda Adichie). It is more common to us that the women have to stay home while the man, big a superior, goes to work. These stereotypes hold us back and they put ideas in our heads. They tell us that we are unable or incompetent. But, as soon as we get passed those labels and listen to what we want, what we believe, and what we know we can achieve, then those labels begin to wash off.

This may be how women are born into the world, but that doesn’t mean that women haven’t had great successes. Today, we have many women who have been able to work hard and reach their goals. Missy Franklin, Ellen DeGeneres, even Michelle Obama. All these women have made it, they are where they want to be because they didn’t stop trying and they kept going. Michelle Obama may be a wife and just a lady, but she is the first lady. Missy Franklin has made to the Olympics and won gold in swimming. And Ellen Degenerous… Ellen is…generous…Ellen Degenerous puts a smile on people’s faces everyday.

“No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of it’s women and deprives itself of the   contributions of half it’s citizens" -Michelle Obama

All women have set backs or disadvantages, but they are able to overcome them and succeed in life. They do this with others helping them. With a community. When we all help and treat everyone as equal, not because it’s the law, but because it’s what we see and what we believe, then any goal is possible. You…Me…Community.