The ability to go out into the street at night and not be afraid of who or what is out there is a right that should belong to all people, most of all women. Something as small as the ability to walk outside at night should never be taken from anyone.All humans deserve to have equal rights. People have been fighting for equality since the dawn of time. To say that anyone deserves less rights than others is only holding society back further. So why does society act like women’s rights don’t exist?

Society has many reasons why it acts like women’s rights aren’t important, but one thing is for certain: people need to move forward and accept them as reality. For decades, women fought for the right to vote, and today they fight for the right to control what happens in their own bodies. And while we may not see movements for voting rights anymore in the US or other first-world countries, it’s still is an issue in other countries that are considered third-world.

While the issue of women’s rights is a topic that is in many discussions today, many don’t fully understand the issue. Many men either fight against women's rights, thinking they will destroy the country, or for women's rights, selfishly thinking it will benefit their personal goals. But the only they should be concerned for is fighting for equality to make the world equal in a world that’s always been unfair. This is why it’s important for men to become educated about women’s rights across the world so that we can become advocates and improve the world. We have to understand that the only path to equality is one where we all stand together, with no one above or below us.

So What’s Going On?
Since the dawn of time, someone has always seen another as lesser. And since we can all remember, women have been seen as lesser beings by society. It doesn’t matter who, what, when, where, why, and/or how, there’s always someone who sees a woman as a lesser being. In places like Iran, women once had rights. But when the government changed, so did everything else. In the article “The Women’s Movement”,Haleh Esfandiari says, “Since the 1979 revolution, women have struggled to regain lost rights and win a larger role in society, despite a regime unfriendly to women’s issues” (Esfandiari). This shows just one of the many struggles women have had to face. Just like above in Iran, so many other countries have had similar issues. Esfandiari states about the new regime in Iran, “President Hassan Rouhani’s first two years in office were a mixed bag for women. For example, Rouhani appointed four women as vice presidents and three women as governors but did not name women to his cabinet or revive the Ministry of Women's Affairs.”, showing how some people still had power but they were very limited in what they could do. Other places, like America and other first world countries have had similar events, where women gain power, but are very limited in what they can do, or aren’t even respected in their positions. Women took back some of their power, but not all of it. Esfandiari says, “The 1979 revolution politicized the mass of Iranian women. But women’s expectations were not realized. The new theocracy systematically rolled back five decades of progress in women’s rights. Women were purged from government positions. All females, including girls in first grade, were forced to observe the hijab, or Islamic dress code. Family laws were scraped. For the next three decades, however, the energy Iranian women displayed during the revolution propelled them deeper into the public arena to regain their rights. The result is one of the most dynamic women’s movements in the Islamic world, and female activists who have won international recognition in a wide array of professions.” This shows how even though they may have lost power, they can still retake it. And even though they may lose everything, they can still come back from it and take back their power. In this case, it would have helped if the government and society had helped in supporting them rather than doing nothing at all.

The idea of having someone be the same as the other sounds impossible. Not exactly a mirror image to someone else, but rather instead an equal in terms of mentality and rights. Groups like the ACLU, or the American Civil Liberties Union, have been trying to teach people the definition of human rights, both in a literal sense and a legal sense by fighting for and supporting those who need it the most. On their website they explain, “A look back at history shows that women have made great strides in the fight for equality, including women’s suffrage and inroads in equal opportunity in the workplace and education.”, this gives an idea of how long they’ve been fighting for equality, and this doesn’t include just the ACLU, but the entire women’s rights movement as well. However, even with all of these barriers that society puts in the path of progress, there is still progress being made. With small steps in science and social structures and so much more, women have been making progress at becoming equal. And even though they are little steps, they’re still steps forward. But even though society is taking steps forward, there are still barriers that are being put in place. Later in the same article, the ACLU believes that, “Despite the tremendous progress made in the struggle for gender equality, women still face violence, discrimination, and institutional barriers to equal participation in society.” (“Women's”), it shows how even though we are making improvements, society still continues to take steps backward as well. We may solve one problem but more sprout up from that as well. And not every problem will be solved. But we can try to solve as many as possible. Groups like the ACLU have been fighting the system to create a better and more equal society. On their website, it says, “Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, the ACLU Women’s Rights Project pushes for change and systemic reform in institutions that perpetuate discrimination against women, focusing its work in the areas of employment, violence against women, and education.” (ACLU), it shows how people are still fighting for what is right by trying to make everyone equal. And it would better help society to support others than to do nothing at all because allowing the problems in our society to continue and grow further only creates more problems, and sometimes they’re even worse than the original.

When we think that half the world having rights should be considered “equal”, there’s a problem with society. When a person who comes out and speaks up against the problem, only to be met with laughter and disrespect for what they say, there’s a problem. When my female teachers are listened to less than the male teachers, it’s a very noticeable. And even though a person, be they man or woman, may have different ideas and opinions, this does not make them any less of a person. In the article “Women’s Rights” by Anup Shah, a journalist from Iran, she says, “Women’s rights around the world is an important indicator to understand global well-being. A major global women’s rights treaty was ratified by the majority of the world’s nations a few decades ago,” This proves that progress is being made throughout the world. “Yet, despite many successes in empowering women, numerous issues still exist in all areas of life, ranging from the cultural, political to the economic.” For example, women often work more than men, yet are paid less; gender discrimination affects girls and women throughout their lifetime; and women and girls are often are the ones that suffer the most poverty.” This shows how it is important to society to support women’s rights. Not just for the people of our towns and country, but for the world as well. Without the world having full equality, our society will grow into a more horrible place, and it will start with our children. Shah explains, “Gender equality furthers the cause of child survival and development for all of society, so the importance of women’s rights and gender equality should not be underestimated.” It shows how society can be affected by anything, at anytime. Society starts with the children and grows with them, but it also grows and is affected by the adults as well. The people of our society grow and create new improvements in our society, along with flaws as well. Shah then says, “Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), many girls and women still do not have equal opportunities to realize rights recognized by law. In many countries, women are not entitled to own property or inherit land. Social exclusion, “honor” killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage among others, deny the right to health to women and girls and increase illness and death throughout the life-course.We will not see sustainable progress unless we fix failures in health systems and society so that girls and women enjoy equal access to health information and services, education, employment and political positions.” This shows how we create more flaws in our society, by creating more barriers. The more we block people from the equality we say we have, the more we fall back as a society. And we will continue to lack this equality if we do nothing to bridge these gaps.

But what do those that oppose moving forward actually say?

Many argue that the idea of women’s rights is flawed because women already have rights. These people tend to be those who have never lost rights, and have never been deprived of their ability to live peacefully in their country. But they haven’t seen what it looks like to lose their rights in other countries. Many people, like the 2016 Republican presidential candidates, have made multiple statements against women’s rights. They disparage the idea of equality, thinking that approving rights means allowing easier access for abortions and such, but they’re denying so much more than that. With people like Carly Fiorina, a former Republican candidate of the 2016 election, making statements on women’s rights that counter everything the movement has worked for. Carly Fiorina’s campaign site states, “At the top of the ‘Meet Carly’ page, it says’, It is time to declare an end to identity politics.” (Yurcaba). This entire statement shows that Carly Fiorina and many others don’t know who or what the women’s rights movement is fighting for, or that they’re only holding others back more as well. But this is also happening throughout the world, not just here.  Shahe takes a look at the data of countries making statements against the laws made to support women and their access to rights. She states, “Of the 161 countries ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, about 44 have said they will not implement certain provisions of the treaty on political, constitutional, cultural or religious grounds.” (Shah). From this quote, it gives a look as to how some countries decide that taking away rights is somehow justified. And while the excuse of culture and/or religion being removed would be reasonable, it does not make any sense as to why it’s better to remove a person’s rights.

People claim to know everything there is to know about rights but when men who have had more privilege than others make claims that rights are not infringed, it shows the problems of society. If these people claim to know everything there is to know about rights and then act like there isn’t a problem with these rights being taken away right in front of them, then they’re only creating more barriers in society. With groups like the ACLU and others finding statistics like these, “The U.S. Department of Justice reports that approximately one in four homeless women is homeless because of violence committed against her.”, it’s hard not to see the issue. But instead people continue to claim the problems don’t exist. And it has an even larger effect on our society as well considering that it affects schools. The ACLU reports, “Over 1,000 public K-12 schools in the United States have single-sex education programs. Many rely on discredited science and gender stereotypes.”, showing that the idea of creating barriers is still alive. Not only does acting like the problem doesn’t exist affect our society, it also affects how our future society will be, making these problems become normal and possibly having them become even worse.  Allowing the problem to continue existing by not dealing with it only lets it get bigger. This creates an idea in society that these should be considered norms, thus allowing this to pave the way for even worse issues to come in and strip away the rights of more people.

In the end...
In the end, what does this all mean? That men should die to pay for the problems they’ve caused? That women should rule the world and rule with an iron fist cause that’s how men have acted? No. It doesn’t. Cause that would only create more problems like these. But this does mean that we should be trying to solve the problems, not create them. And how will we do this? It starts with people, and mostly specifically men in this case, becoming educated in women’s rights so that they can become advocates and help society grow stronger. Rather than holding ourselves back, we should help one another to make sure that our society, not just here, but everywhere in the world, works together to function as a whole. And how can we do that? By speaking out about the loss of rights, helping women move forward in society, and not creating more barriers through social norms. And while it is a small step forward, it’s still better to take a step towards equality than none at all.

Works Cited
Deen, Thalif. "WOMEN: Reservations Grow Over UN Women's Treaty." WOMEN: Reservations Grow Over UN Women's Treaty. One World. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

Esfandiari, Haleh. "The Iran Primer." The Women's Movement. The Iran Primer, 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. .

Shah, Anup. "Women's Rights." - Global Issues. Global Issues, 14 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

"Women's Rights." American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. .

Yurcaba, Josephine B. "Carly Fiorina's Women's Rights Views Are Probably Not The Best For, You Know, Women." Bustle. Bustle, 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

Zeigler, Alexis. "The Past and Future of Women's Roles in America." Conev. Conev, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. .