By: Bailey Weaver

Both women and men have been fighting for women’s rights throughout history. From the women’s suffrage in the early 1900’s granting women the right to vote in the year 1920, to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women have been slowly fighting and making progress for their rights and gender equality. However, women’s rights and gender inequality are still at the forefront of issues in society.

According to research done by the Association for Psychological Science, it is globally proven that sexism both legitimizes and worsens gender equality. From this, there is a hierarchy created that puts men above women. This kind of hierarchy both creates and normalizes issues for women that men do not face. Sexism legitimizing gender inequality proves especially dangerous because it was discovered that gender inequality furthers women’s issues and their rights specifically regarding healthcare and equal opportunity.

Women’s healthcare is particularly important in offering sexual and reproductive health along with cancer screenings all for an affordable price. However, with a current President and administration believing that government can control a woman’s rights to her body and taking actions to defund organizations like Planned Parenthood that work to provide women health care, women’s rights to their bodies are still being threatened.

The impact that gender inequality has on women affects both their personal and professional lives. With women’s issues and inequality being at the forefront in both politics and society, women are stepping out to fight for rights for their bodies and equal opportunities, such as the women who fought for their right to vote a hundred years ago did.