Of course, it's not fun and memes. For International Women's Day 2019, Politico asked some of the most interesting females they knew what do they think is the biggest challenge facing women these days.
"One of the struggles that underlie all of our policy battles is the continued lack of women in positions of power," Amy Jean Klobuchar, an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, said.
"From corporate boardrooms, to the courts and political leadership around the world, the lack of women in senior positions continues to stymie progress on issues from pay to humanitarian aid to discrimination in all its forms. The sooner we understand that the lack of women in leadership roles holds back not only women, but all people, the sooner we will be able to advance society as a whole."
Keisha N. Blain, who teaches history at the University of Pittsburgh and serves as president of the African American Intellectual History Society, believes the biggest challenge facing women in the United States today is patriarchy. "This is especially evident in the realm of politics," she said. "Regardless of a woman's experience, education or abilities, the patriarchal nature of U.S. society fosters the perception that women are less qualified and less competent than men."
"What patriarchy has done is convince people that a strong and intelligent woman represents a problem; disruption to the social order rather than an integral part of it. Biased media coverage of women politicians—stories that focus on women’s fashion and looks at the expense of their ideas on policy—underscores this point. It is therefore no coincidence that the U.S. is completely out of step with the rest of the world when it comes to electing a woman as president. While women have maintained the highest office of leadership in Liberia, India, the United Kingdom, Dominica and many other nations across the globe, the same cannot be said for the United States."
From a global perspective, Blain thinks of the biggest challenges facing women is educational inequality. Despite the many gains of modern feminist movements in the Americas, Africa, Asia and beyond, many still believe that women are less worthy of the same educational opportunities afforded to men. While there is no denying that poverty, geography and other factors contribute to huge disparities in education, patriarchy justifies this denial of opportunity. It feeds the message that men should wield the power and women should occupy a subordinate position in all areas of society. This outdated, yet persistent, point of view fuels educational inequality and a host of other disparities along the lines of gender on national and international levels.
Christina Hoff Sommers, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, said it was trauma-centered feminism. "The threat of harm is a human constant, but by any reasonable measure, American women are among the safest, freest, healthiest, most opportunity-rich women on Earth," Hommers explained.
"In many ways, we are not just doing as well as men, we are surpassing them. But everywhere, especially on college campuses, young women are being taught that they are vulnerable, fragile and in imminent danger. A new trauma-centered feminism has taken hold. Its primary focus is not equality with men—but rather protection from them. This past June, the Reuters Foundation released a survey announcing that the U.S. was one of the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world for women—more dangerous than even Iran or North Korea. The study was ludicrously flawed and turned out to be a survey of “perceptions” of unnamed “experts.” But in the current environment of fear and panic, multiple news organizations reported the absurd findings. This new ethic of fear and fragility is poisonous and debilitating—but it’s gaining ground. American women should resist the urge to pretend the world is rigged against us when it is not."
The host of 'Firing Line' and a mom of two, Margaret Hoover, believes "that the big challenge facing working women is navigating career opportunities while maximizing motherhood."
But she doesn't think the situation is all bad. The good news, she said, is that economic and political freedom for American women of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds is the highest it’s ever been. However, is that enough? "Working moms do have the luxury of 'leaning in' to either their careers or motherhood, but rarely both at once. Enabling a mother to re-enter the workforce where she left off should be commonplace. But solving the “on-ramp problem” for talented women who choose to pause their careers to prioritize family life still eludes us."
UN Women points out that gender equality is not only a basic human right, but its achievement has enormous socio-economic ramifications as well. "Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. Yet gender inequalities remain deeply entrenched in every society," the organization writes. "Women lack access to decent work and face occupational segregation and gender wage gaps. They are too often denied access to basic education and health care. Women in all parts of the world suffer violence and discrimination. They are under-represented in political and economic decision-making processes."
Of course, memes and great and all but don't forget to support women beyond liking their posts on Instagram too!