On Worldwide Ladies’s Day, let’s keep in mind ‘as a lot as girls are succeeding, they’re struggling’

On International Women’s Day and throughout the Month of Women’s History, it is worth pondering and reflecting on the triumph and tragedy of our present condition. As we celebrate the many achievements of women who have managed to lead and succeed in exceptional ways, we should also reflect on how far we are from gender equality and commit to doing so, what it takes to become an equal nation.

This year there are many achievements that are worth celebrating. First and foremost is the rise of America’s first female vice president – a historic and powerful portrayal of how far women have come 100 years after first voting. Also in the prize category is the record number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500, now more than 8 percent, including more women of color than ever before. In science, women were instrumental in developing Covid-19 vaccines and helping NASA land a rover on Mars. And in the sports world, women are breaking new ground as coaches and leaders, including Kim Ng, who was named Katie Sowers as the new general manager of the Miami Marlins and became the first female coach to reach the Super Bowl in 2020 and beyond.

Despite all of our successes, however, we are still a long way from achieving real equity. As much as women succeed, they struggle.

Lauren Leader is the co-founder and CEO of All In Together, a non-profit, impartial women’s education organization and author of Crossing the Thinnest Line, How The Office-to-Oscars Acceptance of Diversity Makes America Stronger.Erin Borzelino

Even before the pandemic, there were serious problems for women. Women were already disproportionately poor, worked more often in low-wage jobs and struggled through an ongoing childcare crisis that pushed them out of the workforce.

The 2019 Global Gender Gap Report ranked 53rd worldwide in the United States (behind Bangladesh, South Africa, and Mexico, among others) in terms of gender equality. Now, in 2021, the picture is even grimmer. As the Covid-19 crisis drags on, women in America’s economic and social classes are being crushed and marginalized

How is it possible for the US to stand behind so many other nations in achieving justice?

American women’s concerns about public policy and priority setting have been ignored for generations. From the 1970s, as the feminist movement grew and women entered the world of work in ever greater numbers, there were mass calls for investments in social and political infrastructure to support them that were never fully heeded.

At the 1977 Houston National Women’s Conference, women called for a federal response to the myriad of problems women faced, most notably the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, federal investment in childcare, combating gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace, and justice in health care and a cabinet level secretary for gender equality. With demands for access to abortion and LGBTQ rights also on the agenda, everything connected with these initiatives has been attacked, undermined and pushed aside by the increasingly powerful Christian law, in the 1980 election of Ronald Regan and 1982 culminated in the defeat of the ERA. During the same period, much of Europe passed comprehensive and progressive laws to support women’s equality and create social structures that enable women to work and thrive.

There is also the decades-long struggle for paid family vacations. The USA is still the only industrial nation that does not guarantee paid family vacations. Under President Clinton, the passage of the Family Medical Leave Act in 1993 was accelerated by the offer of sheltered work leave but no wage guarantees. The result of more than 30 years of paid leave for the birth of a child or for the care of a sick family member is a privilege of the rich. Only 19 percent of Americans have paid vacation in connection with their work. It is inhumane to ask women to go to work and support their families within a few days of giving birth. As part of the pandemic, paid family leave in an emergency was passed at national level for the first time under the last law on pandemic aid, which expired immediately at the end of the year. If the new $ 1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid package is passed, paid national leave will be reintroduced. Finally. Every previous government and congress had the opportunity and failed.

So how can we force women’s issues to be at the center of our national priorities and make progress towards becoming an equal nation? The answer is through political power. Women have been the majority of voters since 1980 and have outvoted men in every election since then except between elections. However, they were less likely to gather around critical issues or take collective action to force elected officials to take their concerns seriously.

People participate in the women’s march in Manhattan, NY on January 18, 2020.Jeenah Moon / Reuters

The past four years have been a wake-up call for many – evidenced by the mass participation in the 2017 Women’s March, the rise in women’s political activism since the election of new record numbers of women in public office, of course, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory in 2020. Now is It is time to ensure that the issues and concerns holding back women remain high priorities for those in power.

The Biden government has made justice a central part of its policies, established a new gender council, and used executive ordinances to force the entire government to prioritize justice in everything. And he absolutely deserves to have more women in his cabinet and in leadership positions than any other previous government. It is a beginning.

On International Women’s Day and every day we must work to create a society where the contributions, struggles, experiences and lives of women are valued. It is time to respond real and urgent to 51 percent needs. We cannot afford to go on for another 30 years. It is years after the time to act.

Lauren Leader is the co-founder and CEO of All In Together, a non-partisan, non-profit organization promoting women’s political education. All views expressed here are solely their own. She tweets at @LaurenLeaderAIT