August 26 is National Women's Equality Day. Real strides have been made since the first Women's Equality Day in 1971, established on the date when a woman's right to vote was ratified to raise awareness about women's inequality and call for change. But there's a whole lot left to accomplish before we can say gender equality has been reached.
There are certainly reasons to celebrate how far we've come since 1971. The number of women in Congress is at an all-time high, and women are breaking important barriers -- like the kickass pair of women who were the first to graduate from Army Ranger school this month. Janet Yellen leads the Federal Reserve, and women are serious contenders to become the next President. Yet women in the U.S. are still at a disadvantage when it comes to wages, living in poverty and experiencing sexual violence.
Below are 7 ways women and men still aren't equal. Let this be a call to action for all advocates of gender equality. Things can only get better in 2016:
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 5 women have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared to 1 in 7 men. At least one-third of women murdered in the U.S. over a 9-year period were killed by their male partners. While no person should have to experience domestic violence, the fact that women are overwhelmingly the victims is troubling. Infographic by Frankie Rendón for the University of New England's Online School of Social Work.
According to the National Women's Law Center: "Poverty is a women’s issue. Nearly six in ten poor adults are women, and nearly six in ten poor children live in families headed by women. Poverty rates are especially high for single mothers, women of color, and elderly women living alone."
Let's see how much of a change we can make in the year to come.
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