Women from the start of time have been targeted. From the time we are conceived until our deathbeds, we have a premade target of oppression. We carry ourselves for the glares and sneers of society. Like Abigail Adams, women have long recognized and advocated for gender equality.

But is it an illusion?

   “So I see feminism not as a kind of war between the sexes or any of these stereotypic images, but actually a kind of effort to shift the ratios of our emphasis that is expressed through our institutions” (McKenna).

  In other words, feminism does not mean the takeover of women. It is, rather, the equality of all genders. The 20th and 21st centuries have created more opportunities for women, but is this enough?

   Looking at political reforms and contributions, the steps taken upon feminism have proved to show drastic changes, but not enough to the potential that feminism endures.

   Elizabeth Cady Stanton of the United States was the first of many to initiate the first wave of feminism. She, alongside many others, gathered together to discuss the current lack of women’s suffrage; this event was known as Seneca Falls.

   It was the first step known to American history to contribute towards political equality.    

   Years later, on June 4th, 1919, the 19th Amendment was added to the United States Constitution.

   The amendment states that votes will not be discriminated based on sex. During the late 20th century, the Equal Pay Act and Civil Rights Act was signed.

   The Equal Pay Act states that jobs and businesses are not prohibited to alter the work rates between employees of the same job and hours based on identity. The Civil Rights Act prohibits jobs and businesses from denying qualified employees based on identity. Other notable feminist accomplishments also include the recent election of 2020.

   Vice President Kamala Harris broke the pattern of white male domination in high government positions when she was sworn into office. Many other women across the world were also elected.

   Throughout history, feminism has taken win after win politically, but if one were to take a look into society, can you not see the dangers that women face daily?

  These are our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our friends.

   Society has always placed people into categories. Society likes the binary: the One and the Zero, the yes and the no, and the black and the white.

   Today, women are not allowed “to be.” In other words, women are not permitted to “exist” as anything but the societal definition of “woman.”

   As I stand in my school as a androgynous woman, I get more stares than conversations. My experience is a major on my scale, but for the world of women, my experience as a woman is miniscule.

   Every day, all around the world, women are assaulted, cat called, raped, and beaten simply for being a woman.

   But what makes a woman a woman?

   I certainly don’t know. Society, for sure, does not know, but that does not stop the target from being removed from our backs.

   While the world sees the reforms, laws, and acts being signed and approved, society has not changed enough for feminism’s goals of gender equality to be accomplished.