Women’s Rights in the United States of America are not addressed enough. Women need to receive better rights in terms of maternity leave, pay inequality, and abuse. As a result of women not having enough maternity leave, they do not get to spend much time with their newborn. Many women are paid less than men, and it is difficult to support a family when you are not earning as much as you need. It is very important that women are treated as equally as men are. Around 300,00 women are raped every year, which causes emotional pain.
Women do not receive the rights that they should in terms of aternity leave, pay inequality, and abuse, and there are many reasons why. Maternity leave is a big issue. The USA government does not support paid parental leave. Thirty-three percent of moms take no formal time off because they cannot afford it, and the other 67% who do take time off only get 12 weeks to care full time for their child. Pregnant women, or women adopting a child are affected with this maternity leave issue. Every state except for California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island do not accept maternity leave.
This issue started when women began balancing work life vs home life. In 1993, the FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) law was written that stated women received only 12 weeks of maternity leave. Currently, the U. S. government says it is up to the employer to provide paid maternity leave. Business organizations claim that payment of maternity benefits do not apply to them. They say it is a financial burden. No one wants to take responsibility to pay for maternity leave. Another issue that needs to be addressed is Gender Pay Inequality.
Women all over America are affected by pay inequality. Women earn $0. 79 for every dollar earned by men. Women are more likely to leave work for longer periods of ime than men which indicates that women are punished for being wage earners and care givers. Women should be paid the same wages as men when they are working. In some states, such as Wyoming, women earn 64 cents for every dollar a man earns, and in Nevada, women get as high as 85 cents. Pay inequality started at the end of WWII when men came back into the work force and has been growing since the 1970s.
The AAUW (American Association of University Women) believes pay equality is a matter of simple fairness. People do not respect women as much as they do men, and women are discriminated against. This pay gap between men and women is even worse for women of colour. A study from 2014 shows that Hispanic, African American, American Indian, and Native Hawaiian women had lower median annual earnings compared to white and Asian women. The Gender Pay Gap is not new, it has always existed. Societies does not value women’s work.
Women are still commonly seen as naturally suited to care, and they are not properly paid for their work. The U. S. government thinks women should have to ask to be paid fairly. The statistics of how often a women is abused are very surprising. Every 9 seconds in the USA, a women is assaulted or beaten. That is too often. Young women from ages 11-17 are the most common sexual abuse victims. Alaska and South Dakota have the highest rate of reported rape. Abuse against women has been around for centuries, but people started to address the issue in the 1970s.
Alcohol and drugs also play a major role. 55% of women who were rape victims used drugs or alcohol before the assault. Law Enforcement plays a big role in perpetuating abuse. Myths and biases incriminate the victims rather than the attackers. The victims are afraid to report the assaults, and the cycle of abuse continues. Women’s Rights is a big issue, and there are actions being taken o address it. President Obama gave money to Massachusetts, Montana, Rhode Island, and DC to study the feasibility of paid parental leave policies.
Eileen Appelbaum, a Senior Economist at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, thinks that if business owners can prove paid maternity leave works in states and does not hurt business, this will put pressure on the whole country to have paid maternity leave. The Department of Labour is expanding programs to promote more paid leave, and has a social media campaign for paid leave. Pay inequality is being addressed by having promotional events. All over the orld, there is Equal Pay Day, which symbolizes how much women need to work in order to earn as much as men earned in the year before.
In New York City, there are rally’s for equal pay, and in Washington, D. C. , research is being done one the gender wage gap and how to achieve equal pay. International Women’s Day helps to promote gender equality as a whole. NWLC (National Women’s Law Center) has been working for many decades to insure that men and women earn the same amount for the same job. The NWLC is advocating for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act. This bill would help women get the equal pay that they deserve. Abuse against women is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed more than it is.
There are violence hotlines that people can use to call in to get help, and there are psychologists and counsellors people can go to to receive help. There are also Women’s shelters victims can go to when they need support. I think U. S. federal maternity leave laws should be changed to become more like Canada’s law. Women should receive at least one full year of paid leave. American women should be paid a percentage of their income as we do in Canada. In terms of equal pay, the government should update the Equal Pay Act, as t has not been updated since 1963.
In work places, women should be given the same wages as men and women should be considered for promotions more often. As for abuse, I think there should be better laws to support the victims rather than abusers, and there should be a course for men to help prevent them from assaulting women. Women’s Rights in the United States of America is a very big issue that needs attention in three areas; maternity leave, pay inequality, and abuse. This campaign is to promote the idea that Women’s Rights in the USA are not getting enough attention, and need to be reexamined.
