Recently I was asked by the studio behind Suffragette to talk about what I’m most thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Honestly, there are so many things I am thankful for; how do you choose just one? I’m not sure you can. I could go as basic as clean drinking water and running toilets. I could get as deep as being blessed with my loving, healthy happy family.
Being fortunate enough to have born into a country where women have the right to vote and work and be be treated (somewhat) as equals, certainly compared to many other countries in the world is a big thing to be thankful for. The 19th Amendment makes my life better and gives me some equal rights. I can’t imagine being a woman like Elizabeth Blackwell or Marie Curie and being able to contribute my scientific brilliance to humankind but not being afforded the right to vote because of my gender.
While I realize that I was born and raised in a country and time with certain cultural norms, I can’t begin to imagine living in a country or time where my rights would be vastly different, such as being treated as property. I’m very fortunate to live in a country with strong gender discrimination laws, and I’m thankful for that. In Yemen, a woman needs her husband’s permission to leave the house. In Tunisia, sons inherit twice as much as daughters do. In Russia, women are automatically barred from from over 400 types of jobs. In Chile, a women is property controlled by her husband once they are married. Gambia just banned female genital mutilation.
As a parents of four children, and three daughters, I hope everyday that they grow up in a world where they can be equal without having to prove it. Wouldn’t it be great for them to be able to take advantage of all life has to offer without gender boundaries and discrimination?
The fight for equal rights is not over. #FightsNotOver #Suffragette
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