How far have we really come?

In 1920, the 19th amendment was passed so that women in the United States could finally vote and have a chance to influence political decisions in some small ways. It was a huge step. Suffragists around the world were ecstatic. Feminists threw parties. Many agreed that with this step, women were on the way to being seen as equals to men. They would no longer be seen in terms of beauty or how well their house was kept up. Women dreamed that in time they would not be judged by their measurements but rather by the strength of their character.
I'm here to tell you that none of this has happened.
It has been almost a century since the passing of the 19th amendment and in many ways women are in the same positions and mindsets that they were 93 years ago.
Does America promote equality? No. One of the lead workers behind the passing of the 19th amendment, Alice Paul, tried for years to pass the ERA(Equal Rights Amendment) which basically stated that men and women should be treated the same under the law. Large groups are still trying to get the ERA passed but so far the United States government has taken no steps to do so.
So I'm sure many of you readers have pegged me as an angry feminist by now, and are currently googling statistics showing much larger percentages of women in the workplace since 1920.

Yes, I caught you. Although there has been an increase in women in the workplace in certain fields (almost half of people enrolled in Medical School are women) many fields have still remain predominantly male. Women workers also tend to get stuck at entry-level positions much longer than males. Studies have shown that although women make up about 50% of the workforce in America they make up only 6% of the corporate CEO and higher-level executive roles.

Have you ever heard that women make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes? I hear that all the time. It's complete nonsense. They actually make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. If you don't think of that as a big difference think about it in this way. If a woman and man hold the same job-level and the man gets paid $50,000 annually the woman only gets $43,500 annually. $6,500 a year could mean the difference of a single mom riding her bike to work or driving a car. It could also mean the difference between sending a kid off to college or not.
The giant rant:
Just to have some more comparison fun, lets look at 19th century 17-year old girls and 21st century 17-year old girls. In modern times, a larger percentage of 17-year old girls are in school, and a much smaller percentage are married with several children. Families also no longer have to worry about providing dowries for girls (although the bride's family does usually pay for the wedding).  So on the outside, 17-year old girls are in a much better position now... but on the inside, have they really changed? Seeing as I spend a large amount of time with 17-year old girls I can tell you that their main insecurities lie in superficial things: their appearance, and how many guys like them. Almost a hundred years after we won the vote, are we still determining our value in society by how attractive we are to men? Are we kidding?!? In group settings, girls are still unbelievably caddy, slyly putting others down, not about their intelligence or personality or anything that actually matters, but about their appearance. What the hell did Susan B. Anthony fight for? If Alice Paul saw how superficial teenage girls are, even after she fought for there right to share their opinions and make a difference, she would sob. Plus, I really don't think Alice Paul was much of a crier. Girls, we have been given the chance to to be more than a body, or a maid or a cook. Why waste this opportunity? The reason women make 77 cents to the dollar is because not enough people are standing up and saying that something is wrong. The reason only 6% of corporate managers are women is because women are too willing to sit back in their gender roles and do not believe that they are just as capable as a man in almost every single job. Some women think that acting dumb is attractive. This idea is supported by the fact that many men tend to go for dumb girls. This is a cruel fact of nature. Don't be afraid to be intelligent. It makes conversations SO much more interesting.
Give Alice Paul something to be proud of.

Apologies for this post:
This post was pretty intense. If you actually managed to read this whole thing, I'm impressed. If you're a man I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sure that you personally are a very nice person and would be just fine with the ERA passing. If you're a 17-year old girl, I also didn't mean to offend you. It's not girls' faults that they are insecure about appearances. Society and media tends to create an atmosphere that breeds insecurities. If you're Ms. Pyle, I apologize for the length of this post. I'm sure I went WAY past my word limit...