I spent most of yesterday finalizing all my plans for Portugal. I now have tickets, hotels (or Airbnbs), a rental car – all of which are refundable or able to be cancelled because of the shadow of COVID hanging over everything these days. Interestingly, I noticed that almost all of my hotels require a negative COVID test to check in. Europe is also instituting a digital vaccination app which can also be used. That would be quite handy but since we have no such equivalent thing in the US, it appears that I will have to undergo a series of COVID tests just to be able to check into my various accommodations. That’s a bit concerning because if I were to test positive, my entire trip could likely take a bad turn. My question is, “If the European Union (EU) can implement a digital vaccination app, why the hell are we so far behind?” That was a rhetorical question – I already know the answer – politics!!! We’ll see what happens. Part of me is leaning towards delaying the trip until after I get my booster shot but that probably won’t be until December. Decisions. Decisions.
Back to reality. Afghanistan is still very much in the news cycle and there are many news stories about the fear that has taken hold among women in Afghanistan due to the atrocious and barbaric treatment of women when the Taliban were previously in power. There are those saying that the US must do something to protect the rights that women have gained in Afghanistan over the past twenty years. When President Biden was asked about this issue, he responded that the US cannot use military power to enforce women’s rights around the world. And as sympathetic as I am to the plight of women in Afghanistan, I have to agree with that statement. I’m not sure what people would have us do. However, it got me to thinking.
I find this outrage over women’s rights in Afghanistan somewhat ironic given the United States own track record on women’s rights. Not to mention the fact that we have strong ties to countries around the world where women’s rights are very repressed, Saudi Arabia being the prime example. I have worked in Saudi Arabia, lived in Kuwait and I’ve seen this behavior first hand. Very few people would agree with sending troops to Saudi Arabia because of their repressive behavior towards women. But, back to the US.
The Equal Rights Amendment, which was written to guarantee equal legal rights regardless of sex, was passed by Congress in 1972 and sent to the States for ratification. It requires 38 states to ratify it before it becomes part of the U.S. Constitution, and here we are, 49 years later and it has still not been ratified!
The pay gap between women and men in this country still exists. Women, in general, make 82 cents for every dollar a man earns. There is no state in the union where the average salary of women is equal to or exceeds the average salary of men. The state with the smallest pay gap between women and men is Vermont (9%) and the state with the largest pay gap between women and men is Wyoming (35%).1 Here in Montana, the pay gap is 22% ranking us 39th out of the 50 states.
There are several states that are enacting laws to restrict a woman’s right to control her own reproductive health and major efforts to fully overturn Roe v. Wade. The United States has an abysmal maternity leave policy compared to most countries in Europe – 0 weeks of Federally funded paid maternity leave. The number of weeks of paid maternity leave in Europe runs between 6 weeks (Ireland) to 52 weeks in Bulgaria!2
And who can forget the infamous photos showing the gross disparity between the men’s and women’s weight training facilities leading up to the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this past March.3 The women’s US soccer team got criticized for only bringing home a bronze metal this past Olympics when they were expected to win gold.4 Never mind that the US men’s soccer team has failed to even make the Olympics the last three times. The fact is 60% of the medals won in the Tokyo Olympics were won by women. Yet women in virtually all professional sports are still not paid the same as their male counterparts.
It was an historic moment in the US when we elected the first female vice president, Kamala Harris. We have never had a female president. In 1960, Sirivamo Bandaranaike, was elected Premier of Sri Lanka. Golda Meir was prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974. Benazir Bhutto was prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990. There are currently more than 20 countries in the world headed by women including New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, and Germany, Angela Merkel.
I absolutely abhor the way the Taliban treat women. However, before all of the politicians in this country start screaming loudly about women’s rights in Afghanistan, I think they would be wise to take a critical look here at home. Yes, women here can drive. They can walk around alone and dress however the like. They can go to school. But if anyone thinks the United States of America is the global standard for women’s rights, they are sadly mistaken. It is a demonstrable falsehood.