It is time to come out of the closet, shatter the glass ceiling and mop up the sticky floor. Gay marriage is making headlines all over the world as the Supreme Court hears two cases that have the potential to legalize same sex marriage, but a longer battle for civil rights and equality still rages on for a large percentage of Americans and women worldwide.
Women in leadership are caught in a catch-22 where the double standards make the stereotypical image of a leader a man. If a woman acts similarly to male leaders she is viewed as a bitch and not in the reclaiming the language, strong-powerful-woman kind of way. Women are making strides in climbing corporate ladders and holding positions in all levels of government and the military, but the road to true equality, complete with nonexistent gender discrimination, equal pay for equal work and equal representation, is still a ways off.
A common saying is that women can’t have it all when it comes to having a family, husband or partner and holding a job.
The message is that something has to give. A woman may have to choose between having a family or a career. Almost all of our presidents — and yes they have all been male — have had families and found time to run the country. Why couldn’t a female president pose for pictures on a trip to Camp David along side the First Man and their kids and still give a rousing speech to Congress the next day? Many of the male presidents have found the time to balance their personal lives with their professional ones. Who is to say a woman couldn’t find the balance as well?
In an ideal world, the people who are the most qualified would get the jobs but hidden, and sometimes even unconscious, discrimination still permeates society. The glass ceiling may not be nearly as thick as it was in my grandma’s generation but it still exists, even if it is better polished and harder to see.
As gay marriage is at the heart of the public struggle for equality, remember other struggles wage on. There may come a day when women’s, queer, African American, Native American and Chicano studies are no longer needed because those programs will be seamlessly integrated into other departments, but until that day comes the fight for true equality will wage on until the glass ceiling and other obstacles melt away and become sad relics of the past.
