Globalization and the Continued Relevancy of Women's Issues in the U.S.

Over the course of my time in college, I have seen an increasing amount of people become passionate about global issues. Their passions often lead them to seek out opportunities to volunteer abroad, when some of those same issues still need to be addressed here in America. For example, I've often heard of TCU students going to places like Mexico, Venezuela, or Africa (because for some reason every country in that continent is the same so the specific country is rarely mentioned, which is an issue in itself) to help people in need, when they've never been down to Lancaster or have even heard of places like Stop Six or Como that experience a high degree of "need" every day right here in Fort Worth. Not that wanting to make a positive global impact is bad, but our privileges as U.S. citizens may cause many to forget that our country still has a lot of internal work to do in regard to human rights.

The same concept applies to the global women's movement. In her speech at the 1995 U.N. World Conference on Women, Hilary Clinton states:

 "By gathering in Beijing, we are focusing world attention on issues that matter most in our lives -- the lives of women and their families: access to education, health care, jobs and credit, the chance to enjoy basic legal and human rights and to participate fully in the political life of our countries."

As all of these issues are important and have relevancy around the world, I think it is important for Americans to realize that they still impact us as a nation. Although our country has been moving forward (the pace of such progress is debatable) on women's issues over the last century, we are not in a position to become complacent about the status that women have in our country. Despite the efforts that have been made, patriarchy is alive and well in America, and any participation in the global women's movement by Americans should aim to address issues here as well.

Rather than explain the extent of patriarchy's manifestation in the U.S. (that would literally take all day), I'm just going to end this post with a list of issues/areas that we can and should be addressing in the U.S. right now.

• Equal pay for equal work
• Glass ceiling and sexism in the workplace
• Reproductive rights
• Political Power and representation in government (or lack thereof)
• The overrepresentation of women in poverty
• Maternity leave and familial rights
• Healthcare
• Sexual Assault on College Campuses (and in general)
• Educational outcomes

I'm sure there are a plethora of other issues, but the main message is that while there are a lot of problems that need to be solved world-wide, we still have plenty of work to do at home.