Michelle Obama once said “There’s no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” On an international scale, movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp empower women and bring them together in fighting for their rights. We women might have gone a long way,  but there’s still more to conquer. Until there are still misogynists, sexists, and anti-feminists out there, the fight will never be over.

Here are some of the issues against women that should be magnified this International Woman’s Day:

Victim blaming

Reminder para kay Anthony Taberna!😡 pic.twitter.com/ib7oRzjTL0

— EliSi (@EliZi24) February 19, 2018

Recently a TV host has been under fire for airing his less than tactful comments. He talked about a woman who was gang-raped when she went out for drinks with a guy she met on the internet.

“Kapag ikaw ay babae, huwag kang papasok sa lungga ng mga tulisan.”

His own words. Was he simply reminding girls to be careful every time they go out? This is a classic example of victim blaming that seems to be the trend these days. What victim blamers never understand is that it’s never about what she’s wearing or what she did in her past; if a person is a rapist, then he will rape. You don’t tell women to not go out in shorts and sando because it’s their right to wear whatever they please; it’s the men you should be teaching to guard against their thoughts and actions.

Also, when will TV hosts realize that rape and abuse is never a  joke?

Shaming women in general

By definition, slut-shaming is criticizing or labeling a woman or a girl for a behavior judged as provocative when men are praised for the exact same behavior (see, Double Standards)! Sadly, shaming nowadays comes mostly from other women.

In a recent controversy, a Pilipinas Got Talent girl group who performed a car wash in their underwear found their Facebook profiles attacked mostly by women. These women wrote degrading comments insulting the girls and digging up their past to use against them instead of teaching the girls they could do better.

Mocha Uson, in all her obnoxiousness, is being shamed every day for who she was in the past, instead of arguing against her qualifications for her government post. I hope we all realize that treating one wrong with another wrong doesn’t make things right.

If we are divided, we’re never going to progress. Who could understand women and support them better than other women?

Misogyny

If a man hates a woman or he thinks men are better than women, you’ve got a misogynist right there. The internet is sadly proliferated with misogynists. Donald Trump has been labeled as a misogynist with a hundred different remarks he’s made! We don’t even have to look far; even the leader of our own country encourages misogynistic remarks, throws rape jokes nonchalantly, and instills this kind of behavior to the police force! It doesn’t get any worse than little boys growing up idolizing presidents and now have to look up to  these men.

Women’s rights

Women and girls don’t have the same rights as men and boys do in many places around the world. They are expected to work hard, but never given the same credit or the same salary amount as men, some are not even given the privilege of education, choosing what they want to wear, or marrying whom they please when they want to. More and more women are being trafficked and forced to act as sex slaves.

Women’s rights is a movement that has been around, and while it has succeeded in a lot of things, there’s still so much more left for the world to realize. The mere existence of this movement tells us something is wrong with the way the world treats its women!

Sexism

Today I was told that female judges shouldn’t adjudicate on matters pertaining to sexual assault as they’d get too emotional #everydaysexism

— Wayward Temptress (@TCKSomethingist) April 15, 2015

Every woman becomes a victim of sexism at one point in her life. You’d think men would refrain from sexism in front of the camera, but let’s not underestimate their capabilities. Female reporters are belittled in their field, in the political landscape, a woman’s private matters is aired to prove a point. Women are expected to stay at home and tend to their families, and because of said families, they are put at a disadvantage when looking for potential jobs from companies wanting to know their long-term plans. As a country, it’s clear we still have a long way to go with battling sexism.

Double standards

Women are always expected to balance on a high wire of expectations from every one around them. If they tip a little bit to one side, they’re called to act professional, to think like a man, or described as a high-maintenance woman. If they tip to the other side, they’re labelled as bossy or asked to raise their standards just a little bit in a relationship. What exactly do you expect women to do?

They’re expected to clean the house, cook, do chores, and watch after children; while men are bred to be breadwinners. When these women reject relationships and starting a family to focus on their career, they’re ridiculed, but when men do the same, they’re hailed. If a man chooses to stay at home to do chores and look after children, he’s still the macho man doing a macho thing. See what’s wrong?

Reproductive Rights

There’s one thing men can never do and women are exceptional at: giving birth. This in itself is a reason why women’s reproductive rights are a hot topic worldwide. Reproductive right is the right of a woman or a couple to reproduction, meaning the number of children they’re going to have, when they’re going to have it, and the access to good quality reproductive healthcare. Simply put, it’s the right of a woman to whatever she pleases with her body.

Abortion is an even bigger topic that has divided people time and again. It also doesn’t help that in the Philippines the Reproductive Health Bill is being deprioritized with every new administration..

There’s a lot more to fight for

This International Women’s Day, women all over the world are coming together to let each other know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. There might be a lot of issues surrounding women today, but there are equally a lot of women fighting to overcome these issues. Women’s rights have gone a long way – that in itself should be congratulated.

Here’s to continuing the fight. Here’s to the women who aren’t afraid to stand up for their rights, and here’s to their achievements!

Got anything else to add? Share it with us below!