Sexism is our way of life. We are unaware of the impact of years of gender conditioning and how we pass these biases on to our children.

Though we pride ourselves on open mindedness and acceptance of other groups, the truth is we are deeply afraid of the differences in our cultures because we do not understand one another.

While the world is starting to become more accepting of same sex relationships, marriage equality continues to be a divisive, front page issue in my country. In many states, parents in a same sex relationship are unable to visit their child in the emergency room and could be fired at anytime because of their sexuality.

To say transgender men and women have yet to be acknowledged as valued members of our communities is a gross understatement. Media coverage of people like Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox, and Chelsea Manning is helping to build awareness but our difficulty coming to terms with the concept that one might not identify with their birth gender is undeniable.

This awkwardness is evident when someone as experienced in human interaction as Katie Couric fails to appreciate asking someone about their “private parts” is always completely inappropriate. For some, this fear of the unknown manifests as brutal attacks the media fails to give proper attention. Every single day, things that most of us take for granted, locating a restroom, feeling safe alone with a taxi driver, respect at work, can be faced with traumatic uncertainty for transgender people.

Over hundreds and thousands of years, our civilization has constructed an invisible world-wide system of oppression that doles out privilege according to tick marks on a complex survey of demographic categories, including gender, age, geographic location, race, religion, family wealth, sexuality, marital status, number of children, college education, perceived physical beauty, and so on.

The things we have no control over have the most significant impact over the size of gift the welcome wagon brings us at birth.

Some of us enjoy significant luxury and privilege. As a white woman living in the U.S., I enjoy a hot cup of coffee every morning as I check into Twitter or start coding. Contrast that with the lives of the children who were born into poverty and slavery in Africa who pick the coffee beans I enjoy.

I benefit from child slavery.

Our privilege is uncomfortable. Naturally, we resent being reminded of it. Those of us with the most privilege struggle the most with acceptance. To hear all of our hard work was not the primary reason we have success feels insulting. We tend to push privilege quickly out of view.

In my country, we abolished slavery with the Thirteenth Amendment on December 18, 1865. But to this day, segregation continues. Across the board, be it healthcare, housing, education, poverty, imprisonment, you name it, our system has continued to oppress African American people. Reparations are likely needed if there is ever hope for equality for African Americans.

This year, Latinos will surpass whites as the largest racial/ethnic group in California. It is expected whites will become a minority over the next three decades. And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg for the diversity and the complexity of ethnic origin in my country.

World-wide, patriarchal systems have been and continue to be the foundation of our social systems.

Many families continue with the strong father model. Things as simple as who drives the car, who prepares the meals, who runs the vacuum, who mows the lawn, create and reinforce gender biases for children.

Children are learning how to be and treat their spouse as they watch their parents interact. If respect is lacking between parents, if a woman is reminded of her place through verbal or physical abuse, if a man makes all of the significant decisions, combined, all of these life experiences factor into learning what is expected of them.

Most communities and businesses are led by men.

Last year, the United States Senate swore in a historic number of female senators. While it is cause for celebration and a step forward for equality, it is still only 20% of the total membership. We are nearing the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment where women were finally granted the right to vote. Will I see a female president in my lifetime? Progress has been glacial.

The Forbes 400 list of the Richest People In America has 48 women. 13 are in the top 100. 352 of the 400 listed are men.

A rare few women are elevated to top industry spots. But, when they are, no one stands beneath, knowing they will soon fall. Most recently, Jill Abramson suffered a brutal ousting where her management skills, decision making, ability to work with others, mistreatment of others, were accusations laid out for the world to see, something that rarely happens when a ranking male executive is let go.

On average, a woman is paid 77 percent of what men are paid. And that’s the good news for women. If you happen to not be white, things are considerably worse. Hispanic or Latina women make 53% of what white men earn. Now, slice the data one more time by education and you start seeing how putting food on the table and paying rent is a struggle.

The National Women’s Law Center “Poverty and Income among Women and Families 2000-2012" report shows women and children continue to be disproportionately impacted by poverty. This is especially true for female-headed families with children.

More than half of all poor children in this country live in families headed by women. 1 in 5 children in this country are poor which means the welcome wagons for 16 million precious children didn’t have any gift, through no fault of their own, the right options on their survey were simply not ticked.

When your home costs $12 million dollars and your net worth is estimated to be well over $250 million dollars, mocking 47% of the country is ill advised. Rich, white men like Mitt Romney cannot begin to understand how stressful it must be to choose between medicine and heat, or what a mother must feel like when she is forced to put children to bed with no supper. Sputtering “binders full of women” as a comprehensive diversity plan showed a lack of preparation or concern for the issue.

Other Republican candidates displayed a complete lack of respect for women with phrases like “legitimate rape” and “the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down” and another declared “even pregnancy from rape is something God intended” to assert abortion should not be an option for women, even in the case of rape. While discussing a case where a 17-year old boy was charged with the sexual assault of an underage girl, a third candidate said his father told him, “Some girls rape easy,” meaning women lie later about having given consent.

These are Republican politicians running for the highest positions in a state.

It was shocking to learn Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan sponsored legislation that would get rid of many of the most common forms of birth control.

Rush Limbaugh makes 46 personal attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke who appeared before members of Congress in support of birth control being available to women as part of their health care package.

What does it say about the college coed Susan Fluke [sic], who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex? What does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex.

She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We’re the pimps.

The johns, that’s right. We would be the johns — no! We’re not the johns. Well — yeah, that’s right. Pimp’s not the right word.

In ways I had not seen before, the patriarchal structure became visible in the Republican party and a clear intent by rich old white men to take choices about a woman’s health and body away from her.

They’ll decide.

How many of us believed the calamity of the election process would bring needed reform to the Republican party? And yet, following the White House release of “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action” conservative George Will responded with air quotes and disdain, saying the “supposed campus epidemic of rape”, accusing rape victims of trying to cheat the system since “victimhood is a coveted status that confers privilege.”

An old rich, white dude telling a young rape victim she is privileged?

I would allow my rage to build but it would never stop. I cannot begin to understand this thinking. This hate, lack of respect, distrust, selfishness, an obvious attempt to ensure rich fraternity boys will continue to not have to deal with the consequences of their deviant sexual behavior expected during college. Willingly ensuring young girls continue to have no protection.

Given these facts, it should come as no surprise that feminists consider the patriarchy to be ‘enemy number one’ since this social structure is not only intended, but it is also has been extremely effective at ensuring women remain subordinate to men.

And yet, we need to be mindful of balance.

Such a position is in direct conflict with those who hold dear religious beliefs that God intended man to lead and women to submit, a behavior expected of believers. Increasingly, those who embrace fundamental, Biblical-based faith find their beliefs to be in conflict with social change. Case in point, living ones faith in support of traditional marriage can ostracize one from society today.

It is not rare to see activists flippantly call those with religious beliefs bigots. Believers consider activists to be attacking their faith, imposing upon their freedom to worship. One would spend a lifetime opposing the other, convicted of their position, dedicated to their cause, unwilling to find common ground.

Some say our diversity is our strength, and maybe it is, but it is also at the heart of our conflict as people. How will we respect all of the cultural implications inherent in our diversity? How can we begin to dismantle this structure that ensures so many children don’t have what they need, while a few have so much more than they ever could use? How can we move forward, together, in respectful, peaceful way?

Or, can we?

We are seven billion strong sharing an increasingly connected, shrinking planet. We are conflicted. We are polarized. We are angry. We are demanding. We care very much about our own inequalities. We care very little about the rights of others.