Cry for equality: Knowing we will be violent-free

“Gender Equality Now” — Liu Yuehan

Everyone is born with the freedom to enjoy life that is being bestowed to him/her by the Creator. As a person, we have the right to live life to its fullest. Yet, does this really happen in real sense? Isn’t it that we are often hampered with so many aspects that curtail our human rights and dignity?

In a world mandated with masculinity, women at some point are considered a weaker link. Women are at times tagged to be frail sex. Different sort of oppressions are experienced by women simply because they are women. This kind of treatment to women could be socially fabricated or in some extent ethnically determined.

In the case of Thousands of Women Protest Against Sexist Violence in Mexico, it is notably an effort to change the oppressive and erroneous perception and treatment to women.

“On this April Sunday, thousands of women across the country, of all ages — children, young women, adults and older women — marched against the simultaneous forms of violence they face in their homes, in the streets, in their jobs, in their schools, in their intimate relationships and in militant-leftist organizations. Women flooded the streets to speak out for the silenced and ignored voices. Women went out to denounce the naturalized violence.” — MEZTLI YOALLI RODRÍGUEZ

Protesters walk during Women’s March on Washington by Mario Tama of Getty Image

The said protest against sexiest violence is a wakeup call not only for women in Mexico but also to all women in all parts of the world to stand for their rights and exercise their freedom.

Gender role should have nothing to do with how society looks and gives opportunities. Equal treatment for everyone must be applied. Women shall not be taken as a second class citizens. They too deserve equal treatment and recognition of their worth.

The Purple Spring protest obviously made a point that women should not be afraid to stand and fight for themselves. It is a fight not only for those who are present in the protest but also for those women who are still wrapped with fears and those who are under violence. Dorothy Height, who took the road to fight for civil rights and women’s right especially on improving the circumstances and opportunities for the African-American women, drew many young people to support her cause in addressing the rights women greatly deserve. Dorothy was able to experience discrimination. She was refused of admittance in a college in New York. Barnard College in New York told Heights that they had already met their quota for black students.

I have been in the proximity of, and threatened by, the Klan; I have been called everything people of color are called; I have been denied admission because of a quota. I’ve had all of that, but I’ve also learned that getting bitter is not the way. — Dorothy Height

Despite what Dorothy had gone through, she was able to prove her self-worth and stood tall. This is the very reason why the former first lady Hilary Clinton said that Height understood that women’s rights and civil rights are indivisible and that she stood up for the rights of women every chance she had. Dorothy Height left us with a legacy of self-prominence that we should adhere. We may not be encountering the same situations and circumstances the Purple Spring protesters had, the same racial discrimination Height experienced nevertheless, we face the same battle of not being heard for the reason that we are women.

Born a slave in 1862, Ida Bell Wells faced racial prejudices and was restricted by discriminatory rules and practices. Wells was demanded to give up a seat on a train because of her being black. Since she refused to give up her seat, she was forcibly removed from the train. She too underwent being ignored and not given value since she was a black woman. Those experiences drove Wells to establish several civil rights organizations. She worked on behalf of all women who were being oppressed, discriminated and brutally assaulted. She heavily fought for women’s suffrage.

The common denominator of these women going out to fight is the desire and the faith to transform the view and perception given to women by a judgmental society. It is the hope of world with a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. It is the cry for equality, believing that tomorrow we will be violent-free. With the faith of these brave women, we may go out from our comfort zone and work together to lessen the struggle of those who are suffering and under the agony of discrimination and oppression. To live a life is not only for ourselves for to affect change in the lives of other people needing attention and help. It is but our moral obligation to take an action against an oppressive society. It is our mission to have a society wherein everyone is free.