written by Dayton Campbell
Is Enough, Enough?
When I asked my friend their favourite things about being a woman, I waited a while for a response until they reached the conclusion that ‘nearly all the things I think about being a woman are negative.’ The
more I thought about this I realised the truth in their answer. Although we have come a long way since the suffragette movement, in the end, even today are we as free and liberated as we’re told we are?
As women we have the right to:
“Live free from violence and discrimination, to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; to be educated; to own property; to vote; and to earn an equal wage.”
says Amnesty International, a human rights organisation.
Across the globe we see women being denied access to basic healthcare, shelter, and opportunities. The recent abortion bans in states across the United States of America make me question the progress we have made in the western world that we so proudly brag about. The new ‘Texas Laws,’ decided by men, were commenced on the 1st of September 2021 that makes it illegal to have an abortion once a heartbeat can be detected from the embryo within the mother. However, this happens at an incredibly early stage of the pregnancy, six weeks. This is before many women are aware they are pregnant, let alone have decided whether they will continue with the pregnancy. A difficult decision to make.
Many have deemed the ‘Texas Laws’ unconstitutional and appealed to the Supreme Court against the enforcement of the new law, to which the Supreme court denied leaving the law to commence. This not only forces a potentially unwanted child upon a mother, but the laws do not exclude young children, victims of incest or rape. Of course, this led to an outbreak of riots across the state with many women fighting for the right to an abortion. Unfortunately, Texas is not alone: Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Ohio including many other states have also passed similar ‘heartbeat’ laws which prohibit access to abortion clinics after a heartbeat can be heard from the embryo.
Although many believe abortion is wrong and regarded as sinful by the large Christian population within America, women’s rights are not something that can be argued or tied to religion. Outside sexual
health clinics you can find a woman or a man preaching to the young girls and women pleading them to ‘save their child’s life’ and calling them slurs, insulting them and under mining their basic human right to do as they choose with their own body. The hypocrisy within America is something that deeply frustrates me. Many do not understand why or how we can allow an ‘abomination’ such as abortion to occur, but it is not complicated at all. We simply allow the woman to make the choice for what is best for them.
As a young woman I am told to: “Look at all the progress we’ve made!” The suffragettes in the early 20th century risked their lives to gain the right to vote, not out of choice but out of necessity. It was only until 1928 when all women in Britain gained the same equal voting rights as men. Many women were treated like servants to their husbands during the 1940s and 50s until the second wave of feminism in the late 60s and 70s. This is where we see the liberation of women across countries as women gain access to more rights.
Even today more freedom is being gained but bans on abortions, such as the ‘Texas Laws’ inhibit the growth of women across the world and confines them to the restraint and ideals of the rich white men in power that determine what should be done to and for women. Women are undermined persistently as mothers, not taught about sexual health in an informative way, sexual pleasure for women is regarded as something taboo and unspoken about, we are told what to do with our bodies and how, controlled under law, allowed limited access to health care and equal pay.
I do not see progress; I see change that still needs to happen.
