Editorial: Women continue fight for equality
After The Volante launched the first of a four-article series last week which dives headfirst into issues affecting women directly on the University of South Dakota’s campus, the reaction from a number of students — and even some faculty — was why women, why now?
This is a completely understandable line of questioning from a generation of college students that have in some cases, been brought up in what has been deemed in the media — inaccurately — as the post-feminist era. Some might think activists like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan already “fought the good fight,” so what else is there to talk about, to protest about, to advocate for when we approach the gender divide in 2013?
Just because we can act as a university or a community or even a generation like men and women are equal, this does not make these sentiments true. Men and women are both facing challenges in finding their role in society. As a man wrestles with letting a woman take charge without being perceived wimpy, the woman in exchange wrestles with how she can be proactive without seeming overbearing, controlling or undesirable. To say public universities, where women constitute as 57 percent of the student body, are past having discussions about how gender affects each and every student is wrong and needs to change — and we can start right here at USD.
The Volante wants to bring this discussion to campus in the only way we know how, through our coverage. And with this four-part series, the articles are focusing on major aspects of this state and campus that could look to improve their gender equality relations and could spark further inquest into where improvement can be had as a campus and as a people.
These stories are not a matter of criticizing USD and South Dakota, they are about awareness and development. Don’t you think it is important for students — a large portion who will stay in the state — to know South Dakota was given an “F” and ranked 43 out of 50 states for its “state of women” in categories like economy, leadership and healthcare by a national organization? How about the fact the organization also determined if minimum wage was raised to $10 an hour, nearly 57 percent of women in the state would directly feel the effect.
In the next few weeks, this series will go beyond economic equality and will look to bring more awareness to what it means to be a mother on this campus where diaper-changing stations are hardly available or where the only place to pump breast milk is in a bathroom stall. It will turn a spotlight to what sexual harassment looks like on a college campus and where a student, faculty or staff member can go if they feel they are being harassed, as well as a final article on the disproportionate relationship between USD’s reported alcohol citations to sexual assaults on campus.
While some at USD will see this series and think these topics mentioned above are issues not seen on campus, to others, these investigations will shed light on situations they encountered, a friend encountered or maybe a colleague encountered. Either way, everyone who steps foot on USD needs to be made aware the gender gap is not confined to politics, it is a matter of everyday events that don’t always make the front page of their local newspaper.
