Throughout America’s history women’s roles in society have expanded. To just name a few things women can now vote, work, get an education, and own their own property. These ideas once seemed foreign but now are quite common everyday in America. However, even with all the rights successfully won by women, there are still prejudices that hold women back.
At a commencement speech at Benedictine College, Kansas City Chiefs kicker, Harrison Butker spoke to the graduates, many who are women, about how women have had ‘diabolical lies’ told to them about what they can achieve in the workforce. He claims that while some women will go on to have successful careers, overall that being the ideal goal for women is unrealistic. Butker rather thinks that women are more excited to be mothers and wives and ‘that’s when life really begins’. While there is nothing wrong with women solely working in the home, it should be a choice not a standard.
The speech received a lot of criticism as it showed a blatant disregard for women’s employment advancements and highlighted age-old stereotypes that some people believe. Even though women have to continue to fight for equality, stereotypes remain making the world of employment tough to break through. The commencement speech that went viral made it all too clear that women are still unfortunately seen in a light where they cannot work in advanced jobs.
“I think that it’s a generational mindset that some people are in just because of how they grew up,” Emma Martin (‘25) said.
Despite the ongoing struggles, one advancement that has been skyrocketing is the development of the women’s sports industry. Teammate of Butker, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is an advocate for expanding women’s sports.
On the same day Butker gave his commencement, Mahomes gave a speech after being recognized to Time Magazine’s “Most Influential List”. Mahomes spoke on his ideas for women’s sports, explaining how he and his wife Brittney co-own the women’s soccer team Kansas City Current, the first female professional team to have a stadium built specifically for their team.
Mahomes claimed that people are no longer watching women’s sports because they feel they have too, but more so because ‘they are amazing’. He advocates for more attention to women’s sports and increased funding so they can continue to grow. When given the resources needed, women can achieve more than ever thought possible.
Instead of labeling women as being only good to work in the household, people should broaden their lens in the potential value women can add to any area of society. While certain ideas of the past are long gone, as a society we should push harder to eliminate the prejudices that still remain.
In fact these stereotypical ideologies are reflected on the global scale, America ranks 43rd out of 143 countries on the Gender Inequality Index Scale. This scale measures women in a specific country’s political power, workforce participation, education levels, and health.
The reason America is ranked so low yet is such a developed country is because of the lack of women in our politics, and the workforce. America should provide more opportunities for women despite the conflicting views of various groups.
We have made progress but we still have a long way to go, hopefully in the future we look back at this time period and laugh.
