Has the condition of women actually improved?

Lately, I have been asking myself this question quite often. Has it really changed? Is there something better for females out there?

Is it normal that most girls and women do not feel safe when they go out alone - especially at night? Is it right that most of them have pepper spray to protect themselves with? Is it right that there are still workplaces in which women are considered inferior?

There has been some progress if we look at past centuries, but there is still so much to do to achieve equal rights between men and women and to make females feel safe.

Some late news shocked the world since it is the evidence of how society - despite its huge steps towards progress- is backwarding. 

In Italy, more than a hundred women were killed by their partners because of possessivity or other reasons justified by a patriarchal society. The latest news about Giulia Cecchettin pushed young and old generations to take action and to make something to change the world. Giulia Cecchettin was killed by her ex-boyfriend. The reasons that one could find are so irrational, such as possessivity or the fact that he was jealous that she was going to get a degree and maybe move on with her life. Filippo Turetta, the killer, was caught and will be trialed for femicide. He is now seen as the symbol of society still impregnated by inequality between men and women and the violence and obsession that exist in some relationships. However, 104 more women lost their lives because of these concepts and prejudices that some people still have, even though we live in a “modern” society. If it had really developed, some things would not happen nowadays. 

One must not forget the fact that New York major, Eric Adams, has been accused of sexual assault by one of his ex-colleagues. Cannot a woman feel safe even in the place she works? 

Finally, another freedom was taken from women. In June 2022, the law Roe v. Wade which guaranteed and legalized the right to abortion to women was abolished. That is not the progress and the evolution one would want to have in a modern society. 

People go on strike and protests all over the world so that the condition of women could actually change. The Me Too movement has been known all over the world since the mid-2010s. That is a movement around the issue of sexual harassment and sexual abuse of women in the workplace. 

This past week, in Italy, thousands of women gathered in squares and streets of the main cities to protest against a patriarchal society and so that what happened to Giulia Cecchettin and other hundreds of women could not happen anymore. However, is this enough? 

Over the centuries, improvement has been made, but the perfect society - which is an utopia - is still a lot far away and, in order to get closer to it, everyone should fully understand what it means being a woman in order to not waste the efforts and struggles that we - as society-  are living nowadays. 

References

Artiaco, I. (n.d.). La storia di Giulia Cecchettin: dalla scomparsa alla morte fino all'arresto di Filippo Turetta. Fanpage. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.fanpage.it/attualita/giulia-cecchettin-e-filippo-turetta-dove-sono-i-ragazzi-le-tappe-della-scomparsa-degli-ex-fidanzati/

Il ribaltamento della Sentenza Roe v. Wade: come spazzare via 50 anni di progresso. (2022, July 5). Business Defence. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.businessdefence.it/it/blog/il-ribaltamento-della-sentenza-roe-v-wade-come-spazzare-50-anni-di-progresso

Nuovi guai legali per il sindaco di New York, una donna lo accusa di molestie sessuali. (2023, November 23). Il Fatto Quotidiano. Retrieved November 27, 2023, from https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2023/11/23/nuovi-guai-legali-per-il-sindaco-di-new-york-una-donna-lo-accusa-di-molestie-sessuali/7362803/