Opinion: Don’t Forget To Wear Shoes, Ladies. There’s Glass Everywhere

I have seen this image about a million times. The one where Kamala Harris is stepping out of a plane with her converse sneakers? I enjoy the message above the picture the best: “Don’t Forget To Wear Shoes, Ladies. There’s Glass Everywhere.” I think to myself: how did we get to where we are today? It is impossible that we got where we are today without the guidance, status-shatters, and grit of our past. In my thoughts, these are the idols we need to look up to every day.

I am surrounded by women who are introspective, creative, strong, and gritty in my personal life. I have a younger sister, and there’s no one else I want to be more like than her. I have a mom and a dad who are aware of the need to progress women’s equalities. And I have grandmothers who were alive when women couldn’t own credit cards or bank accounts and their grandmothers that didn’t have the right to cast a vote.

As many teens do, I also have so many ancestors who could never have dreamed of having the privileges I have today. I wish I could pay my grandparent’s generation the respect they deserve for going through what they did to get me the rights I have today. I think about history and all the people I have to sincerely thank for where I am and who I can become. 

It’s interesting to see the ways feminism is being shaped and how this generation is interpreting it. In Hamilton, which casts multi-cultural people to play people who were, quite frankly, overwhelmingly white and rich, I especially appreciate Angelica Schuyler’s casting as a strong, willful, and capable young woman. She sings the lyrics, “You want a revolution? I want a revelation…”We hold these truths to be self-evident/That all men are created equal” feels like a stomach bursting with pride and happiness for all people. 

I don’t think my grandparents could have imagined a world where their granddaughters have the rights they do today, but they could have hidden secrets where they saw it happening. I like to think about moments in my life where they might be amazed at what women have been able to accomplish; I see the swish of my gown at a graduation or a page in a book turned because I can harness the incredible power to read. 

I like to think about women’s rights as a mountain climb; sure, there are peaks we have reached, and that is amazing. But, we have to reach to the top to see how breathtaking the view can be. Why, then, if we compare the steep mountain to the inequalities we see, are so many people okay with waiting it out and staying on a lower peak? I hope feminists and feminists in-progress can invite more people to reach the peak. 

So, let’s not forget the women whose shoulders we stand on. But, let’s also remember what we need to achieve in the future. I want to see a world where we women are paid equally to men, where we are listened to, heard, and inspired. I would love to hear of a world where our children have a much more equal life than we do right now. I will be able to cast my first legal vote in 1,006 days (oh, yeah, who’s counting?) I cannot wait for a day when I feel like more advances toward equality are being made. A few hundred feet up, and there is a glorious view. Shouldn’t we all see it?