Living as a teenager in the twenty-first century is already quite a difficult feat, but living as a teenager and being a woman in the twenty-first century is even harder.

International Women’s Day fell on March 8th, and it is a day to celebrate the strength and struggle of those before us and who are currently struggling. International Women’s Day is a global day of advocacy designed to celebrate women’s work and promote women’s rights. The first International Women’s Day was held in 1909 by the Socialist Party of America as way to honor the 1908 garment workers strike. This year’s theme of the celebration was Press for Progress. Inspired by movements like Me Too and Times Up, the Press For Progress campaign encourages people everywhere to continue to speak out, stand up, and advocate for gender equality. Though International Women’s Day is celebrated globally, it’s not an official holiday in all countries. The United States does not officially recognize International Women’s Day as a holiday, for example.

The women’s struggle is not something new, but it is still very much relevant. It will continue to be relevant until women get the acknowledgement they deserve. As a student in a co-ed public school, I sit in a history class with both girls and boys. Thus makes for often-frustrating conversations about women’s rights.  I say frustrating because I don’t think that schools in general discuss women’s rights enough. It is extremely important to educate everyone on this topic because if students are not educated on the true hardships that the women of history had to suffer through to get us where we are now, ignorance will prevail.

Having such a deep rooted past in simple human rights makes for often strong opinions on the topic. In my opinion, public schools need to spend more time explaining that part of our history.  I believe that after so many years the stories of these women deserve more than a sentence or two in history class. Education fights arrogance and ignorance. If schools made a greater effort in educating the new generation of kids on the development for the rights of people of color, women, immigrants, the disabled, or any minority, the level or arrogance in classrooms would dwindle. With less of this, there would be more understanding outside of the classroom.