It’s been another year since I’ve been on the Earth. Today, I am 25. I have lived my life thus far zooming in with a microscope instead of viewing it through a telescope to see all that’s around me. And this year, I learned how to scope out.

It’s no secret that women for generations and centuries have been below men. We have struggled and fought to be equal or receive equity from men. Here are 3 things I think would help women take a step toward equity and equality.

There are at least 117 countries in the world that allow child marriage to occur (Sandstorm & Theodorou, 2016). Although that number is shocking by itself, there are many more that perform this ceremony against the wishes of the law. Child marriage and sex trafficking are something that people think is predominately in African or undeveloped countries. However, most do not take into consideration that it happens very frequently like in large tourist countries, or even in the United States of America.

The newest book I’ve read is The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer. It follows the story of a shy and timid girl who learns more about what it means to be a woman in the United States. She goes through trauma at the hands of a boy at her college. Having gone through something similar, as have a majority of the women population, it struck outrage within me. Why as girls, as women, as anyone with a vagina, are we at a disadvantage over men?