Women deserve better

 - by Dustin Woods
  Visionary Columnist

March is Women’s History Month. We also honor women this month with International Women’s Day on Sunday, March 8.

March is the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It is associated with new life. Humanity has women to thank for bringing all the new life welcomed into its ranks, so I find it very fitting that we designate March as Women’s History Month.

Not only are women responsible for all human life, but they also seem responsible for ensuring that the living stay alive. The Smithsonian showcases archaeologists like Kristen Hawkes, who have posited the Grandmother Hypothesis, which essentially holds that the assistance grandmothers provide to young children in the family helps mothers have more children, thereby leading to the long lives and large brains we enjoy today.

Grandmothers pass along knowledge to growing children, and I, for one, can attest to this. My great-grandmother taught me to read from the Book of Matthew when I was three years old, and my mom was caring for my newborn little sister. I credit Granny with fostering my current academic abilities.

Women hold an oftentimes thankless position in society, and in many cases, an unpaid one. Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF) found that in 2023, women performed $643 billion in unpaid caregiving work. When women actually get paid, it’s to the tune of, on average, 78 cents compared to a dollar for the same work performed by men, the NPWF also found.

Consider this thought experiment. If the need arises to approach a stranger in public and there are multiple options, would you choose the male- or female-presenting person? I am far more comfortable interacting with a stranger who is a woman than with one who is a man, and if required, I will pick a female stranger to interact with over a male one almost every time. Unless the guy is obviously gay, then I might pick him. Regardless, the point is that women are more approachable.

The reasons for female approachability are probably so numerous that I couldn’t even begin to consider them all. A couple that I wish to point out are the facts that most violent crimes are committed by men, and by a long shot. According to the FBI, in 2019, of all persons arrested for violent crimes, 78.9% of them were men. In the same year, the FBI found that of the offenders for whom the data was obtained, 88% of murders were committed by men.

Not only do women have to share the world with a violent counterpart gender, but they are also disproportionately affected by that violence from the very people they traditionally reside with. From 2020 through 2024, the FBI reviewed domestic violence charges and found that nearly 75% of the victims were female. 

How are we as a society ever going to get women into a place of equality if so many in our communities are perpetrating physical violence and financial discrimination against them at such a lopsided rate? How do we achieve equity if lawmakers and their appointed judges keep taking away women’s rights?

I don’t know exactly, but I sure know the status quo ain’t working! As a cisgender man, I come at this topic from a place of privilege. A privilege that I would like to dismantle in order to achieve equality for my nieces, who are just as capable and worthy as my nephews.

Resources available upon request.

The Gayly online. 3/8/26 @ 6:06 p.m. CST.