As part of March being Women’s History Month, every year on March 8 we celebrate International Women’s Day. This is meant to be a day where we look back on the monumental challenges that women have overcome to be seen as equals in society; equal to men, just as capable of taking on the world, and deserving of the kind of recognition in the community that historically has been designated to male accomplishments.

The fight throughout history has been tiring. But through the perseverance of the women who have come before us and the vision they had for future generations, women have made their mark in history. We know Amelia Earhart as the first woman to fly a plane across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; Marie Curie as the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize; Katharine Graham as the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company; and Sandra Day O'Connor as the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

It’s been visionary and determined women who have paved the way for their future daughters and granddaughters, disintegrating stereotypes that painted women as having less ability to lead, to make a difference, or to move the world forward alongside their male counterparts. And these accomplishments are certainly things worth celebrating.

It’s women who were proud of their distinction from men who were able to change laws that prohibited women from things like voting and paved the way for us to be seen as valuable contributors in shaping the world.

And to these women I say, Thank you.

However, the example set by women of the past seems to be lost on the women of today. The women of the last decade have flown over the goal of being afforded access to everything men are given and landed us in the middle of delusion and ingratitude.

In a recent panel discussion on the VICE YouTube channel, a group of women hashed out the conversation surrounding whether feminism still exists in the world today and what it looks like. The anti-feminists felt that actual feminism was taking its last breath, while the pro-feminist side argued that the fight was still ongoing and would be until oppression against women had been abolished altogether. However, shockingly they could not name a law or opportunity being denied to women in this country — only that this oppression exists, and if you don’t know what they’re referring to, then you must be the problem.

Pfft. Women, right?

Of course, the only “violation” of women’s rights that the so-called advocates of women’s rights can ever point to is the long-standing fallacy that abortion is a constitutional right, and therefore the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022 — after 50 years of bolstering the idea that taking a life is right in a country whose founding documents explicitly state otherwise — is the darkest transgression against women in U.S. history, even going so far as to assert that not being able to kill the unborn in America is commensurate with the abuse and torture that women in Afghanistan face while living under the control of terrorists who view women as little more than livestock.

I’m sure that the women of Afghanistan would vehemently disagree.

In August 2021, the U.S. military was ordered to abandon the south-central Asian country after having spent 20 years there protecting the human rights of its citizens and affording educational and career opportunities for an entire generation of young girls and women. After our departure, the terrorist organization known as the Taliban swooped in, changing the lives of millions overnight.

According to the left-wing Human Rights Watch website, since 2021 the Taliban “dismissed all women from civil service … and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school and University,” as well as blocked women from “working in humanitarian assistance,” which has contributed to shortages in food and medicine, in turn causing a surge in “malnutrition-related disease.”

An Afghan woman named Shabnam Nasimi details the egregious treatment of women in Afghanistan on a daily basis, sharing videos of harassment, fear, and public beatings for the most minor of offenses. On January 19, 2023, Nasimi posted a report that detailed a new Taliban order forcing shopkeepers to even cover the faces of the mannequins they use to display women’s clothing.

In countries like Afghanistan, men decide what women are called, what women are worth, how women are portrayed, and even what women can say. They have been reduced to nameless, faceless beings, with no rights and no voice.

And if we are to compare the rights of women in Afghanistan to the true path being laid for women’s rights in America, perhaps we need to ask a question of the people who feel that “chest feeder,” “bleeder,” “menstruator,” and “birthing person” are legitimate terms: Who is really looking out to ensure that women are respected and recognized in today’s society?

Is it the people who feel that women’s uniqueness and titles should be recognized with respect and should be distinct from men? Or is it current feminists who are so far removed from the original vision that they are no longer fighting for women but for the right for anyone to be one? All that’s required is a dress and a tube of lipstick.

As a result of the latter, women of today can no longer be proud of their inherent qualities, and the upcoming generation of would-be female leaders is too afraid of being targeted and canceled to even make the case that women are unique from men, as doing so is now considered by feminists to be hate speech.

On the most recent International Women’s Day, the “progress” of women in America was on full display as we watched First Lady Jill Biden present the Woman of Courage award to a biological male.

Perhaps by next year we’ll be celebrating International Dress-Wearers Day or International Estrogen-Containers Day.

I can’t wait.