Looking Forward in Women’s History

In Georgia, women still face many challenges, including a maternal mortality rate that remains among the worst in the country, with Black women dying at three times the rate of white women. When a state underinvests in healthcare and criminalizes basic bodily autonomy, it is almost always women who pay the price first.

When it comes to the income gap, Georgia fares slightly better, ranking 27th in the country with women making 82 cents on the dollar for every dollar earned by men. Once again, this disparity is starkest when comparing Black women to white men, with Black women earning an average of only 58 cents on the dollar. Per the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, the earnings gap is particularly severe for mothers, with Black mothers only earning 46 cents for every dollar a white father earns nationally. With Georgia offering so few protections to women, much less guaranteed benefits like paid maternity leave, there is little reason to believe that our state is going to treat working women any better than the rest of the country.

At least part of the problem with addressing these disparities is in the existence of another – underrepresentation of women in power. From university presidents to Fortune 500 CEOs to the Georgia Legislature, women are in the minority. In our legislature, fewer than 40% of elected officials are women, which is still remarkable given that only one of the 18 Fortune 500 companies in Georgia is led by woman.

These disparities aren’t because of any inherent difference between men and women. They exist because of a complex combination of longstanding structural inequalities, outdated gender norms and old-fashioned sexual discrimination.

None of these problems need be permanent, either. They can be fixed, even as some of the rights that took decades to win are being clawed back by people who see women’s progress as an infringement on men’s power.

Even in the face of those hardships, women continue to excel. While educational attainment has grown for both men and women over the last century, the last 30 years have been a time of particularly rapid growth for women.

In 1995, one in four men and women had a bachelor’s degree. As of 2024, nearly half of women now have a bachelor’s degree, while only a little over one-third of men do. While it will take time for economic prosperity to catch up to these qualifications, this signals a trend in the right direction.

While the full health ramifications of the overturning of Roe v. Wade remain to be seen, one thing is also clear – women appear to be heartier than men when it comes to longevity and combating illness. The average life expectancy for an American man is just 74.8 years, but for an American woman it is 80.2 years. Of the handful of supercentenarians around the world, those living to 110 or older, women account for a whopping 90% of them. Throughout history, women have always been more resilient, despite the machismo peddled by some influencers and politicians.

There are two things that we can and should aim to do this March. One, trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and how to live their lives. Two, try to think critically about how certain notions related to masculinity and femininity and male and female roles continue to promote disparities between genders that can harm both women and men.

Gender equality need not be a distant dream; we can use our right to vote to attain power in the Georgia Legislature and the U.S. Congress to make it a reality. For all the women who fought to get us where we are today, and for those who are still fighting that fight, we owe it to them to do so. 

Tharon Johnson can be seen Sunday mornings on The Georgia Gang on Fox 5 Atlanta. He received a Green Eyeshade award in journalism in 2023.