Day 160 - Sisters

Thought of the day: Tonight I watched "Courage Under Fire" the n-th time.  It was a very well-made movie about a courageous female commander who was accused of being a coward by one of the soldiers.  She eventually had her name cleared and received the Medal of Honor posthumously.  Co-incidently, there was also a news segment on TV about the ongoing class action suit in the Supreme Court against Walmart for gender-based discrimination.  Even in this day and age, discrimination and abuse against women are still rampant around the globe.  According to statistics released by the Department of Labor, women in the US are suffering from unequal pay.  However, the discrimination here is often subtle as the law and public opinions are against it.  Subtle discrimination is hard to fight and can be very frustrating, but around the world, women suffer from far more blatant abuses that deprive them the right to work, to vote, to decide where to go, who to marry, among other things.  In some countries, the discrimination is sponsored, or at least condoned, by the government.  In others, it could be a cultural "thing" that has been going on for millenniums.  Unless something is actively being done against it, inequality won't just go away on its own as it's unlikely for anyone to give up power voluntarily to a disadvantaged group.  However, there is hope.  I heard that women in Northern Europe, especially in Sweden, enjoy more equal rights than their counterparts elsewhere.  I would be curious to find out what they did to get there.

Photo of the day:

Sisters playing on a toy truck - Lila adores her big sister.  I sure wish that they would not have to endure gender based inequality when they grow up.