Are we?

I just told my Mom that I feel like there hasn't been as much progress from the 1970's to now. That it's been 30-40 years of dragging people (kicking and screaming, mind you) to listen to a woman's concerns and fears.

My Mom flat out agreed with me. In addition to sexual assault and sexual harassment, my Mom said, "When I had your older brother, I was given 10 weeks maternity leave." She told me she had saved up about 3 weeks in vacation time, but was granted the additional 7 weeks from her workplace. Now? She went on to say, "And even then, I still believed that wasn't enough time for me to come back to work." My Mom was a single parent for a while. Her first husband was a dead beat Dad who divorced her and never paid child support.

But, she stressed, "Even with 10 weeks, that's more than most people will get now. Looking back on it, I was lucky with my maternity leave. Some families only get 5-6 weeks before having to go back to work."

She had my older brother in 1984.

No. I don't feel like our representatives are listening to us. I feel like people still see us as a commodity and nothing more.