This Video Shows What Women’s Rights Look Like Around The World

Women’s History Month

March is officially recognized as Women's History Month. Through storytelling, personal essays and defining what it means to be a woman in 2017, we aim to shed light on why the political is personal and vice versa.

If you have a personal story you'd like to share, email womenshistory@elitedaily.com.

If 2017 turns out to be known for anything, it just may be the year of the woman.

Of course, that title belongs to the year 1992, when a record number of five women were elected to the US Senate.

Five still sounds like a small number, but at a time when President George H.W. Bush publicly responded to women running by saying, “I hope a lot of them lose,” five was nothing short of a feat.

Today, there are 21 women in the Senate, but under a president famously anti-feminist, the struggle for equality is far from over.

From millions organizing to march against Donald Trump to the constant fight to keep government out of our private lives and reproductive organs, there’s no room for silence in our current administration.

But struggling with the patriarchy, obviously, isn’t a fight unique to American women.

When we think of the US in comparison to other countries, we are raised to think there’s no greater place to live than America.

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And while America isn’t as oppressed as some countries, it could still be doing so much better.

Sure, women are no longer stigmatized (as much) for joining the workforce instead of starting families, but when you realize countries like Sweden not only have paid maternity leave but offer three months of it, you start to wonder when America will catch up.

Like with any issue, change comes from staying informed.

It may be shocking to realize that in the face of Russia decriminalizing domestic violence, the country was actually the first state in the world to legalize abortion in 1920.

It’s even more shocking when you realize how much the US still struggles with abortion laws today.

Though no country will ever be perfect (except maybe Canada, hi Justin Trudeau), it helps to see what other women around the world are up against, and what they already have fought for and won.

After all, there will never be a matriarchal society unless we first believe it’s possible.

Here’s a look into what women around the world are up against, and which countries are more supportive than others.

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This Video Shows What Women’s Rights Look Like Around The World

Credit: Women – Elite Daily