Exposition: The Wo’s of Today

 The Wo’s of Today

The women of the past cried were
Silent
Obedient
Submissive
That’s how we ought to be.

Being born a woman wasn’t enough,
We had classes that taught us how to be ‘women’:
We were taught how to iron, cook, serve, and please men.
Our cultures only enforced us to be wives and mothers,
Never students or doctors or lawyers.
They told us men were the strong ones, the breadwinners and leaders
While women are dependent, silent, and replaceable.

Women fought
Women marched
Women cried
Women were beaten to pulp
But women marched and screamed some more
Women women fought back and rallied:
‘We deserve the right to vote’
‘We deserve the right to work’
‘We deserve the right to be free’
‘We deserve the right to be our own and not our husband’s or our father’s.’

They wanted us to shut up then and they still don’t want to hear what we have to say,
We are just bodies with a little extra fat, the more in the right places the better.
We are just bodies, vessels of their pleasure, but where’s ours?
The laws were created by men to protect men, leaving women to find their own justice.
We are beaten and bruised by those who swore they’d love and protect us
And if we have the power to speak up, we are ignored because we are women while
They are allowed to continue to be presidents and judges and coaches and students. 
We are left to carry the scars of what they did to us, are haunted by it day by day, 
And where’s their punishment? They walk away unscathed. 
We are called ‘women’ because we are simply ‘wo’ without men.

So our sisters fought,
They rallied and cried some more,
They were arrested and beaten, but the strong persevered.
I can now vote because of the women before me.
I can now work because of the women before me.
I can leave my husband without getting arrested because of the women abused before me.

But it’s my turn now- 
It’s my turn to fight for the women who will come after me.
I support the people who don’t identify as their born gender,
I fight for equal pay because one day that will help my granddaughter,
I vote for representatives that are pro-choice because no child should be forced to be a mother,
I work so that I do not have to depend on a man to feed and clothe me. I am more than enough.

The women before me planted the seeds decades ago so I can 
Appreciate the fruit they never had the chance to taste.
Now it’s time I plant the seed for a fruit I may never taste in hopes that one day
The wo’s of the future can taste a bigger freedom than the one I have today.