Last week a woman jockey won the Melbourne cup. There is an all-female space team from Russia. Women have more degrees than ever. Fifty percent of medical school graduates are women. We are uniting against female genital mutilation, reproductive rights and Malala Youseff survived being shot and now advocates for girls to be educated in Pakistan.
Girls, we got this.
Except that we don't.
The same female jockey who is the first female to win the Melbourne Cup gave an interview slamming the doubters. When discussing the gender bias in her sport, she said: "I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because women can do anything and we can beat the world."
A female surgeon was unnecessarily touched by an older male surgeon.
A woman elected to the board of a company was told she was voted for because she was attractive.
Another woman termed a discussion group about gender inequality in the workplace 'a bunch of whingers'.
The new design for the United Kingdom passport features seven men and two women.
Pop star Ariana Grande admonished radio hosts who asked her if she had to pick between her makeup and her phone, which she would choose. Grande said: "Is this what you think girls have trouble choosing between?". The same radio hosts also suggested a man would never use a unicorn emoji.
A successful social media star has publically quit being an Instagram model because she is tired of perpetuating the false nature of her life and only giving little girls inspiration to be pretty.
Another woman asked a senior man for his opinion at work to be greeted with: "I hope this a private conversation."
A woman was offered a good report in a workplace assessment in exchange for sex.
In Australia, the pay gap between men and women is at 18.2 percent.
Hollywood consistently pays its female stars at much lower rates than their male co-stars. That is if, they can graduate from a side-kick/spouse/love interest to leading lady who is smart or funny or interesting.
Around two thirds of illiterate adults worldwide are women.
Some of these are from the news. Some of these are stories I've seen or heard, or been told about by friends and colleagues. All of them have happened in the past six months. That's right, in the year 2015, when we have 3D printing and have discovered water on Mars, we can't even tidy our own houses enough to ensure that our girls and women have an equal shot at life, careers, health or freedom from violence. And can you imagine if you are another minority on top of this?
I often have feelings of guilt that, unlike in some parts of the world, I can drive, vote and be educated. That is a vast improvement on the incredible oppression other women suffer, here in Australia and around the world. But none of these examples are acceptable in our modern society. Our girls should grow up to be whatever they desire.
I want to start change now. And I want you to think, the next time you see gender inequality, what are you, as an individual, going to do about it?
It's time to make a change.