For my people, the girls everywhere that look in the mirror

and feel oppressed, who feel obsessed with

the image they think that they must be.

The image of perfection, lost perception

is all they will ever seek.

For my people, stereotyped in many ways,

told that they must dress a certain way

or dance on a pole just in order to get paid and

this isn’t a way of life, it’s a surrender

to the men that have come before us  

and have made us feel defined,

confined by the decisions we’ve made.

For my people, the girls who grew up thinking that

doctors and lawyers and astronauts and engineers

were the careers they wanted to be someday but

realized when they grew up that

these opportunities are not equal and the pay gap

is larger than the number of job openings that we’re offered,

as women.

For my people who were told that they will never be worth it,

that your origins and gender have shaped your whole life,

the life that you could never dream of because

of the issues we face as a

human race we have failed one another in creating

a more perfect place.

For my people, and the ones who’ve questioned us,

Will we ever be equal?

Can we walk in a line and be even with each other?

Hold our heads and our hearts as high as our limits,

let us behold a constant standard,    

let the world know that our best effort is our greatest gift.

And our greatest downfall

is all the women we’ve dismissed.