A Closer Look Edtiors Column: 51% of the population but...

Pat yourselves on the back ladies. We are the leading ladies.

• The percentage of degrees earned by females remained between approximately 60 and 62 percent for associate’s degrees and between 57 and 58 percent for bachelor’s degrees.

• Black females earned 68 percent of associate’s degrees, 66 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 71 percent of master’s degrees, and 65 percent of all doctor’s degrees awarded to Black students. Hispanic females earned 62 percent of associate’s degrees, 61 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 64 percent of master’s degrees, and 55 percent of all doctor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic students.

Editorial Cartoon by Sabrina Robinson, Graphics Editor

• Sixty-six percent of the world’s work falls on women’s shoulders, yet women earn only 10 percent of the world’s income.

• Full-time working women earn just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns.

• The campus sexual assault study estimated between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 college women experience completed or attempted rape during their college years.

Sorry to disappoint if you thought I was going to present a phenomenal list of how women have overcome.

The truth is, I wanted to. But it’s impossible to ignore all the negative statistics that are glaring us in the face.

I am a feminist. Not a man-hater. Not a chest-pounding, picket-sign protestor.

That’s how I have to define myself in 2015. I’m a feminist because I recognize the discrepancies that are presented to women.

Discrepancies that would produce an unequal platform when women broach society.

So I guess only a feminist would be upset that 13-year-old Mo’ne Davis, the first girl to pitch a shutout in the Little League World Series, is referred to as a "slut" on Twitter.

I guess only a feminist could care less if she asked for mercy on behalf of the perpetrator of the tweet after he was kicked of his Bloomsburg University baseball team. (Although to punish him violated the First Amendment, but that’s a different story altogether.) He was still sexist.

Only a feminist could be annoyed that the concentration is off of her record and on her "class and elegance."

I’m going to tell you, as a hum — excuse me, feminist, I could care less about none of it: the education, the wages.

My only concern is the perception of the female population now versus 65 years ago -- it hasn’t altered a bit.

If the statistics say anything, it’s that the degree is not enough. We as women have done our part. But we can’t move forward alone.

I say we all put on the feminist badge.