Dear Ms. Pro-Choice, Ms. Pro-Life, members of the League of Women Voters and Rock the Slut Vote United, distinguished feminists and women across the globe:

I am here to make the announcement that the “war on women” is not a figment of your imagination—it’s real. If you have been told that we’ve already had our suffrage and we should be satisfied with the rights we have, please reject that thought from your database. If you have been told that there are women in other parts of the world who are suffering worse than you are and you should be happy with the rights we have here in the United States, don’t be satisfied. If someone told or scared you into believing that your voice doesn’t matter—flip the script, because that person wouldn’t try and tear you down if your voice didn’t strike a chord on the topic at hand.

The war on women has been going on much longer than the recent media attention implies. It’s not just a political tactic that was injected into the news stream so that the presidential race would have a hot item to talk about. This war did not end when women received their right to vote in 1920 but has continued on into the next century.

In 1964, the government prohibited sexual discrimination when it comes to employment, but it wasn’t until 1976 with the case of Williams v. Saxbe when the government saw that sexual harassment was a form of sexual discrimination. In 1942, women were allowed to serve in the military, but it wasn’t until 1994 that congress repealed a ban for women to be deployed on combat ships. Women are still fighting for equal pay. Now states like Arizona are pushing legislation that will undoubtedly lessen access to abortions for women. It is as if the phrase “Roe v. Wade” means nothing to lawmakers.

So how many examples do the “majority” need to recognize that the war on women is real? And what other rights will politicians and other elitists take before we are back to being considered a sub-categorization within the human race?

It is sad that so many fail to see how people in power inflict measures of control on less politically powerful groups. As women, we need to see the bigger picture whether you are pro-life or pro-choice. Civil rights should not be made or adjusted using the excuse of a dwindling economy. What message is the government trying to send? That it’s too expensive to let us have the right to think and make decisions for ourselves, so they get to take that “privilege” away.

The fight for equality did not end after landing the first blow. In fact, most fights don’t end with a one-hitter quitter. But a fight is a conversation between at least two parties in battling positions.  The first hit only gets your opponent’s attention. The victory is determined by the person who knows how to impose and advance her will without conceding to the trickery of her opponent.

Don’t allow those in power to trick us into believing that there is no war on women. Be fearless and remember that you are not in this war alone.