A Woman Really Can Have It All, If By “It All” You Mean The Rest Of This Chicken Taco Because I Do Not Want It Anymore

It’s 2018, and I truly believe that we have reached the age where, in spite of centuries of gender-based oppression, a woman can finally have it all. That is, of course, if by “it all” you mean the rest of this chicken taco, because I do not want it any more.

Sure, the wage gap still very much exists, with the average white woman making 80 cents to the average man’s dollar, lowering to 68 cents and 62 cents for Black and Latinx women, respectively. Women face absurd society-driven double standards governing everything from their clothing to their behavior to their career choices, and are pressured to live up to unrealistic beauty standards that often lead to countless physical and mental health issues. However, while this chicken taco was very good, I am now full. I may have ordered too much, and I ate kind of a big breakfast, so even though there is at least half of a taco left on my plate I am not interested in continuing to eat the rest. So a woman could have it, I guess, if she wanted it.

Don’t get me wrong—I watched clips of the Kauvanaugh hearings. I know about sexual violence. I also know about workplace harassment, and about how few women occupy top positions at Fortune 500 companies. But, most importantly, I know that this chicken taco had lettuce and sour cream in it, all wrapped up in a nice spicy crunch, and a woman would be remiss if she did not seize this opportunity to eat the rest of it.

In a political age when roomfuls of white men get to create legislation to govern women’s bodies, your right to choose may be in jeopardy. However, right now, you do have the right to choose to take the rest of my chicken taco. It has been on my plate for a little while now, and the cheese has begun to congeal but it should still taste fine. I seasoned it beforehand but it isn’t too spicy, just a little spicy. But I am full, I promise. I do not want it anymore, and you really can have it all.

-L K-P ’18