You've come a long way, baby."

But, where exactly have women found themselves after more than three decades of the feminist movement? Besides their underrepresentation in Congress and top positions in America's boardrooms (beyond serving coffee), women still find themselves as victims in Hollywood movies, the ultimate caretakers of children, and the carriers of pepper spray and handguns, looking over their shoulders as they walk through their own neighborhoods because, as they know, "you can never be too safe."

Surely women's suffrage was a progressive step forward nearly three-quarters of a century ago, but it is not enough to remedy the unequal balance of power that tips in the men's favor. The right to vote in America has not eliminated the harassment of women in the workplace or violence in the home. Today, near the close of the 20th century, women have plenty to be furious about, and giving us commercial lip isn't going to repress our call for equality nor our cries of pain.

The women's movement is not isolated within the realm of feminist ideologies or the disgruntled dissatisfactions of a few women. Rather, the intent transcends all boundaries of sex, race and age, for it is a demand for equality and mutual respect in the bedroom as well as the classroom and boardroom. Do not be mistaken, for feminism is not synonymous with male-bashing rallies nor an underground crusade to castrate (if you will) the power of men. The root of a woman's anguish is her fear about breast cancer and why it is not yet a top priority in health care, sexual harassment/assault and the feminization of poverty. Her anger is well-founded and anything but frivolous.

There are specific issues that 99.2 million American women face today. It is a crisis alone that the cost of medical care is rising exponentially, yet just as significant is concern that female health issues are overlooked and underresearched. Breast cancer now affects one in nine women and AIDS is rapidly killing many more. In addition, one-third of mothers go without any medical care, endangering the health of women as well as their unborn children.

The necessity for women to rely upon their wages for basic life amenities, such as health care, is simply not adequate. Beyond the argument over the glass ceiling, the invisible barrier preventing women from advancing into the upper echelons of the corporate world, there is the "sticky-floor syndrome" holding women down with low-wage, dead-end jobs. Nevermind the struggle with men over the top positions in Fortune 500 companies, women are still stuck in the missionary position, not even allowed to compete in the game.

For many women, the struggle is not just in the daily grind to earn a paycheck (which is, regardless of age or education, approximately 66 cents to a white man's dollar), but with sexual harassment in the workplace. As we saw with Anita Hill, it is the woman who will be put on trial, the woman who is the center of the scandal.

As profane as being fondled, teased or degraded by sexual harassment, women are also made the victims of countless cases of sexual violence. It is no doubt that sexual assault affects millions of women, yet, for some reason, society still does not empathize. It is a profound and unsettling reality that women are left alone to enroll in rape defense courses while (most) men, the perpetrators of the crimes, are never educated about the dehumanizing abuse.

It is a cruel deception to proclaim that women have "come a long way," because it emanates the illusion that the "sexual revolution" is over. For men (and women) who are still oblivious, and for women who are still afraid to articulate their anguish, it is a necessary point to understand the plight of women. Furthermore, when a woman has needs from a man, it does not qualify her as dependent -- she simply has rights that she must express.

Surely, pejorative labels and offense against the feminist movement are more intense than cruel sexist stereotypes -- they are expressions of male dominance meant to silence women. Effectively, women's anger is threatening to men, for it is a declaration of women's intolerance for repression and a demand that men change -- men who commit most of the violent crimes, the discrimination and the rapes. Change, indeed, is an anxious process and a compromising act. But, by the same token, women cannot rely upon "the other" to initiate or comply with change. Ultimately, the woman has to take action because, if she doesn't, no one else will do it for her.