MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Standing over a hot stove while the grease sizzles and pops sporadically out of a pan as a man sits at the table waiting for dinner is a situation I swore I would never get myself into. Incidentally, a few days ago I was swearing because that is the exactly where I found myself.

Considering all of the hard work women have done over the centuries to gain equal rights and the opportunities we now enjoy, I felt like I had regressed into the traditional role women had long fought to escape.

Women are now prime ministers, hold leadership positions in every major field and are entering some professional career fields in greater percentages than men. Today’s society now, in fact, promotes women as equals. Doesn’t it?

When it comes to the subject of gender equality, most would agree the issue is dead. The reasoning might be based on the fact that laws passed in recent decades gave women rights identical to those enjoyed by men in America. Actually, I agree with that. By law, women and men are held to the same standards.

However, a distinct difference occurs between laws that should provide equality and laws that can provide equality. Laws have their limits, and gender discrimination does not always occur within them.

Be it in a commercial, a domestic violence case or a commonly held stereotype, inequity flaunts itself daily and goes unchecked due to a cultural blindness. Society’s roots in religion and tradition continue to cause discrimination against women and a bias toward a lesser role in the world.

If you disagree, look up the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. After discovering she had been paid significantly less than her male coworkers for 19 years, she filed a lawsuit against the company. Initially, a jury ruled in her favor and awarded her $223,776 in back pay and over $3 million in punitive damages, which was cut back to $300,000 by a judge citing a law limiting a company’s liability for damages. Then, a Supreme Court ruling took away every dime of the settlement.

The ruling overturned a long-standing rule that treated each discriminatory paycheck as a new discrimination and restarted a 180-day filing limit on the case. In ruling, the court stated that the 180-day limit had begun when the first paycheck showed lesser pay — 18 years prior.

What exactly is 18 years of wage discrimination anyway?

Cases such as Ledbetter’s are thought to be found in only history books, but in reality, the ruling was delivered this past May.

This decision not only knocked women’s rights down a rung, but it also made the process harder for workers to file cases against their employers regarding unfair wages. Late in July, the House of Representatives passed a bill to help rectify the adverse effects of the ruling — a bill which the president is allegedly prepared to veto.

So just where is the media attention about this?

In between the never-ending political debates, Bush’s language follies and the latest tropical storm, maybe reporters could find a little time for women’s rights. Well, this is not too imperative — our issues can wait until March. Women’s history month is when women’s rights might get a little airtime.

And since a whole month is dedicated to women, perhaps we can cut out a few of the Susan B. Anthony documentaries and focus on what’s going on now. Focal issues have shifted from women’s suffrage to sexual harassment at the workplace, poverty levels of single-mother households and reformation of laws which carelessly address domestic violence cases.

Maybe then, some women can be made aware of the fact that their “equal” rights are still being fought for by a dwindling faction. Due to the negative connotations frequently attached to feminism, it is not so popular anymore.

Law and government action are only effective to an extent, and neither religion nor tradition serve as an excuse for oppression. Those widely held beliefs and stereotypes affect half of the U.S. population.

Ultimately though, society decides what the next step will be. Whether the goal of equal rights for women will ever be realized or merely pushed aside for fundamentalism, one thing is for certain — the issue is still very much alive and just as important as it was over forty years ago. Gaining equal rights still has a profound impact on our daily lives.

It affects every woman, and I, for one, know where I stand because I certainly cannot rely on my cooking abilities or a man to secure my future.