You’re walking across campus to head to your usual 8 a.m. class. Your eyes are still half closed and your body is moving like a zombie. You pass a couple that seem to be arguing.

You hear, “You belong in the kitchen.”

You stop for a brief second to make sure you heard that comment correctly. To avoid confrontation, you keep walking, but you can’t stop thinking about that remark.

You finally make it to your class and the professor isn’t even in the room yet. You’re still thinking about that comment and wondering if you should have stopped to say something.

 “All men are the same. They’re so stupid!” you overhear a female in the back of the room say to her agreeing female friend.

This angers you even more. You keep quiet and ignore the rest of the conversation happening behind you. You think, aren’t we all equal now?

Guess not.

Even at Castleton State College, gender seems to stick out in certain classes. There are four females out of 18 students in a 4,000 level Computer Information Systems course. The testosterone level is high in the classroom.

In the Nursing Department, things are different. The women out number the men. According to nursing major Amanda Hill, there are about 12 men in a class of 96 students. However, that doesn’t mean the stereotypes of a high estrogen level apply. Sure the women gossip, but they’re not catty towards the few males in the classroom. Contrary to this environment, male nursing majors may be subject to prejudices outside the classroom.

If men are going to say that women belong in the kitchen, then great! That’s where the food is! And if women say that all men are the same, then why do we date and love them so much?

According to Philly.com Beyoncé says, “We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn’t a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change…”

If we’re saying we’re all equal now, then why are women being paid less than men? Don’t some women work the same amount of hours as men and sometimes even more?

In 2012, EU insurance established a new policy that says that they will no longer charge customers based on their gender. Usually, women are initially charged less for being categorized as safer drivers. However, this new rule will increase the price for women and possibly decrease the price for men.

So why is it so hard for us to treat each other the same way? The only differences are how we go to the bathroom and the chemicals that run in our body. We both eat food to survive, work to get paid and go to school to learn together. Why can’t we be treated equally?