Ten Things Every Feminist Can Be Thankful For

Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully you brushed up on your health care talking points with yesterday's post and you feel well equipped to debate the pros and cons of the Affordable Health Care Act.

Today, however, I am going to list ten things that every feminist can be thankful for based on what has happened so far in 2009. While every day there are setbacks and difficulties in achieving gender equality, reducing violence against women, and wiping out sexism from society -- there have been many positive changes in the past eleven months that have moved the needle forward for women in the United States and abroad.

Take a look at some of these victories, feel free to debate them, and then add your own items that you are thankful for in the comments section.

1. The Lily Ledbetter Act is passed in Congress and signed by President Obama.
2. Judge Sonia Sotomayor becomes the first Latina and third woman confirmed to Supreme Court.
3. President Obama signed an executive order to create the White House Council on Women and Girls.
4. Despite a few caveats, it was a positive thing to see women become 50% of U.S. workforce.
5. Harvard Business Review says that women are the largest economic force in the global business market.
6. After being arrested and sentenced to 12 years hard labor by the North Korean government, journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling returned home.
7. Women take over the social web. Everywhere except for ... Digg.com. Not that I couldn't see that coming.
8. Feminists take pride in just how far they've come by reminiscing on the trials and tribulations of the 1950s and 1960s with the hit series, Mad Men.
9. Several women win Nobel prizes such as Ada E. Yonath of Israel who became the fourth woman to ever win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
10. Real women hit the runway and a debate explodes in glossy magazines, such as Glamour, about promoting healthy body images to women.

Photo credit: 8-Pac Business News