The V-Day celebrations and events brought a stark awareness to the plight of many women around the world. In light of this and Sarah Palin’s hanging on to her 15 minutes by the tips of her well-manicured fingernails, we wondered if the glass ceiling still existed.

It does in many ways, but in many ways, some women are just as – if not more so powerful, intelligent and driven as men. Indeed, the United States has not elected a woman as president and women are sorely underrepresented in congress – there are only 75 women to 360 men in the House of Representatives and 17 women to 83 men in the Senate. However, women are edging in as business professionals, according to the Women’s Bureau at the United States Department of Labor, “women accounted for 51 percent of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations.”

The rest of the world seems to be working to catch up. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, is not only one of the highest ranking members of the German government but also has a doctorate for her physics and chemistry work and speaks fluent Russian in addition to English and German.

Many Americans, male or female, can barely speak their own native language properly.

Merkel became the second woman to chair the G8 after Margaret Thatcher, the iron lady. Cristina Kirchner was elected president of Argentina in 2007. While some might argue that her husband’s former status as president helped her, she was still a powerful politician.

Nevertheless, despite powerful women in professional and political arenas, there is still widespread sex trafficking, slavery, sex slavery and violent abuse of women and children.

While this is more likely to happen to women, it can still happen to men and boys.

In this current economic and social climate, men and women are going to have to work together to make sure both are well represented and both are working hard to end the hardships of modern slavery, hunger, homelessness and to help those who lack clean water and education.

Women should have greater representation in political leadership and should be paid as much as a man for the same work.

However, men and women should be judged in terms of individual talents, not in terms of gender. We should judge the professional or politician on what they can do.