Seventeen days after its release, Barbie ticket sales reached over one billion dollars. Ted Cruz would say it’s because of the anti-male theme. Meanwhile, Ryan Gossling, the lead Ken, is laughing all the way to the bank.

Now, most students of American and world history know of women’s struggles for the right to vote, the right to be educated, and the right for equal pay for equal work. Many third world countries still do not allow women to vote, nor be educated. And even the most affluent countries have not adopted truly equitable pay for equal work. Which brings me to my first real story. My youngest’s first name is non-gender specific. Named after her grandfather, Renner, there’s no glaring sex recognition on her resume. She’s not Katie, Tiffany, nor Barbie. An accomplished, award-winning photographer, she applied for a position as camera person at a TV news station. Little did she know, the station had never had a woman behind the camera in its 40-year existence. The station manager, the news director, and the lead camera man were surprised when she walked into the interview and peppered her with questions about her physical abilities to carry around “heavy” camera equipment. After she was given the job, the lead camera man (now her boss) said. “I told the GM and the news director: Any monkey can be trained to hit record, but it takes a photographer with an eye to bring the video alive.” A year later, Renner’s still photographs of the human devastation of Hurricane Florence were shared on Lester Holt’s NBC Nightly News.

My second real story is disconcerting because it occurred just two weeks ago at my neighborhood grille. Owned by a man and two young women since October, the three entrepreneurs have drastically improved the facility, the menu, and the entertainment. The “dive” bar has morphed into a popular place to play trivia, poker for fun, listen to bands, and host booster club fundraisers. In fact, every two or three months they feature Drag Queen Bingo, a wildly popular event, with a well-known host (hostess.) When I walked in to pick up my to-go order, the two young female owners were livid. They shared: Sue, did you see those three guys who just left?

“Yes, I did. Why?”

“They said to me –is this the fag bar? I replied no. We are a neighborhood place that has food and water collection drives and went on to list all of our attributes. Then I added, ‘And that’s very impolite to refer to us as a fag bar.'”

“Sorry. You’re such a fragile woman.”

And with that the other owner approached them and spouted the same sentiment.

“Hey, we don’t need to have the owner to confront us because we upset your waitress.”

“She is also the owner.”

“Got it. Fag bar, owned by women,” one mumbled as they left.

So Barbie, keep raking in the billions and kudos for twisting Teddy’s knickers in a knot. And maybe some day, the patriarchy will realize how equal we gals are.