Here is my video, sorry it was so hard to read. I feel like this is a topic that is important and people need to know about.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Ending FGM in America (and specifically Ohio!)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
"Women in Reality TV Promoting Self-Denigration, Study Finds"
The study brings to question what effect the portrayals of women on reality TV has on teens, as well as what the shows communicate to teens about sex, relationships, friendships, and self-esteem.
So what do you think? Do reality TV shows like Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant send bad messages to girls or affect their way of thinking about themselves and those around them? Do shows like Bad Girls Club, Real Housewives, and Mob Wives portray women in overly negative ways?
http://www.christianpost.com/news/women-in-reality-tv-promoting-self-denigration-study-finds-64305/
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Disarming Young Women
This photojournalism piece discusses a school in Russia that I found unsettling: a military academy exclusively for young girls. The extremely austere school trains girls who hope for futures in the army, the police force or the Federal Security Service. Denominated "The Little Spies of Putin" by a French journalist these girls are forbidden to smoke, drink, socialize while unattended or even chew gum. The photographer behind the work commented that the girls can “strip down an AK-47 Kalashnikov in the time it takes most kids to send an S.M.S." One image depicts middle school aged girls in what is described as a "Basics of Military Service" class. A young blonde girl in the foreground clasps a small gun, pointed directly upwards. Another, two girls in the snow. They wear gas masks for a training exercise.
While these bizarre and alarming images are of interest in and of themselves, it is their temperament with "femininity" that makes this article of particular interest to this class. The photographer, who has grown extremely close with his long time subjects, observed, "They want to improve the role of women in Russia." Every girl, regardless of age, wears an enormous white bow (almost the size of some of their faces) in their hair to symbolize purity. A museum in the school celebrates famous and powerful Russian women. Beyond military pursuits the school's curriculum includes sewing, ballet and choir. The girls dress in long, poofy ball gowns and gloves for their annual ball with the neighboring all boys school.
For me, this school is a bizarre scene of contrasts. The strength represented in female warriors combined with the old fashioned "feminine" curriculum. The purity of youth and particularly the white bows combined with the brutality of young women and girls training in combat. First of all, do you think it is appropriate to begin this sort of training for anyone at such a young age (though specifics aren't given, middle school seems an appropriate estimate)? Second, does this school promote female strength, independence and power or are its military purposes insufficient an insufficient overture for the decidedly domestic or feminine course offerings?
PS- Please take a look at the photographs. They are beautiful.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
A Post-Spring Break Current Event: Grunt Once for Yes, Twice for No
We don't have a current event scheduled for today, so I thought I'd throw you a goofy one:
As a recent New York Times article discusses, "a growing chorus of complaints from fans and some athletes has pushed the Women’s Tennis Association to crack down on what it calls excessive grunting. At a meeting last weekend in Key Biscayne, Fla., the WTA’s board said it planned to tackle loud grunting, shrieking and yelling."
What do you think about the trend of grunting and shrieking in women's tennis? and does it seem to you that fan reactions have anything to do with gender? Do women grunt more than men do while playing tennis, or does it just bother people more when women do? Tennis fans (and players), I hope you'll weigh in.
Also, in honor of Adrienne Rich, who passed away over spring break, we'll read one of her poems, "Diving Into the Wreck," together.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
"Don't tread On Us"
The article makes the argument that the Republican men are trying to, “…wrestle American women back into chastity belts…And that could turn out to be the most dangerous thing the wildly self-destructive G.O.P. leaders have done” (NYTimes). The republicans are harassing
the very same women that helped them gain control of the House in 2010. A female Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, is leaving Congress and she told The Washington Post that, “it feels as if we are going back to another era” (NYTimes). She also warns that the republicans are driving women into Democratic arms.
After the response of Republican candidates and Limbaugh calling a female law student a prostitute and a slut, and calling Clinton the “sex-retary of state”, do you feel that because of the recent attacks that the country is digressing? And will the attacks skew the votes?
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Sexuality: A Method To Or An Indicator Of Power
However, I disagree. The intricate relationship between attraction and power cannot be so simply dismissed as petty or dishonorable. Traits the women frequently identify as attractive in men are similar if not identical to ones that can qualify a good leader: confidence, eloquence, persuasiveness. As I am not a man, I cannot positively state the qualities that men might find attractive but I have a feeling the above mentioned traits might be high on the list for them as well. This means that attractiveness and leadership ability have significant crossover. Therefore a woman perceived as more attractive (a notion frequently if not universally attached to some sort of sexual notion) could also be a better leader. In other words, sexuality is not the source of power, but a signifier of a person who would handle a leadership position well.
I would like to just add that I recognize that I based this argument on the idea that the majority of men and women have straight sexual preferences. I think that the same principles could be applied to gay leaders but the argument would be significantly more nuanced. Who is the audience of this leadership? Are the majority of these people also gay? I also feel less confident addressing the subject as there are significantly less openly gay leaders than straight ones. I therefore have less examples to mentally draw from.
Women leaders
My mom’s friend, Michele Jones in 2007 was one of the highest ranked African-American women in the Army. She was a Command Sergeant Major (CSM). My mother and Michele entered the Army at the same time but my mother decided to leave the Army and settle down. Michele and my mom were both ranked E-6’s, just three ranks below a CSM. While my mother was managing her new life outside the army and a family, Michele was climbing the ladder of success. My mom doesn’t particularly regret quitting the Army but I know if she stayed in the Army my home life would be totally different. I would’ve either barely saw my mom or I would’ve been moving from different states and countries. My mother decided that she wanted a family life and Michele chose success in her career.
Not every woman wants the chance to take leadership roles in the workplace. Each woman has a different dream, therefore will have a different priority in life. When a woman’s priority is to start a family, she usually has to sacrifice her job. Women who want to gain a leadership role in her career she has to give up a lot of time. If women weren’t faced with these sacrifices, I think more women will be present in leadership roles, but that seems nearly impossible to me.
Gender and Leadership
Gender and Leadership
Throughout history roles in society have been made typically based upon gender. Of course more women are becoming self -dependent and are taking on some leadership jobs, but history hasn’t always been kind to the acceptance of the independent women. Historically speaking males are given the more important roles such as leadership roles where as females are given the “lesser tasks”. Most leadership jobs such as CEO’s of companies or even a government official position are given to males. Societies throughout history have limited women’s roles. Aside from childbirth, taking care of household needs are classically the only thing society deems women capable of. When women originally began fighting for more rights many people were appalled by their actions because they believed in the “old ways” and where not excited for change. Even in today’s society feminists are still rivaled by those stuck in the “old ways”, not wanting to see change. Lastly, there is still millions more of stay at home wives then husbands. Women in the U.S are fortunate, but women worldwide are facing inequalities. Women in Israel are fighting to be able to site freely on buses, and Women in Africa are fighting rape crimes daily. Equality is still not here.
Women and Leadership
In a blog post I found will reading about men versus women in the work place the author stated, "30 years after women entered the work force in large numbers, the default mental image of a leader is still a male...women who act in ways that are consistent with the gender stereotypes -defined as 'focusing on the work relationships'...were considered less competent. But if they act in ways that are seen as more 'male' - they are seen as 'too tough' and 'unfeminine'" (Perceptions of men vs. women - workplace: http://peteflow.blogspot.com/2007/11/perceptions-of-women-vs-men-workplace.html). Women seem to be in a lose - lose situation. No matter which way they chose to approach their leadership role, they can't seem to please society.
Instead of sitting around and feeling bad about the situation I believe it is time that people who believe in this cause should stand up and do something. I say people because I do not believe that only women could stand up for this; however I do believe that women need to take initiative and get the ball rolling. Similar to what Sheryl Sandburg, I believe that women need to begin putting themselves in positions where they can be leaders and not letting go until they have gotten as high up as possible aka "keeping their feet on the gas pedal".
I also believe that quotas in the work place are important step. Yes, there may be some push back from some unhappy male colleagues but I believe that it is important to get women in the work place so that they can prove their worth as opposed to them not having an opportunity in the first place. I do not think fear of the negative connotations should stop us. Eventually, whether they like it or not people will see that women are just as capable to hold these positions and hopefully this exposure will help break the stereotypes.
Cultural Shift
Like many of my fellow classmates have already mentioned, in almost all fields, ranging from politics to medicine, women seem to be lacking from leadership roles. As I can hopefully assume, however, women are just as capable as men for these leadership roles and yet this favor towards men in power are startling. I would like to blame this uneven representation solely on the fact that despite recent progress, there still is the stereotypical image of women as weak, frail or rather “bitchy” when put in leadership roles, however I acknowledge that this is not the only reason for the lack of women leaders. Like others have mentioned, it is quite possible that although today many women are career-oriented, a majority of women also have other priorities such as families and children. Thus it is quite possible that the companies assume that almost all women would rather focus on the family as their priority than work and then never give them the chance for leadership roles. However, this assumption that women do no want leadership roles can obviously be quite problematic for the women who wish to focus on their career or even have leadership roles at work while maintain a family. But the question rises: how does society allow equal leadership opportunities for those women who want it. Like our previous discussions with women’s suffrage acts, it sometimes requires a mass movement, massive support in order for the opportunity to be open in the first place. Thus, like many of people have mentioned, there needs to be a cultural shift in order to give those equal opportunities for the women who desire it.
Quotas=Good
Yet Another Curb on Abortion
In the United States there are already 32 States that require teenagers to consult with their parents and get their permission before getting an abortion. The bill would not only expand this to other states but also make it mandatory for teenagers to notify thier parents as well as a 24 hour waiting period on women under the age of 18 who are traveling outside of their homestate in order to recieve this abortion procedure.
Anyone who wants to help these teenagers who are not a legal gardian and are not in the presence of a justice official will be charged a fine. That would include aunts, uncles, grandparents, and older siblings. They would charged with criminal and civil penalties and up to a year in prison, as well as a fine of $100,000.
Also under the threat of these same criminal and civil penalties, doctors would also be force to undergo these same penalties. They would have to deal with the various state laws and any others that deal with the provider of the home state, as well as some measure that may or may not be taken by the Senate.
Everyone would agree that young teenage girls who are caught in these circumstances are left with a difficult decision from an experience that is most times unwanted and unplanned. Should these same girls be encouraged to talk to one or even both of their parents about their decision on abortion or would simply going to another adult be enough. With some teenagers being afraid to tell their parents for fears of violent reactions, broken home communication or other personal mental and emotional reasons is it still okay for these children to be forced into notifying their parents.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/opinion/yet-another-curb-on-abortion.html)
Women in Politics
I believe that as a society we are not ready to have a woman as our leader especially in politics. One critic stated “How can someone aspire to being a heartbeat away from the Oval Office without a firm grasp of basic history and current events?” and as an society we “remain so woefully uninformed, willfully dissonant and bad at knowing one another”. In simple terms how could Sarah Palin become governor of a state and win the nomination to run in the presidential election with out being qualified. Since Sarah Palin has a family and she chooses to be there for her family she does not have the qualifications as the men in the election. I remember at one point in time in the election Sarah Palin daughter became pregnant outside of marriage, and in some way this was a reflection on Palin as being a bad mother. I remember people clearly stating how can she be a good president when she cannot control her own family? As a woman in the election I felt that Palin had a lot to deal with and a lot of expectations put on her that the men did not have. She was expected to be a good mother, with no emotions, and show that she could run a country. Women alone are expected to work, take care of the children, and take care of her husband, but to top it off Palin added the country to her list of duties. I agree with the critic who stated that there is no way Palin was a governor with out being qualified. Rather she was a good leader in how she ran Alaska or how should would have ran the country is something to consider. Yet there have been many presidents who have been very qualified yet failed to bring this country to success. The country is okay with a man running the country into the ground, but if a woman were to even come close to a mistake she is incompetent and unqualified. I believe that there is a long way before women are accepted into the politic world on the high scale of President in the United States.
Earning the Bronze Medal since the Bronze Age: History of Patriarchy
Politics has a history of being male-dominated. Women had to fight to even have a say in politics and only recently have women begin to fill the leadership positions in politics. I find it reasonable to say that such leadership positions require higher degrees of education. Looking at the history of our countries leaders, logically it made sense that women would not take part in politics (especially before the 19th ammendment) because women were expected to stay home and raise children. Today, although there are many more women who hold powerful positions, politics still seems to be male-dominated and my gut reaction is again to claim that the socially accepted view has not completely evolved yet and so the thought of women in power is still somewhat radical. However, I wasn’t quite sure how we got to this point where a woman’s role was to be at home.
As I was thinking about monarchy, I noticed that men also tend to dominate as well. Perhaps the reason for so many Kings can be attributed to the biblical belief that lineage was passed on through the male, especially since, depending on the interpretation, God made Adam first. Yet this is all speculation so I searched for reasons that could account for the gender gap in politics and other leadership positions and I stumbled across the author Gerda Lerner, Ph.D., who wrote, The Creation of Patriarchy. Dr. Lerner notes in an interview that women are almost absent in history. Women have accomplished many things which sadly are lost amongst the “great male achievements”. Such lack of history allows men to believe that they “are much more important in the world than they actually are.” Dr. Lerner explains that if men are responsible for the great in this world, then it is only natural that boys will be held to higher expectations. Dr. Lerner says that humans created the leadership disparity because it was appropriate for the time (the Bronze Age). Women and children were “the first slaves in every civilization.” This fact is a result of the Bronze Age, where plow agriculture allowed more production of food and thus prisoners of war could be kept alive and turned into slaves. Before, keeping slaves wasn’t possible because there wasn’t enough food for them. With the invention of chains, prisoners could be locked up and the victor wouldn’t, “ take the risk that that man at night would brain them all.” However, capturing men didn’t come until later. Captured women could be sucked into the victor’s group through marriage thus allowing tribes to grow.
The Bronze Age brought much war and so women found it beneficial to “ally themselves to a man who promised to give them that protection.” Dr. Lerner notes that anthropologists disagree with her work and claim other methods that lead us to patriarchy. It seems, however, that the other theories all support that patriarchy was only reinforced over hundreds of years and consequently, women became more and more oppressed. Now women must climb out of this grave that our ancestors have dug and I believe progress has been made. I just hope things really start to speed up so that it won’t take hundreds of years to reverse such disparity.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Are Leader-Wives Possible?
Self definition for most married women tends to involve their husbands in some way, the man’s position often providing a focal point around which the women’s life pivots. Many women demurely accept a position under or behind their husbands, while others struggle to remain independent in a partnership. More challenging, and thusly more rare, are women who not only step out from behind their husbands but take leadership roles in their communities or workplaces. Women across the globe are facing this struggle and some are overcoming it beautifully, two women who are doing just that are Connie Shultz and Saima Muhammad.
For many women, Connie Shultz’s title of “Senator’s Wife” is title enough, but for Ms. Shultz it is only a piece of her life. Ms. Shultz is an accomplished author, syndicated columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, as well as a mother and activist. For many women her life would be considered successful, in terms of career and family, yet it seems more exceptional because of her husband’s power. Certainly the trend of political wives taking a backseat is not unique to the United States, strong but silent spouses are ubiquitous globally. Yet Ms. Shultz pursued an independent career, branching out from her husband’s. Not to belittle her accomplishments, but it is interesting to consider how much more impressive her accomplishments seem because she did so with a powerful husband. It speaks to the strength of our cultural expectations of women with powerful husbands that when their wives succeed, especially as leaders, independently we up the praise considerably. It is comforting to think that wives like Ms. Shultz will become the norm, that in the future a husband’s power will not define his wife’s independent success, but there is no guarantee.
Across the globe in P Lahore, Pakistan lives Saima Muhammad, a woman who’s life is simultaneously similar and vastly different form Ms. Shultz’s. Mrs. Muhammad spent the beginning of her marriage as broken and submissive a wife as possible; she was beaten daily and lived by the will f her husband and his family. Clearly she had no power despite her husband’s own relative lack of power in society. Mrs. Muhammad turned her life around with the help of a loan and the success of her own embroidery business. Against local pushback Mrs. Muhammad turned the single-person startup into a thriving business that employed numerous local women. With her own success came a life away from her husband. Mrs. Muhammad no longer lives at the beck and call of her husband, though she still respects the idea of an obedient wife, and she has become an independent and successful businesswoman. Like Mrs. Shultz, Mrs. Muhammad is undoubtedly successful, but her accomplishments are elevated because of the contrast of her previous state as an invisible wife. Mrs. Muhammad was able to gain leadership in her community, but hers is currently an exceptional story, not a universal one.
Women have proven countless times that they can lead successful independent lives, pursue accomplished careers, and lead others capably, yet only a minority does so. Women fail to break away from their husbands’ shadow and seek out power en mass. It is possible and it has been done, but their remains deficiency of women who succeed in balance family and work and gaining power at every level.
"Emo Killings"
Many gays have been received threatening letters, saying things like “Reform your behavior, stop being gay, or face deadly consequences.” The beatings and killings of gays by Islamist militias in Shiite areas of Baghdad have been going on for at least six years now. An estimated 750 gays have been killed, while many others have emigrated to the north for safety. Those that remain in Baghdad are continuously chastised, facing discrimination and threats every day. In an effort to repress their gay and emo identities, many youth cover their long hair and hide deep in the closet.
In the US, we see these kinds of things happening (not exactly to the degree in Iraq) – members of the LGBT community being constantly bullied and harassed and driven to the point of suicide. So it makes me wonder; what solutions are there to combating these issues? Are there any solutions? I know that we can’t change everyone’s opinions of the LGBT community but do you think we can at least get to a point of tolerance in order to ensure the safety of members of this group?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/world/middleeast/killings-strike-fear-in-iraqi-gay-and-emo-youth.html?pagewanted=2&ref=hatecrimes
Freedom of Choice = Choosing Gender Inequality?
Another comment on that post got me thinking about the idea of choice. Women choose, for instance, to not try so hard to obtain positions of leadership because they have their husband to fall back on (as explained by Sheryl Sandburg). So I did a little more research and one article I read gave this interesting quote:
"It's the opposite of what we'd expect," says Pinker. "You'd think the more family-friendly policies, and richer the economy, the more women should behave like men, but it's the opposite. I think with economic opportunity comes choices, comes freedom."
The article goes on to explain that, while factors like family and stability influence women's desicions, when we approach societies with more and more choice, women choose something different than men more and more often. The article deals with women in more technological fields, claiming that women tend to want to work with organic things (ie. biomedical sciences, social sciences, humanities) instead of inorganic things (physics, chemistry), while men prefer the opposite. But I think the take-away is applicable to the discussion of leadership: it's more about what women would naturally want than what they are somehow pressured into doing. When Dr. Harris talked to our class, we learned that women are naturally more interested in building relationships than men. So maybe women simply prefer to "work" with family members are build relationships that way--maybe it's a product of our biological makeup or whatever causes us to be more interested in social interaction (nature more than nurture).
(Still, I find a pretty big loophole in the article's argument: if women are more interested in working with inorganic things (namely, people), why aren't there more women in management?)
For me, it's easy to blame the men for not allowing women into leadership positions they deserve or creating an enviornment in which women feel that their priorities should always lie with their children. But all these points and statistics remind me that gender inequality, particularly in leadership, like everything (ever), is a complicated, interconnected web of causes and effects and subjects. I'm having a really hard time untangling that web to find even a step that would help put us on the path toward closing the gender gap when choice does not seem to be enough.
Women and Power
If I were to reflect on my experiences with gender and leadership in the workplace, this post would be pretty short, despite my mother's constant nagging for me to get a job. I can talk about my experiences with gender and leadership within sports. I've played soccer for the majority of my life; playing with both girls and boys. Reflecting on my experiences within that realm, I've noticed a substantial difference between playing with the two. When you are a girl on a boys team, there are usually two different scenarios that occur (that I've noted, anyway). One scenario is: the girls become intimidated, leaving the boys to exclude them from the game, or treating them like they're made of glass which leads to a horribly uninteresting, one-sided contest. Another scenario would be that the girls come out strong, not letting themselves become intimidated, leaving the game to be high-paced and fun to watch.
After reading some of the other posts, I feel as though I'm just echoing a common theme. From my experiences, I can't help but feel as though we as people, being unrelated to gender, reap what positions we put ourselves in. Traditionally, I think we can all agree that women are expected to stay at home and take care of the kids, etc. While I think there are many great women in power historically, millions and millions of women sit day-to-day accepting this inferiority. If we go back to my (somewhat) connecting soccer story, the girls who were played better or tougher against the boys were the girls who weren't scared of the boys and viewed themselves as being just as good, if not better, than them. I have to agree with other posters in my point being: women should stand up and start taking control of their own powers and strengths.
Gender & Leadership
LIke we've discussed in class before, I personally do think that when it comes to men and women in leadership positions, people will often have more respect and liking towards a man in a position of power than towards a woman in the same position. Women are often stereotyped as being "bitchy", nagging, or constantly complaining, and so people tend to favor a man in a leadership role. I've attended seven schools throughout my education, having both male and female principals. But I can say that the male principals were favored by students a lot more over the female principals. I really do not think this was just a coincidence, as I felt that both the male and female principals were equal in manners when it came to running the school and taking disciplinary actions.
In order to reach their full potential, I believe that more women need to start developing the confidence and determination in school and the workplace that so many women already possess. And like previous posts, I think that women need to demand the same respect as their male counterparts in order to dispel these stereotypes and be taken seriously so that they are truly valued for their work and accomplishments.
Do It Like a Brother...
When I think about gender and leadership, I think about the advice that my mother gives me, but not my older brother. She always tells me when going for a promotion, or a leadership position, I should not be surprised if I have to “apply” or inquire three times; the first time to show interest, the second time to show that I’m serious, and the third time to actually be accepted or denied. My mother’s advice has been crafted and refined from years in the medical field, fighting for promotions, and more importantly time off. Time off is just about the most precious commodity in medicine. It can be used to bargain with co-workers or exert power in the work place. If a physician who takes care of a practice and a half worth of patients is able to take time off, they are high up on the totem pole. Likewise, since only so many doctors can be out of the office at a time, time off can be used as an ace up the sleeve when trying to make headway; work some holidays, allowing other physicians to take time off, you’ve just got a new bargaining chip in getting a raise. But, in my mother’s experience, men in the office around her have been able to use these skills to make progress in their careers faster than their female colleges, simply because the women have to peruse their wants and needs more frequently, and with more intensity.
What is about American culture that makes it necessary for women to take the extra step of showing a serious interest in a position? Why is serious interest not implied, as it is with men, by simply inquiring or applying for a new job, a new position, a raise, or really anything? While I guess this problem could relate to the idea that once women have children they back down from moving forward or progressing in the work field, I think the true problem runs deeper. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but something about these types of situations strikes me as old fashioned sexism; that children or no children, women simply should not be taken seriously in the work place or as part of the work force. Sadly, I think the only way to correct this problem is for women to follow advice like my mother’s, and continue to show interest, and not give up, until maybe one day women will only need to inquire once.
If you were wondering about the title of my post, and the title of Aubrey's post, here is our inspiration. Lightening the mood of GCP...
...Do It Like A Dude
Though this is a specific situation, it makes me question women's actual position in leadership. Could it be possible that this whole time women have spent so much time complaining that they haven't actually taken the time to prove their point?
While there are thousands of papers about the progress of women, almost none of the owmen who are writing such articles are at the top of their fields. Additionally, most women have different priorities. If you look at women and politics, there were almost no laws concerning marriage, children, or education until women began to have a say in politics. Women have stereotypically had a larger emphasis on things as such than men have, which can be a good and a bad thing. I think it is reasonable to ask women to work to prove that their stereotypes are untrue, as all stereotypes must be proven wrong before they can be eliminated. At the same time, men have shorter paternity leaves and often have to fight more to get time off to spend time with their families. There are stereotypes on boths sides of the equation, whcih is why I think that women should stop talking about it and start proving it. This is a true example of how actions speak louder than words.
How Can We Change Society?
When my mother finished telling me this story, I responded, “Why didn’t the woman say something? If she knew she was being treated unfairly, why didn’t she cause some sort of outcry that would draw attention to the matter?”
Sometimes my brain gets a little confused with all this talk of "gender discrepancies in leadership positions" talk. On one hand, I see the statistics and hear people speak in outrage of gender discrimination in the workplace (like with the story of my mother’s friend). On the other hand, however, I don't think I've ever had a personal experience when I felt at a disadvantage (in America, in school or when applying for a leadership role) because of my gender.
Although when I hear the statistics and stories I think, "well this has to change," I think my lack of personal experience impedes my ability to truly understand the fight women face in our country. For example, after I asked my mother why her friend didn’t make her outrage public, my mother shook her head slightly and went back to eating her dinner as if to say “you just don’t get it.”
Until I do understand completely, however, I can only offer this question on the subject: Are women repressed by men in society, or do women repress themselves? By not speaking out about how she was treated unfairly, was my mother’s friend only perpetuating cultural norms of gender discrimination? How many women each day remain silent in the face of repression and discrimination? Maybe my mother’s friend would have appeared as something of a “sore loser” if she made her outrage public, but if every time this type of instance occurred the woman wrote an angry letter to her interviewer’s superior or told everyone she knew, then maybe a cultural shift would occur.
Women cannot expect to be free of gender discrimination by showing statistics of its existence. Nor can women who successfully hold leadership positions adequately rally those who are being repressed or change the ways of their repressors. Change can only happen if women every day stand up in the face of prejudice and demand to be treated as equals. In other words, a successful cultural shift will come from many women pursuing their own personal fight and thus adding strength to the pursuit of equality at large.
In some ways, I am almost hoping for the moment when I feel personally touched by gender discrimination. I can’t wait to cause a fuss, and thus inspire others to do the same.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Family or Country: The Decisions of Aung San Suu Kyi
In a country where family is used as a prop for campaigns, can anyone in our country actually imagine the consequences of doing that? While Suu Kyi is hailed in Burma as the Mother of Democracy, she is often criticized for choosing her political career before her family. How can we learn to reconcile the two in order for women to progress in society to the same point that men have?
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Gender Equality on Boards: Reding or Not, Here it Comes
The gender disparity in the workplace has existed for so long that such a statement should surprise few, if any. Men have always seemed to hold more “higher-end” (board positions) jobs than women have held. However, exactly one year ago, Viviane Reding, justice commissioner for the EU, had asked companies to “voluntarily increase women’s presence on corporate boards.” Yet, after a whole year, the world has seen little change. According to the Huffington Post, 24 companies had promised to dedicate 30% of the board positions to women by 2015. To give a little perspective, Huffington Post also points out that “That’s up only slightly from just under 12 percent in 2010 and despite the fact that 60 percent of university graduates are now women.” In fact, the percentage of women on big company boards has actually declined from 3.4 percent (January 2010) to 3.2. Reding pointed out that women end up benefiting the company rather than costing it money; this statement is supported by the female and male boards who have a “56 percent higher operating profit compared with companies with all-male boards.”
On Monday, March 5th, Viviane Reding demanded a change. Last year she threatened to use quotas if she didn’t see a change, and now the Commission is considering such methods to increase the percentage of women on the boards. Reding states, “I am not fond of quotas, but I very much like what quotas do.”
Countries with quotas already, such as Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, are the countries that improved the gender gap. The Huffington Post states, “France alone was responsible for half the EU-wide increase, Reding said, bringing its own percentage to 24 percent,” when a year ago, only 12 percent of board positions were held by women. The New York Times points out that, “In Italy, one-third of a company’s board must be women by 2015 or the business will face fines of up to €1 million, or $1.3 million, and the nullification of board elections.”
It’d be wrong to assume that Reding’s initiative was unpopular and ill received. The NYT also says that “Ms. Reding said she had the support of many members of the European Parliament, which had already backed the need for legislation if companies failed to make sufficient progress through self-regulation” in addition to the “new poll showing that 75 percent of respondents favored legislation to balance gender representation on company boards.”
So from now until May 28th, “consultations” will help “determine the proportion of women that should be on boards under any E.U.-wide legislation” and the techniqualities of the quotas. Do you feel that Reding has so far dealt with the inequality issue in an appropriate way (was threatening quotas one year ago necessary and or the right thing to do)? Do you think these quotas will be enforced? Will such an attempt to create gender equality change society’s view of women?
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Hundreds demonstrate for women's rights at state Capitol, 31 arrested
The protesters explained their views stating "The legislators should not be legislating medical procedures, especially for women, We have a freedom of choice and they're trying to take that away." Many women believed that the force used by the police was not needed and unnecessary, for they were only practicing their freedom of speech. The police of the Capital stated that the police force was called because they believed that the demonstration was "getting really large and we didn't want things to get out of hand," Leigh Weedon a participator in the protester stated "I was incredibly proud of the people that were arrested on the stairs. I thought that was a great sacrifice, and I was very proud of them doing that," Weedon said. "I was also really surprised today with the presence of the SWAT team, obviously, and the German shepherds."
I used this article because it reminded me so much of "Jawed Iron Angels" because of how the women were protesting against the government, yet they were arrested under the same "crimes" as they were. My question to the class is "Has the US really progressed as a country as far as women rights?" though the Obama administration doe snot support the the bill, his views and support was still neglected and people were still arrested. In the coming up election if the republicans were to become the majority in politics would that potentially become a problem for basic human rights?
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Is sex education preventing or promoting sex?
I know I am not the sole person in this class who spent the majority of health class giggling when the Nurse uttered the words “penis,” “sex” or any other of the so-called “naughty” words pertaining to the sex education lexicon. However, my immature chuckles are not the single thing I remember from the class. Despite the somewhat awkward vibe I do believe that health class was beneficial when it came to learning about sex education. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, some Utah representatives would not agree with me. On Tuesday 28th February, 2012 House Bill 363 was passed in Utah. The bill states that schools are only able to talk about sex education if they are teaching abstinence and they forbidden from talking about the use of condoms, family planning, and all forms of Planned Parenthood. According to the new bill promoting no sex at all is the singular way to teach sex education in schools. Planned Parenthood and various other people and organizations oppose this bill and want it to be amended so I guess my question is what are your thoughts? What is the best way to teach young people about sex?
Utah is not the only place in the world that struggles with the question of what is the best way to teach adolescences about sex. A British columnist Peter Hitchens expresses his point of view that sex education promotes sex in the United Kingdom, “the more sex education we have the more sexually transmitted diseases, the more abortions, and the more under age pregnancies we have.” Although this clip is not current I thought it might aid us in our discussion of whether sex education is a good or bad thing?
Video http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/question_time/9509737.stm
Article http://www.opposingviews.com/i/politics/bill-barring-mention-contraceptives-okd