:::Wednesday, September 01, 2004:::
Since the beginning of humankind, females have been regarded as secondary. Females have always been treated with a certain indignant attitude. They have been deemed inferior compared to the opposite gender, males. From thousands of years ago, females have started being “domestic workers”, not only until recently did a handful of them break free from this tradition, entering the vast, merciless and harsh working world.
As shown in the 1960s-1990s, women have been staying at home in the day, while their spouses go off to work. During this time, the woman has to clean the house, cook food, take care of children, marketing, and other numerous and tedious tasks, while most probably the male would be sitting in a chair in an air-conditioned office (the 1990s) doing paperwork. An almost real representation of this, no mater how fictional and humorous, would be the comic series “Baby Blues”. In this series, this couple has three children, and the brunt of this mass of children is bore solely by the wife.
Historically there has been a division of labour that seems to have been caused by the differences in the sexes. Women became the home keepers while men did the hunting and protecting. Both genders seemed appropriately skilled and designed for these roles in a time when life was a daily struggle to survive.
However, as history grew so did the perspective that one type of work was more valuable and carried more power than the other and the gap between both roles expanded to the point of discrimination. Men were seen as strong, protective and dominate. Women were supposed to be sweet, nurturing and submissive. Why this happened is a mystery as Margaret Ehrenburg noted in 1989 that both roles were equal in the early world societies.
Slowly, the roles of males became more significant and superior and therefore their views were placed in higher consideration. The views then were mainly regarding war and politics, but this quickly expanded to encompass opinions regarding the industrial, technological and academic aspects of society. Chauvinism was born.
Even in Singapore, a few decades ago, Women were not supposed to be educated. This is still practiced in a few parts of China. Also, the women had to wind their feet tightly in linen sheets when they were still small, all to satisfy the fetish of the chauvinistic males in old China.
During childbirth, it is the female who goes through the immense pain of a baby the size of a watermelon being pushed out of her womb and through her vagina. During the process of human reproduction, males are not affected by any of its biological side-effects, like morning sickness and cramps, but they stand to gain the most.
Regarding this topic, I feel that females have great innate worth, inalienable rights, valuable ideas and skills that seem trivial and insignificant, yet are vital for society. My stand is such that they should be accorded with even greater respect than males, and I acknowledge that their contributions to society are much more relevant and useful.
In the year 1987, two Women, Scarborough and Furumoto observed the unfortunate fact that "courses and even the most recent textbooks tend to perpetuate the myth of a womanless history". Studies of history reveal that women have not only made great contributions to social sciences, but also have defeated great odds to do so. In order to understand the contributions of Women in history, we have to perceive the social and historical context in which they lived. The above point proves that gender discrimination was evident and widely practiced in the western region of the world in that period in time.
Maria Sibylla Merian, an European botanist, travelled to Central America in 1699 to study and paint insects, birds and plants. Two of her paintings of rare plants are currently used as United States Postal Stamps. A few of a paintings are on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. This is just one example of a Woman who has made great contributions to the world of Art and Sciences.
Another Woman who has made Great contributions to Science was Rachel Carson. Widely known as the mother of the modern environmental movement, she started working as a junior biologist for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in the 1930s. During her first 15 years there, she quickly rose in ranks until she was the chief editor of all publications of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In the 1940s, Carson began writing books containing her observations and findings of life under the sea, a world unknown to most. She resigned from her government position in 1952 to devote all her time to writing. Carson's most celebrated book, "Silent Spring,'' published in 1962, influenced President John F. Kennedy to call for the testing of chemicals she explained.
Lady Lovelace Ada Byron, yet another Woman who contributed to the scientific community, was dubbed the Enchantress of Numbers. Despite living in the 19th century, from 1815 to 1852, her thinking was way beyond her time.
A mathematical Genius, she came up with a plan to create a machine that could carry out “number crunching”. The plan was developed and added on, and is now recognized as the first “computer program”. In honour of her contributions, The U.S. Department of Defence has put her name, “Ada” on a software language they developed.
Historical figures such as Byron and the above mentioned Women continue to influence modern women scientists. According to "4000 Years of Women in Science," American women have earned more than 15,000 doctorates in technical fields during the last 15 years. Furthermore, graduate enrolment in medicine and dentistry is routinely 50 percent female and more than 30 percent of graduate students in astronomy are women. This shows that Women are now catching up with Males in the field of academy and sciences.
Another aspect of modern society in which Women have begun to contribute to and participate in would be the political scene. Their political participation encompasses a wide range of actions and strategies. They include voting and voter education, candidacy in national and local elections, supporting candidates who carry gender-sensitive agenda, campaigning against those who are have policies that are 'anti-women's rights', and advocating for the integration of a women's rights agenda in the platforms of candidates and parties.
Here are a few facts and figures regarding the World Female Political scene:
1) In 2002, women still accounted for only about 14 percent of members of parliament worldwide. (BBC News through Online Women in Politics)
2) Out of over 180 countries, 14 are headed by women, six women are vice presidents. (Women's Learning Partnerships, 2002)
3) With 48.8 percent of seats won by women in the recent parliamentary elections, Rwanda became the country that has the most number of women parliamentarians in the world. Currently, women in Sweden hold 45.3 percent of seats in parliament, Denmark with 38 percent, Finland with 37.5 percent, and The Netherlands with 36.7 percent. (The Guardian, October 2003)
4) Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands and Germany had all reached the 30% goal of parliamentary seats taken by women by the end of 2002 along with Argentina, Costa Rica, South Africa and Mozambique. (BBC News through Online Women in Politics)
5) In May 2003, Qatar appointed Sheikha bint Ahmed Al-Mahmud as the state's first woman cabinet minister. The appointment followed an April 29 referendum in which Qataris overwhelmingly approved a written constitution recognising a woman's right to vote and run for office. (DAWN Internet newspaper, May 2003)
6) The proportion of women parliamentarians in the United States is 14 percent, France 11.8 percent and Japan 10 percent. In Rwanda, women compose 48.8 percent, and in Uganda 24.7 percent.
7) Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates do not give women the right to vote or stand for election.
8) 7 percent of the world's total cabinet ministers are women. Women ministers remain concentrated in social areas (14 percent) compared to legal (9.4 percent), economic (4.1 percent), political affairs (3.4 percent), and the executive (3.9 percent).
9) There are 9 women ambassadors to the United Nations. They are from Finland, Guinea, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Somalia, and Turkmenistan.
10) In the United Nations system, women hold 9 percent of the top management jobs and 21 percent of senior management positions, but 48 percent of the junior professional civil service slots.
11) In 1893, New Zealand became the first nation to grant women full voting rights.
12) Among the countries in the developing world that were the earliest to grant women the right to vote were: Albania (1920), Mongolia (1924), Ecuador (1929), Turkey (1930) and Sri Lanka (1931).
13) Some of the latest countries to grant women suffrage are: Switzerland (1971), Iraq (1980), Namibia (1989), South Africa - black population (1994).
14) Some countries still do not have universal suffrage. Among them are Brunei Darussalam, Kuwait, Sultanate of Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.
15) Among the developing nations which have not ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are: Bahrain, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates.
16) The United States is the only industrialized nation that has not ratified CEDAW.
These few examples show that Women are beginning, slowly but surely, to participate in the World Political Scene. While the participation percentage might be very modest, it still tells us that women have begun to break free from oppression, from discrimination. They have begun to set rules and laws against gender-discrimination.
Unfortunately, the speed at which this percentage is increasing is disappointingly slow, and many countries have not embraced the gender equity theory. Countries such as Bahrain, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sultanate of Oman, Syrian Arab Republic, and United Arab Emirates still practice sexual-discrimination, which could be due to the religious teachings in that country.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice, a woman widely known for her participation in the United States political scene became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor, on January 22, 2001.
Born November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama, she earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. She has studied in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from Morehouse College in 1991, the University of Alabama in 1994, the University of Notre Dame in 1995, the Mississippi College School of Law in 2003, the University of Louisville and Michigan State University in 2004.
Another Woman recognized for her contributions to the United States Political scene, Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected United States Senator from New York on November 7, 2000. She is the only First Lady ever elected to the United States Senate. Now midway through her six-year term, Senator Clinton has proven to be a strong campaigner for New York, working in a bipartisan way to pass legislation, secure millions in appropriations and draw attention to issues imperative to people throughout New York State.
Senator Clinton serves on the Senate Committees for Environment and Public Works; Health, Education, Labour and Pensions; and is the first New York Senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
These two Women, other than contributing greatly to society, are also admired greatly for their charisma. The former, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, has not only contributed and participated in politics, but she has also achieved much in political studies. The latter, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, being both the first New York Senator to serve on the Senate Armed Services Committee and the only First Lady ever elected to the United States Senate, she has been applauded as decisive and head-strong.
All the examples of contributions women have made to the world I have stated above prove one point. Sexual-discrimination should be abolished. It should no longer exist, as in times to come, Women would get a fair share of respect, a fair share of speaking what’s on their minds.
Many people would categorise my views on this subject under feminism. I do admit that I believe in the theory of feminism, and strongly agree that the oppression of Women should be outlawed.
Recently, many pro-feminism groups have been created, and they take feminism one step further than the Women’s Liberation Group of history. An example, the Guerrilla Girls, even have their own website.
Since 1985 the Guerrilla Girls have been reinventing feminism. Still going strong in the 21st century, they’re a group of anonymous females who take the names of dead women artists as pseudonyms and appear in public wearing gorilla masks. In 19 years they have produced over 100 posters, stickers, books, printed projects, and actions that expose sexism and racism in politics, the art world, film and the culture at large. They use humour to convey information, provoke discussion, and show that feminism can be funny. They wear gorilla masks to focus on the issues rather than their personalities. Their motto: Guerrilla Girls: fighting discrimination with facts, humour and fake fur since 1985.
In conclusion, my opinion is that Women deserve equal, if not greater respect than the brash opposite gender, males. They endure the pain of the most important process in human biology, reproduction, endure the evident discrimination still practiced against them. Most importantly, they endure the harmful treatment practiced by uncaring, abusive and possibly drunk husbands.
Therefore, I propose that Women be recognized for who they are, not for what they are. I propose the world turns their eyes from the anatomical structure of Women, and focus more on their contributions and accomplishments. I propose that women be accorded with an even greater respect than men, as they are the behind-the-scene workers. Their contributions are on par, if not of more importance and significance compared to men’s.
Even though they might not be recognized for what little yet significant things they have accomplished, as the saying goes:” behind every successful man is a Woman”, they are the advocates of their husbands. Women are what keep “their man” going. Especially during reproduction.
Sources:
Literary materials:
1. Scarborough, E. & Furumoto, L. (1987). Untold Lives: The first generation of American women psychologists. (New York: Columbia University Press).
2. Robin Morgan. (ed.). Sisterhood is powerful: an anthology of writing from the women’s Liberation movement (New York: Random House, 1970).
3. Sandra Kemp, Judith Squires. Feminisms. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)
4. Nickie Charles. Feminism, The State and Social Policy. (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London: Macmillan Press Limited.)
Online Materials:
1) http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/women.html
2) http://www.4yi.com/1998/0302women/
3) http://www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/statistics.htm
4) http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/about_hrc.html
5) http://www.guerillagirls.com/index.shtml
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yeah! and i love my new specs.....hah frame costed only seventy. and yeah...priCK and Xin RU...keep your advice to yourself and stay out of my blog.
hahaha.....i like my train-thru-body shit...laugh all you want, you pricks, numbnuts, dumb f*cks, blah.
yeah, and bourne supremacy is bullshit. 'cept for the chase parts.
sigh..... happy teachers day.
yesterday's performance was nice. very.
especially when the teachers performed.
on THEIR OWN DAY.
sigh, i salute them.
darn...gotta finish some shit.
CIAO
shit as in work, duh.
and yeah, starting on red dragon by Thomas Harris today
hah
once again...CIAO
posted by Inexplicable Existance 3:35 PM
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