Victoria

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." -Milton Berle

[omgmrsbennett]

Conclusion of women’s inequalities in 2020

Have far have we seen our society really grow? Our social roles are, still, severely stuck in the past. I know, nature vs nurture has a lot to do with ones thought process, but how can we still be stuck in such a mind step that women and men have THEIR roles in society? The concepts of women needing to abide by certain rules, or they are viewed as a “bad” one, shows there is so much more work that must be done. Researchers are writing recommendations to the media and others to tell them not use such language to speak down on women, like they are their parents. “Scientists and practitioners should educate the general public regarding the impact animalizing metaphors have on perceptions of women. Media communicators might avoid using animalizing terms in order to shift public discourse in a more progressive direction” (Tipler, C and Ruscher, R, PG 7, 2017).  

Shift the premise from, “Women should act this way, Women can only do these jobs, Women need to perform certain duties”, we need to move forward to a forward-thinking method of, “Women, do what you want and what makes you happy”. Women are paid less, Women are treated as less, Women are objectified, Women are told no to their own choices for their own bodies.  

So, even though women have “legal” rights, what rights do women have as humans? Women are still treated less than men, women are treated as delicate flowers or crazy, women are treated as we've always been treated, as just women.

Word count: 258

References:

Tipler, C. N., & Ruscher, J. B. (2017). Dehumanizing representations of women: The shaping of hostile sexist attitudes through animalistic metaphors. Journal of Gender Studies, 28(1), 109-118. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411790

[omgmrsbennett]

Women need permission for particular healthcare options

Lastly, what I find to be the most horrendous of all inequality's women face. Healthcare. Many women choose not to have children at all, they may choose to want to limit how many children they have, or they may choose to space out when they have their children. Sterilization is one of the best proven methods to ensure no more pregnancies occur for a woman. Yet, for some reason, men can walk into a clinic and be sterilized without being questioned twice. Meanwhile, women face a very troublesome experience seeking sterilization or evening wanting to continue their family. “Sterilization practices have embodied a problematic tension, in which some women who desired fertility were sterilized without their knowledge or consent, and other women who wanted sterilization to limit their family size lacked access to it” (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Number 695, April 2017). 

Not only are options limited because you are a woman, but they also, often, do not provide the proper education to the woman wanting or not wanting contraceptives. Depending on where a woman stood in age, social class, marriage, race, etc., was how they got the options that were “available” to them. In other words, if you were married in your 40’s and had at least 2 children of opposite sex, you could choose what contraceptives you were “allowed” to receive. “Reproductive experiences are, therefore, “stratified,” such that “some categories of people are empowered to nurture and reproduce, while others are disempowered” to do so” (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Number 695, April 2017). 

Living this exact experience, I know what is like. I was 24 when I had my son, at 33 weeks, and spent too much time in the NICU. My oldest daughter was also a preemie. I wanted more children, but I was terrified of them coming any earlier than my others did. I also lost a baby, which was so devastating. I could not bear the thought of going through another loss, so I choose to have a permanent sterilization done, so we would never have to fear again. As I sat in my doctor's office, they tried to scare me into not having it done, in fear I may LOSE one of my living and healthy children, that if I lost them that I would indeed want to replace them with another child. The most horrifying words ever spoken to me. Because I was not in my 30’s or 40’s or legally married, I had to have at least 5 doctors in the office sign off that, what I wanted, the sterilization was the best thing for me. 

Women have equal rights though, right? Women are still treated less than men, women are treated as delicate flowers or crazy, women are treated as we've always been treated, as just women.

Word count 470

References:

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “Sterilization of Women: Ethical Issues and Considerations”. (2017). Retrieved November 12, 2020, from https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2017/04/sterilization-of-women-ethical-issues-and-considerations

[omgmrsbennett]

Women on the unbeatable road between home life and a career

Where do women stand on the educational front? Of course, women have equal rights for enrollment into higher education, but where does this leave us on the home front? Employment, education, and home life are all hand in hand.  “Although women in the United States have increased their presence and status in the workforce (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010b), as well as their presence in higher education (U. S. National Center for Education Statistics, 2010), women still experience lower wages and greater household duties than men” (Fetterold, J. Eagly, A. PG 1, 2011).  

Even though women could continue their education, they are still faced with lower wages, a future family, higher education, and a career. Women who want to further their education and have a career that will open so many doors for them, they must focus also on their potential future families, their home life, and the money they may or may not make. Women face many more obstacles when searching for more because they are women. Society still views them as having to care for the children, their home, their husbands, and make money. “The American Time Use Survey similarly found that married women spent an average of 21.2 hr per week in 2003–2006 on tasks such as housework, food preparation and clean-up, shopping for the household, and lawn care, while married men spent an average of 9.2 hr per week on the same tasks (U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008). Thus, women do almost 70% of the household work” (Fetterold, J. Eagly, A. PG 2, 2011).  

With these additional responsibilities that women hold, because society dictates so, it is much more difficult to make the decisions of what is the right thing do, continue education at the chance of having an equal employment opportunity or finding a suitable job that allows for flexibility to balance life and work. “Thus, both men and women may believe that any career sacrifices to focus on family demands should be made by mothers, especially to the extent that they implicitly associate women and family” (Fetterold, J. Eagly, A. PG 2, 2011) Women are still treated less than men, women are treated as delicate flowers or crazy, women are treated as we've always been treated, as just women.

Word count 379

References:

Fetterolf, J. C., & Eagly, A. H. (2011). Do Young Women Expect Gender Equality in Their Future Lives? An Answer From a Possible Selves Experiment. Sex Roles, 65(1-2), 83-93. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9981-9

[omgmrsbennett]

Representation of our women

How are women represented today? With media being such a large portion of how we communicate in today's world, anybody can say anything they want, at any time. This allows for so many people to give their opinions that weren’t asked for. Women are quite often the scripted in dehumanizing ways, leading to more anger and social movements. Either in a predatory or a prey like fashion. "Predator metaphors label women as aggressive and are often used to describe powerful women. Wild animals are independent, outside of human control, and dangerous. Predator metaphor suggest that the power enjoyed by these women's is a legitimate and that higher social status should be retained by men who are rational and intelligent" (Tipler, C and Ruscher, R, PG 2, 2017). The fact that women are being depicted in such a manner, is downright degrading.  

We know and see it every single day, even though they try to tell us longer happening in our society and the government has conformed to women’s needs. It continues every single day, and it will continue to happen until again for women. “The emphasis on youth in many ‘women-are-prey’ metaphors enhance the perception of docility (Hines, 1999). ‘Chicks’, ‘kittens’, and ‘fillies’ are meek and sweet. Importantly, prey do not challenge the authority of humans. They are appropriately dominated by their masters and submissive to their will. Thus, ‘women-as-predator’ and ‘women-as-prey’ offer distinct affordances: ‘women-as-predator’ are dangerous beasts from which control must be wrested and ‘women-as-prey’ are submissive creatures who can be captured and dominated” (Tipler, C and Ruscher, R, PG 2, 2017). So, women either way are being represented as either “too much” and/or in such a way that we can be over-powered, and we SHOULD be overpowered by men.  

Even though we are, again, supposed to be equal and supposed to have equal rights, do we? Hostile sexism is still a very lively state of mind for some. “Hostile sexism emphasizes men’s power and status over women, reflects desires to forcibly maintain women in comparatively low status positions, and depicts high status women as leveraging their sexuality to gain dominance over men.” (Tipler, C and Ruscher, R, PG 3, 2017) Though, there are a majority of those who believe women should be represented this way, it stands to show that there is still a vast number of humans who believe women have their role and should stay in it. We are told we have rights and everything that we do, but we don't. Women are still treated less than men, women are treated as delicate flowers or crazy, women are treated as we've always been treated, as just women.

Word count 442

References:

Tipler, C. N., & Ruscher, J. B. (2017). Dehumanizing representations of women: The shaping of hostile sexist attitudes through animalistic metaphors. Journal of Gender Studies, 28(1), 109-118. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411790

[omgmrsbennett]

My introduction to women's continuance of inequalities:

What is it like to be a woman today? I have reviewed many aspects of being a woman in today’s society such as education, healthcare inequalities, and how women are represented in the media and other outlets. Being a woman myself, I know what it's like to be spoken down to, underestimated, being told I wouldn't be able to accomplish something I had my heart set on, being told I have certain roles I'm allowed to have in life, and being questioned about surgical sterilization and if that's really what I wanted to protect myself from having another premature child. “Women are the hunters, or they are the hunted; they are inappropriately dominating, or appropriately subordinate. Continued transmission of animalizing metaphors for women perpetuates prejudicial beliefs about the appropriate roles for women in society” (Tipler, C and Ruscher, R, PG 7, 2017). 

Women are supposed to have rights but at the end of the day what rights do they really have, without being questioned every step of the way? Even women asked to project their future realized that there would still be continued inequalities. “Our experiment showed that, in general, they expected this future life to bring them inequality in the form of fewer employment hours, smaller salary, and more housework and childcare than their husbands”(Fetterold, J. Eagly, A. PG 8, 2011). This may mean education, Health related decisions, or anything else you may choose to do such as, having a job as a CEO of a company. We are told we have rights and everything that we do, but we don't. Women are still treated less than men, women are treated as delicate flowers or crazy, women are treated as we've always been treated, as just women.

Word Count: 282

References:

Fetterolf, J. C., & Eagly, A. H. (2011). Do Young Women Expect Gender Equality in Their Future Lives? An Answer From a Possible Selves Experiment. Sex Roles, 65(1-2), 83-93. doi:10.1007/s11199-011-9981-9

Tipler, C. N., & Ruscher, J. B. (2017). Dehumanizing representations of women: The shaping of hostile sexist attitudes through animalistic metaphors. Journal of Gender Studies, 28(1), 109-118. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411790