International Women’s day, March 8, 2012
Statement made by Students of International Women’s Issues (WMS 325) on behalf of Women of the World.
We are Concerned about Gender Inequalities
Most people think gender inequality in western society is dead. It is assumed that because women have the right to vote, to pursue education, to own property, and the right to do almost everything else men can do, that there is no need for feminism. It has even been said feminism is dead, that there is nothing from which women need feel discrimination. We strongly disagree. As young women of modern times, we see the essential need for feminism everyday, in our homes, in our schools, and in our workplaces. By taking our gender and ourselves seriously and haven been strongly conscientized through relevant class experiences and readings (Burn, 2011), we hereby deem fit to join in demanding a certain amount of respect from the world around us, a respect that unfortunately, we now see more clearly that we do not always receive.
In general and mostly in subtle ways, we feel the effects of the stigma that accompanies being female all around us. At work, we’re held back from tasks that require manual labor; we are often assigned work that puts us in the housewife-role. It is assumed that we are our best at secretarial, assistant work, and any advancement in leadership positions is seen as exceptional. While it might be less common for a woman to be in charge, we feel that its rarity should not negatively influence its credibility, or the competence of the woman who happens to hold the staff of authority. A leading lady is not a phenomenon; we wish it would stop being treated like one.
On, March 8, 2012, marking the 101st anniversary of International Women’s Day, we took time to reflect on things that need to change and can indeed change, if our voices can be made to resound and be heard across the spaces around us; and if we can make others to also see what we now see better.
Following a brief workshop during our International Women’s Issues class, which incidentally fell on March 8, we brainstormed and reflected on three areas of our lives: personal life, college-campus life and life of women across cultures. This was with a view to coming up with real-life evidences of gender inequalities which we may not have paid attention to before. And, in looking forward and learning from women around the world who have dared to make their voices heard, we aimed to put a tag of these various forms of inequalities so that definite proposals can be made on how these gender concerns can be addressed.
Our Voices: Here are statements from students about inequalities in the three identified spaces
Reflections on our personal lives
Females still face many forms of unequal treatment as daughters, sisters, mothers and wives. In spite of much touted individual freedom and rights in America, we continually observe these undesirable traits in the ways that society – parents, co-workers, employers relate to us: Hear some of our lived experiences:
“Because I am a girl, my father refuses to help me financially toward my education. I don't even know how I will be able to pay for school next year. I know that he is not going to change his mentality because of that I may not be able to come to school and graduate. Yet, that is the only way I will be able to take care of myself in future without relying on the help of other people (especially men)”.
The problem: Son-Preference and perpetual undervaluation of the girl child’s potentials
“No matter how hard a woman works at their job. They don't get the same treatment as men”.
“My mother's and my sister's and my own work around the house should not be laughable and thought of as "nothing" – as they are usually portrayed; and our chores should not be solely ours, but should be all members- there needs to be less division between a "real job" and an “at-home-job”.
“When my parents went out, I had to do house-hold chore, because I'm a woman and oldest”.
The problem: Unpaid Care Work without which the “real workers” cannot get on with it.
“In my personal life, I feel as though the way women are judged because of their outward appearance is not right and personal effort to try to get to know someone should be put forth.My sex is not all of me. I wish people will look beyond my physical sex and see the real worth of a person”.
The problem: Objectification of women, taken to phenomenal proportion in media and the corporate “profiteering” capitalist world.
“I feel like women/girls growing up should not be discriminated against for playing sports.Much of my God-given ability has been restrained by streamlining “appropriate sports” for boys and girls”
The problem: Gender role stereotype – quite limiting of individual’s innate (human) potentials, regardless of sex, and shortchanging females’ contribution to their world.
“Because of female misrepresentation, I have been given less pay at a job than a male who had been working less time than me. We also held the same exact position”
The problem: Workplace discrimination. While earnings gaps may be rightly accounted for by many factors such as skill, education, output differences among workers, gender-based earnings discrimination has been studied and found to be accounted for by only one factor – the fact of being female.
“Inability to provide the same physical strength of the opposite sex”.
“I am weak because I am a woman. I am not able to work where I work because of my gender. Men are always making jokes about how I can't do certain things”.
“I hate when people say "you do that well...for a girl."
The problem: Ignorance - confusing ‘sex’ with ‘gender’. Inability to recognize that sex differences are natural – usually lower physical (muscular) strength of a female means she may naturally be unable to do certain things like more muscular men. What is unnatural is the gender difference: which is, not allowing females to improve on what they are capable of doing; or expecting females to always perform differently (lower) in things totally unrelated to sex differences.
“I will be graduating in May and it is not fair that I may not receive the same pay as a man in the working world”.
The problem: gender discrimination in the workplace. Results from our inability as individuals and groups to ensure that existing legislations that demand equal pay for equal work be enforced. Be informed and call systems to account. Knowledge is power www.ilo.org
“The way violence both sexual and domestic has been sensationalized by the media affects all women. I have been domestically abused, but society, culture, and the media told him it was ok”.
The problem: Normative sexual abuses – usually assumed, in law, to be consensual – regardless of the underlying reasons. The physical abuse often goes deeper than the surface, with negative effects on women’s ability to live a fulfilled life.
If only society gave more Voice to women to freely report and redress sexual abuse, if only countries like United States of America would ratify and pass into law the Instruments of women’s human rights (CEDAW)[1], more women would walk freely without fear of violence and more men would desist from such brutality.
Reflections on our lives in and around College (URI)
It would seem that inequalities are invisible on campus. But this is not true. Is it because we don't see it? Is it because we are afraid to speak up? Whatever that reasons, there are many issues that we need to work on right here on our campus just as we try to work on everything else. Gender issues are just as important and are capable of limiting students’ perception of themselves and their future chances in life; including the risk of passing these negative perceptions to their own children!
At the University of Rhode Island, students in different Gender and Women Studies classes are more sensitive to gender inequalities on our small campus. Some of the issues noted are favoritism between faculty and students, indications or direction/advising of what each individual will study, misrepresentation of the Women Studies Department and most critical, the unequal pay between male and female faculty as has recently been documented.
Specifically:
“Male Faculty seem to favor female students and because of that, they are more lenient towards female students”.
The problem: Sexism – a form of gender discrimination usually thought to be harmless or benevolent to the weaker sex! but sexism is unacceptable to us as fellow females. The underlying reason is a feeling that we are not capable of excellence unless we are “helped”.
“ Athletes at URI get treated better by all faculty. It seems not to matter if they are male or female”.
The problem: Discrimination The system tries to punish “bad’ discrimination but is benign towards “good” discrimination – or for a good cause. This still penalizes those who are not in the favored bracket - non-athletes.
“At URI, there is a big division between the “hard” (male-dominated) sciences and the “soft” (female-dominated) sciences. Hard sciences are the ones that everyone talks about, they are the ones that get the new buildings with new equipment. For many social sciences and other classes other than hard sciences, there is usually no visible investment going towards them, as if they are not as important”.
The Problem: Male-bias . Big decisions are made in male-dominated board rooms and so they favor male-dominated spheres of development. Since it appears that the hard sciences make the world go round. This is the benefit of systemic huge investment over time by male-dominated governments all over the world, including the government of URI.
“ Many students here are looked down upon based on what they decide to study. Female students are usually stereotyped as being fashion majors. In most Women Studies classes at URI, you only see female students, where did all the boys go. Do they not want to learn about All of the inequalities that happen to all the women in their lives?”
“Not only the classes, students at this university mis- represents the whole department as a place for only females, whereas the (gender) issues we learn about affect both males and females, and generations to come”.
The problem: Gender Stereotypes from early life (early education, socialization by society). A more balanced rounded education will result if both males and females are exposed to similar issues. Indeed, male student who have taken the WMS 150 have testified to dramatic alteration of their views of life, and they are now shun acts of discrimination, intimidation and sexism which they had been brought up to consider “normal”.
“The biggest concern faculty faces at URI is the unequal pay. Male and female teachers with the same qualifications receive a considerable difference in wage. It is not fair that females are getting paid less when they start working because of different bargaining strength. This may not be clear on the surface, but considering other factors such as rate of progression, types of initial contracts, access to tenure and so on, there is marked gender wage-gap here in URI like in many Institutions in United States, in spite of pronouncements of “Equal Opportunity in Employment”
Reflections on Lives of women across cultures
Not only do we see more clearly the gender concerns that we daily deal with, we are learning a lot about what women in developing countries, daily deal with. Thinking of their situation, we always consider ourselves very lucky. Therefore we see ourselves in a position to intervene and contribute in any way to addressing the tremendous burdens of their lives. One little way is to make our voices heard on their behalf on this International Women’s Day. If more people learn about these issues happening across the world from them, maybe their little gestures will add to what many Transnational Feminist Networks have been doing for decades. Here are some of the gender concerns they face;
“ The women of the middle east countries are faced with honor killings, bride burnings, and other violent acts.”
Problem: Violence Against Women (VAW), which extends into mortality inequality and ownership inequality[2]. Women are not viewed as equals but treated as inferior or objects and so these barbaric acts are felt to be justified when women refuse to do as they are told or fail to meet the expectations/benefits of men.
“Women in many of the countries spend most of their time on housework – such as fetching water and fuelwood from far places. They also have responsibility to take care of their children and feed their families through farm work. Yet, all this work is not accounted for as contribution to their economy”.
Problem: Household inequality. The male breadwinner bias or the female homemaker mentality.
“Many girls in developing countries are not sent to school because of poverty and because they are seen to be good only for marriage and housework”
Problem: Son preference, Basic needs, special needs, and professional inequalities. This issue touches upon Goal 2 of the Millennium Development Goals. Son preference would also prevent women from receiving and adequate and equal education due to the thought that men are those needed in the “educated,” public sphere, as well as gender bias that women cannot and don’t learn as men do (perhaps bordering on sexism) because they have “other duties.
“ In general, women are characterized as objects and looked upon as of lower status to men. They have no part in decisions and have no rights to refuse what is not good for them – like having so many children or refusing unsafe sex”