The
existence of an unequal world, where gender determines life chances, is the
result of not educating the young. Now, you can agree or disagree with me, but
it is my full belief that part of childhood should be dedicated towards
learning opposite gender roles, educating children on feministic ideals, and encouraging
success no matter what stereotypical "gender label" is being associated.
Women are still in a state of minority when compared to men because as we grow,
we are filling in the gaps of our parents; mothers take care of children,
fathers go to work, etc. Children learn and grow from the experiences presented
to them. I urge that every child be given the great opportunity to end
oppression against women. All it takes is a change.
In this
video, Amy Poehler [comically] sits down with a young girl and discusses a wide
range of topics surrounding feminism. Sure, this video may be scripted. Really,
it suggests that children, like Ruby, are capable of being reiterating the
factors associated with being a girl, without straying away from her youth. Ruby talks about the struggles of her mother as a single parent, expresses her
opinions on feminism, and even writes on a song that says, "boys can play
baseball... I can too".
To be
honest, coming into Women Studies, I hadn't a clue as to what it meant to be
"feministic". I figured that we would converse over hippies, walk
around barefoot, and learn to hate men; when in fact, feminism is so much more
than that! If I had been educated at a younger age on the significance of being
a girl, I probably would have stuck up for myself more often. Being a women
should be empowering, not a burden. Because inequality, discrimination, and
violence all occurred outside of my home, outside of "my world", meant
that I never understood the sickening truths that go on every day.
Don't you
want to fight for our future- our
children's future?
One of
the biggest things that I would like to reiterate it the importance of
spreading feminism to younger generations. There is no way of solving gender-based
violence, misrepresentation from the media, the gender-wage gap, or all-over
oppression of women without educating children. If we start implementing these
ideas of equality, love, and acceptance at an early age, then those children
are going to grow up with an entirely new mindset for what it means to be a
woman/man. It is very important to remember that change takes time. It is no
easy task clearing out what history has already set in stone. However, I feel
that with a big enough push, women will (one day) meet equally along the lines
of men.
I defiantly agree with you on this subject. I think your point about how if we were educated with a frame work of equality when we were younger then maybe the ability to stand up and say you are wrong would have been there. I think that in order to see change we have to help the next generations understand the problems that we faced and how we live in a world where there is still oppression of others based on sexuality, race and class. I think something we learned in this class is that the acceptance of these is based on what society, the media and our surroundings teach us about gender norms or violence against women. They do not teach us the why, how and what to do to help. Your point of educating the next generation to be stronger and more knowledgeable and more accepting can result to bridge the wage gap between men and women or encouraging other women to seek help in a sexual assault and seeing results.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree with everything you said! It is an absolute MUST to change our education systems, children's programs, movies and so many other things to represent a gender-equal lifestyle. It is great to teach anyone new ideas, at any age, but the older the person is, the more difficult it may be because you are changing a lifetime's worth or knowledge and opinions. With children it's not teaching them a "new" idea, it is just teaching them an idea. Something they will have the rest of their lives.It seems like a simple idea- but there are so many influences on children today and they all have to be in sync. Amy Poehler is a really great advocate for women's issues- especially focusing on young girls. It's really cool to see.
ReplyDeleteI always believed that it will be the younger generations that will create our future. Educating children at young ages will help them identify themselves in the future. Growing up I often thought about what it meant to be a girl. Do girly things, talk girly, and physically transform into a woman. However I feel it would be very difficult to make this change. The day we are born we are separated into gender identifications, girls are pink and boys are the blue. Till this day that color code remains the same. In class we discussed the importance of gender identification and how it remains to be a institutionalized system. If we start implementing those ideas that the colors pink and blue don't mean anything. Then as a whole we should start randomly give babies different color codes as an idea the meaning of equality. Not us as future parents, but the whole world has to be in it. Now that would be awesome
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