Feminism is Simply Equality
Maggie Downing
Issue date: 4/12/05 Section: Opinions
I find it frightening and maddening that in a country that considers itself the most "civilized" in the world we still allow half the population to be underpaid and mistreated based solely on its gender.
The root of this problem, as I see it, lies in the cultural concepts of gender that we force upon people from even before birth. Think of your first reaction when you see an infant, the first question asked is almost always "what is it?" because we cannot even talk about the child without knowing his or her sex, our language doesn't allow it (at least not without a high degree of awkwardness). When the baby is a girl the reaction is usually something along the lines of "what a pretty/sweet/beautiful little girl" whereas with boys the reaction tends to be "what a handsome little guy, he's going to grow up to be so big." So from the very start we force our culturally constructed gender roles onto innocent, unexpecting children.
This process continues throughout childhood, with messages sent through toys, language and expectations of behavior. The reinforcement of essential differences becomes an inescapable part of our subconscious thought process and hugely impacts the way we see the world, often without our even realizing it.
There is no inherent attraction in little girls towards all things pink, that is something they learn, in the way that all humans learn the unspoken rules of culture. So following that way of thinking, why should there be an inherent attraction to math and science for boys but not for girls? This simply is not logical. Any argument for this inherent difference ignores the silent cultural rules that guide and define our lives. Our culture is not something we can escape, but it is something we must understand when it is allowing gender to continue to divide our world in unnecessary and harmful ways.
There are innumerable arguments about women and the positive impact we can have on the world if gender equality could be achieved. I won't get into that here, I believe that all students at Trinity are intelligent enough to understand that we have created the differences that divide us, and so it is up to us to break them down. Only then can equality be achieved.
Equal people deserve equal pay for equal work. Equal people deserve equal amounts of time, money and effort put into research for diseases that affect a full half of the population. Equal people deserve the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Equal people are equally qualified to work the same jobs, think the same thoughts, raise the same children, and occupy the same spaces.
The war isn't over yet, and I, for one, won't give up.
The root of this problem, as I see it, lies in the cultural concepts of gender that we force upon people from even before birth. Think of your first reaction when you see an infant, the first question asked is almost always "what is it?" because we cannot even talk about the child without knowing his or her sex, our language doesn't allow it (at least not without a high degree of awkwardness). When the baby is a girl the reaction is usually something along the lines of "what a pretty/sweet/beautiful little girl" whereas with boys the reaction tends to be "what a handsome little guy, he's going to grow up to be so big." So from the very start we force our culturally constructed gender roles onto innocent, unexpecting children.
This process continues throughout childhood, with messages sent through toys, language and expectations of behavior. The reinforcement of essential differences becomes an inescapable part of our subconscious thought process and hugely impacts the way we see the world, often without our even realizing it.
There is no inherent attraction in little girls towards all things pink, that is something they learn, in the way that all humans learn the unspoken rules of culture. So following that way of thinking, why should there be an inherent attraction to math and science for boys but not for girls? This simply is not logical. Any argument for this inherent difference ignores the silent cultural rules that guide and define our lives. Our culture is not something we can escape, but it is something we must understand when it is allowing gender to continue to divide our world in unnecessary and harmful ways.
There are innumerable arguments about women and the positive impact we can have on the world if gender equality could be achieved. I won't get into that here, I believe that all students at Trinity are intelligent enough to understand that we have created the differences that divide us, and so it is up to us to break them down. Only then can equality be achieved.
Equal people deserve equal pay for equal work. Equal people deserve equal amounts of time, money and effort put into research for diseases that affect a full half of the population. Equal people deserve the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Equal people are equally qualified to work the same jobs, think the same thoughts, raise the same children, and occupy the same spaces.
The war isn't over yet, and I, for one, won't give up.
