Portfolio IV

THE OPPRESSION OF WOMEN

 

Society would like to tell us that women and men are equal when it comes to their sociodemographic status.  In reality, that’s not true.  According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, while women are the main breadwinner for 4/10 families, in 2015, they made on average .80 for every $1 a man made.  They stated that if the rate of change between men and women’s wages continues at the same rate, it will take about 44 years before the gap is breached.  Because of this gap, women need a higher education status if they want to be paid the same amount.  Legally, women have the same rights, but just because the rights say something, doesn’t mean that’s what actually happens.

*These numbers are representative of 2014

SES

Employment – The 1870 Census was the first to count women in the workforce.  That census placed females as 18% of the total workforce.  The majority of this 18% was found in education, but there were some working in factories and mines.  That census found that 5 women were lawyers, 24 were dentists, and 2000 were doctors. 

When it came to owning property, women gain rights slowly.  Pennsylvania allowed women to own property under their own name during incapacity of their spouse in the year 1718. The next state to allow this was Maine in the year 1821.  Over 100 years later.  Other states follow suite in the next 100 years, but the point is, women couldn't own property on their own until that right was granted.  Men never had stipulations about when they could or couldn't own property, it was just a given right.

  

August 18, 1920 women in the US received the right to vote. When the US was founded, women didn’t have all the same rights as men, but this was really the beginning of women’s suffrage.

Freedom of Speech was a right given to everyone with the Bill of rights.  When it first was announced, men still had more control and more power when it came to their speech, but these days there are arguments that women actually have more freedom when it comes to freedom of speech.  Men tend to get in more trouble legally for things they say while women can be verbally abusive towards men and not much is done about it.

When compared to many other countries, women have been treated decently well, but they're also not equal.  They're treated as slightly lesser.  Whether this is purposeful or if it's tradition being carried on, there is still inequality. If you look at the fortune 500 list of CEO's, you'll find the names of 23 women.  This is just one small example of how women may have the ability to reach equality, but it isn't happening. Another is in our US government, women are under represented.  In 2015, 19.4% of congress is comprised of women, 20% of the Senate, and 19.3% the House of Representatives.

Women in the media are portrayed as perfect far too often.  Men tend to have freedom, companies, power, wealth and control. Women on the other hand are often in the home, they're seen out shopping with their perfect bodies and perfect lives.  Occasionally we see them in positions of power, but usually when they're in those positions they're portrayed as power hungry and disliked.  One that immediately comes to mine is the movie "The Proposal" Sandra Bullock plays a company CEO, but no one likes her.  All her employees want her assistant Ryan Reynolds to have more power.  We see classic movies like "Pretty Woman" where the main actor owns multiple companies, and the only reason he wants a woman to be seen with him is for image.

Dove has a set of videos fighting the way women are portrayed in the media.  This is just one example of what is done to women to make them "perfect" for the videos and images we see in the media.  

Media will tell us we need men.  We don't see memes like this about Men needing a woman. There as an inequality between the two.

Oppression of women is leading to all sorts of negative consequences.  One of the biggest consequences comes from a psychological standpoint.  According to the American Psychological Association, because women have a lower socioeconomic status, they are living below the poverty line more frequently.  Living below the poverty line is linked to increased stress and raises the rates of depression and anxiety. They are also more likely to report domestic violence as well as worse eating habits.  

Women all over are speaking out against the inequalities of men and women.  I think that is one of the most effective strategies to cope with the inequality.  As people become aware of the inequalities and fight against them, we see changes.  

Understanding the oppression of women can help me understand natural bias's as a teacher.  I need to make sure to treat the children with equality.  As I teach children equally, I can help them to see the world as an equal world.  It seems like a little thing, but if we all teach people about sexual equality, slowly this problem can be solved.

Can we fix the oppression against women today? No.  But can we teach the next generation to fix this situation that we've gotten ourselves into? Yes.  That's how we can fix this.