Imagine the world, where everybody is equal. There will be no discrimination, no conflict and no assault. We all once dreamed that it will be what the world is going to be, but unfortunately, that is not what the world wants to be. Not everybody is nice as we think, and they will make obstacles to stop our dreams from happening. Discrimination, sexism, things that stop the dream we all long for it to be true. Religion and cultures have their own practises, but that does not mean that there cannot be a female priest, female that take the roles that are stereotypical male roles. At the current rates, the world is changing, with the first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and the first female resident in the world, Marma Estela ‘Isabel’ Martinez Cartas de Peron of Argentina.Even though those people have broken walls of gender discrimination, there are still many barriers made from culture beliefs to religion. Every female should have a right to education, to learn even the basics of how to read and write, that girls can play any sport they want, even if it is a boyish sport like contact rugby, and women should have the same wage as men for the same jobs.
People say that ‘education is a right, like the right to have proper food and a roof over your head.’ For many, it is funny that girls do not need to go to school, and part of the reason is that they do not have a choice. They might not have enough money, or their parents do not want them to go to school, and instead helping the farm etc. Many girls in the world are rejected for what they want to do, going to school. According to the book ‘I am Malala’, she was shot in the head for what she wants to do. Yes, the talibans have their reasons, but people in the opposite sex are humans as well. And it is normal for humans to go to school. In other countries, girls can go to school without people shooting their head because they go to school. They face a different obstacle, things like pregnancy, child marriage, poverty and school based violence. In worst case scenarios, those people get discriminated because they are trying to get through those obstacles that others might not realize. They are discriminated because they are different than the other students around them.
According to the UN, there are 7 main advantages for girls having a good education. (some not relevant)
- Education beats poverty. One extra year of schooling increases a person’s earnings by up to 10%. 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills. This explains that education is proven to help people to get out of poverty. - - Education can help people to get out of those harsh rural areas with bad living conditions to the great white way.
- Education promotes gender equality. Women who went to school understand the danger in processing a child, and this helps them to control how many children each family can have. For example, in Mali, a women with at least a secondary education have an average of 3 children, while those with no education have an average of 7 children. This explains that with education there will be a decrease of population, and the world will not be so overpopulated, and that people will not produce a lot of children knowing the dangers of producing a lot of children.
- Education contributes to provide maternal health. Women with higher levels of education are more likely to delay and space out their pregnancies, and to seek health care and support.
- Education helps combat HIV, malaria and other preventable diseases. This facilities access to treatments and fight against stigma and discrimination. This means that education can decrease the world’s death rate, whether it have a positive effect or a negative consequence.
- Education helps global development. ‘An estimated $16 billion in aid is needed annually to reach the EFA goals in poor countries. However, in 2008 poor countries received only $2 billion aid for basic education. The worldwide military expenditure for 2009 was $1.5 trillion.’
Stereotypical girls, do they have to sacrifice of what they want to be in the future just because of their gender? This theory applies for jobs. One of the main streaks of employment discrimination is gender. Why can’t girls work as an engineer? Rejecting a female because of her natural habitat? Rejecting a female just because… because she is a female? The world can create any kind of nonsense they want us to face.
(Unfinished)
Sports. Either its rugby, baseball etc, many debate that girls should not play boy sport. Firstly, how will you define boy sport? A sport that only boys can play? Can’t all girls play boy sport? Why not just make a girl team? Many say that girls are not as physically strong as boys, but girls can play what sport they want to play. Girls are generally stereotypically at home, as the men are stereotypically known as wiser. Sports like football, contact rugby and baseball are generally known as boy sport. Some people have to give up what they love because of what they are born into. Girls are just as good as the boys. Maybe with longer hair, silkier skin, slightly shorter, a little less masculine, they are just the same. Some girls could possibly have equal skills perhaps even better. Having their own rights is like having a cupcake that was yours, and was given not by choice to another person. Girls could be tougher than the boys who think they are the best at sports.
Personally, I play quite a lot of sports, but people judge me because I am smaller, shorter and look like I have no muscle at all. Little did they know that I was trained for a long time, and even if I have already showed them that I can play that sport 10 times better than them, they still believe that I am a total brat that is nothing but showing off. Women have their own skills and qualities, but if they wanted to play boy sports, then let their dreams come true. I have also been there when boys discriminated of what sports I should like and what sport I shouldn’t. I have always liked playing sports like badminton, basketball, touch rugby and many other sport, and yet I am still this small. People do not usually believe that I even play sport, generally commenting on the size that I am in. Only a few people see that I always have tanned skin and spotable muscle on my legs and arms. People have to understand that we girls can play whatever sport we want, and might not have to be the same team as the boys. The teams does not matter as much as enjoying the sport itself.
In the world, there are lots of confusions. Disagree or not, those rules have been set to make the world better. Even if there are many people that follow those rules, there are people out there that disagree of what it is made for the better. What we are living now is only the beginning. There are many other challenges in the future that is waiting for humanity to face. We are only solving the first pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The world need to stop discriminating people. Be the change you want to see in the world. Follow your dreams. Support gender equality.
Showing posts with label discriminated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label discriminated. Show all posts
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Sunday, December 6, 2015
The Sexist Divide - What society teaches us from birth
“She’s a girl. She can’t play with us.” The voice echoed in the basketball player’s mind. She slumped down in the locker room, cradling her ball to her chest. The day’s events replayed in her head, from school to the bus ride, to basketball practice. She bent her head over, small, painful tears running down her face. Her face burned when she thought about practice. Hugging the ball so tight it hurt, she wondered how she was going to face school tomorrow.
This isn’t fiction. This athlete is only one of many facing sexism in their sports. Even in a school like UWCSEA (east), the sexist divide is still evident even in today’s world. The above example is a minor one, one of many that build up and damage an adolescent’s self-esteem.
A good example of sexism in early ages is a Toys”r”Us store, or most other toy stores. Looking at one from a distance, you can tell the difference in each half of the store. Pink and purple for girls, and every other color for boys. Kids grow up with this thinking, if one thing is used by girls, it can’t be used by boys.
Studies show that 90% of “girls’ toys” are colored pink and purple, while “boys’ toys” come in every color except pink. Some companies are starting to change, such as the Nerf “Rebelle” line, but there is still a long way to go before achieving actual equality.
Another part of this sexism is the kind of toys kids play with. Girls get to play with pink colored baking kits and makeup kits, while there are robot and train building sets for boys. What does this say about women’s role in life?
“Women are still remarkably underrepresented in the U.S. Congress, in science, math, engineering and technology—in any area that could remotely be identified as “the upper echelons of power”—well, it starts in the toy aisle” says Nancy Kaffer, from The Daily Beast. Toys should be neutralized, according to experts, because girls and boys should not have to conform their interests to what society thinks is best.
Fast forward a few years, into middle school. Where kids shift from playing tag to sipping drinks around tables. Similarly to how society picks toys for kids, it sets the standards for your behavior, from your clothes to your activities.
Walking into the H&M Men’s section is strange, but acceptable for a girl. For boys though, it’s a little stranger. Boys just can’t wear dresses. Why is it we have this judgment of what girls and boys should wear?
A possible explanation for this could be that in the past, men were viewed as superior to women. A woman wearing clothes from the Men’s section is unconsciously viewed as stepping up to a man’s level. On the other hand, choosing to wear a dress is stepping down a level for a man.
“Nice shoes, but aren’t they a bit boyish?” Asked a friend of a middle school student at UWCSEA. The shoes were colored red.
“We’d made progress in erasing arbitrary gender divisions….but we stopped” says Kaffer. Once upon a time, society became close to accepting a boy playing with a kitchen set, or a girl playing rugby. Except we didn’t get there.
In class, boys are often asked to help pick up heavy items, and generally expected to be louder and more active. Girls are expected to be more creative, or intelligent, and work harder than boys.
When playing sports, 3 out of every 5 girls feel they are underestimated, according to a study done in UWC. This affects many students, as it puts pressure on their self esteem.
“It does make me feel like I will never be taken seriously,” an anonymous source from UWC says. “People don’t take my love for science seriously, and that is quite discouraging”. It becomes more clear that underestimation or just not being taken seriously can affect a student’s passion for a sport, subject, or hobby.
Why is all of this important?
The reason is, all these minor things lead to as small, but much more impactful events in the future, such as discrimination against colleagues at work, or less opportunities for girls at college. “Subtler forms of sexism that women face can be even more difficult to handle than explicit discrimination,” says Jessica Valenti, writer for The Guardian. This evidence is significant because it demonstrates how hard it is to fix small but hurtful actions.
Men and women are not able to work, play and do everything in between without society choosing the rules. The small things that we see from an early age, like the choice between pink and blue, slowly build up over time, developing into standards for behavior, sport and intelligence. “For young women, there’s added pressure. Because once they get a decent job, they still have to contend with structural workplace discrimination, overtly sexist behavior and a weight of social expectations”, says Natalie Gil, also from The Guardian. Added onto previous evidence, this portrays what young women face in today’s world.
So the next time you go shopping, be aware of the number of small, insignificant forms of sexism that takes place. All of them are why we still believe men can’t wear dresses, or women are not as athletically capable as men. They are the reason girls feel discouraged when they proclaim their passion for science, or the reason boys feel insecure about their hobby of ballet or art. Our society needs to change this, and the small stuff is the starting point.
Or you could pick up a basketball and show them how it’s done.
By Rhea Goyal
Valenti, Jessica. "Everyday Slights Are Just as Harmful to Women as More Blatant Sexism." The Guardian. The Guardian News and Media Limited, 15 Nov. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Kaffer, Nancy. "Sexism Begins in the Toy Aisle." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.Gil, Natalie. "It's about to Be a Good Time for Young Working Women." The Guardian. The Guardian News and Media Limited, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
This isn’t fiction. This athlete is only one of many facing sexism in their sports. Even in a school like UWCSEA (east), the sexist divide is still evident even in today’s world. The above example is a minor one, one of many that build up and damage an adolescent’s self-esteem.
A good example of sexism in early ages is a Toys”r”Us store, or most other toy stores. Looking at one from a distance, you can tell the difference in each half of the store. Pink and purple for girls, and every other color for boys. Kids grow up with this thinking, if one thing is used by girls, it can’t be used by boys.
Studies show that 90% of “girls’ toys” are colored pink and purple, while “boys’ toys” come in every color except pink. Some companies are starting to change, such as the Nerf “Rebelle” line, but there is still a long way to go before achieving actual equality.
Another part of this sexism is the kind of toys kids play with. Girls get to play with pink colored baking kits and makeup kits, while there are robot and train building sets for boys. What does this say about women’s role in life?
“Women are still remarkably underrepresented in the U.S. Congress, in science, math, engineering and technology—in any area that could remotely be identified as “the upper echelons of power”—well, it starts in the toy aisle” says Nancy Kaffer, from The Daily Beast. Toys should be neutralized, according to experts, because girls and boys should not have to conform their interests to what society thinks is best.
Fast forward a few years, into middle school. Where kids shift from playing tag to sipping drinks around tables. Similarly to how society picks toys for kids, it sets the standards for your behavior, from your clothes to your activities.
Walking into the H&M Men’s section is strange, but acceptable for a girl. For boys though, it’s a little stranger. Boys just can’t wear dresses. Why is it we have this judgment of what girls and boys should wear?
A possible explanation for this could be that in the past, men were viewed as superior to women. A woman wearing clothes from the Men’s section is unconsciously viewed as stepping up to a man’s level. On the other hand, choosing to wear a dress is stepping down a level for a man.
“Nice shoes, but aren’t they a bit boyish?” Asked a friend of a middle school student at UWCSEA. The shoes were colored red.
“We’d made progress in erasing arbitrary gender divisions….but we stopped” says Kaffer. Once upon a time, society became close to accepting a boy playing with a kitchen set, or a girl playing rugby. Except we didn’t get there.
In class, boys are often asked to help pick up heavy items, and generally expected to be louder and more active. Girls are expected to be more creative, or intelligent, and work harder than boys.
When playing sports, 3 out of every 5 girls feel they are underestimated, according to a study done in UWC. This affects many students, as it puts pressure on their self esteem.
“It does make me feel like I will never be taken seriously,” an anonymous source from UWC says. “People don’t take my love for science seriously, and that is quite discouraging”. It becomes more clear that underestimation or just not being taken seriously can affect a student’s passion for a sport, subject, or hobby.
Why is all of this important?
The reason is, all these minor things lead to as small, but much more impactful events in the future, such as discrimination against colleagues at work, or less opportunities for girls at college. “Subtler forms of sexism that women face can be even more difficult to handle than explicit discrimination,” says Jessica Valenti, writer for The Guardian. This evidence is significant because it demonstrates how hard it is to fix small but hurtful actions.
Men and women are not able to work, play and do everything in between without society choosing the rules. The small things that we see from an early age, like the choice between pink and blue, slowly build up over time, developing into standards for behavior, sport and intelligence. “For young women, there’s added pressure. Because once they get a decent job, they still have to contend with structural workplace discrimination, overtly sexist behavior and a weight of social expectations”, says Natalie Gil, also from The Guardian. Added onto previous evidence, this portrays what young women face in today’s world.
So the next time you go shopping, be aware of the number of small, insignificant forms of sexism that takes place. All of them are why we still believe men can’t wear dresses, or women are not as athletically capable as men. They are the reason girls feel discouraged when they proclaim their passion for science, or the reason boys feel insecure about their hobby of ballet or art. Our society needs to change this, and the small stuff is the starting point.
Or you could pick up a basketball and show them how it’s done.
By Rhea Goyal
Valenti, Jessica. "Everyday Slights Are Just as Harmful to Women as More Blatant Sexism." The Guardian. The Guardian News and Media Limited, 15 Nov. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.
Kaffer, Nancy. "Sexism Begins in the Toy Aisle." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 29 Nov. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.Gil, Natalie. "It's about to Be a Good Time for Young Working Women." The Guardian. The Guardian News and Media Limited, 23 Nov. 2015. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
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