Critical Response Journal No.1

Critical Response Journal No.1

I am going to begin this journal by explaining the concepts of the material I have understood in this class so far. The women’s movement began in the early 1900’s. During that time there were few women who were able to make an impact. In the 1970’s the feminist movement started picking up significant momentum. During this time the concern regarding the ill-treatment and the absence from powerful positions came to light. Because of this reason people from various fields concurred to start the Women Studies Department in many college campuses. I think at that time there was visible inequality in many aspects of life amongst men and women. Feminism refers to the equality and justice of women. From the 1970-1990’s there very various rebellions by the feminists in many different aspects of society. One of the most important changes can be noticed in the field of education. Chapter 2 starts with explaining the underlying racist factors in our society. These subtle acts of racism which happen are part of our daily lives. The chapter elaborates how white men, institutions favor the male gender over female. I don’t agree with the author over here. I think she is being very strict and expects a high level of perfection on how organizations should treat women fairly. I am not against fair treatment at all but not all organizations can change as quickly as women changed their position in society. I also did not agree with the author by hinting that the English Language is racist. It is not the language which is racist, but by people long time ago who started using a particular phase (in their time it could also be justified). We have chosen to continue to use that phrase because it has become a trend. I know I have stressed on trends many times but I think that they hold important information on the general pattern of behavior of a similar group.
In the “F Word” activity I stated that I was a postfeminist. I stand by that because I think that no inequality exists. But I have realized I yet can’t say that equality among men and women exists. I think that the issue about inequality should be looked at very seriously in the developing and under-developed countries. For highly-developed countries the problem should be tackled by changing the mind-set of the future population. Something the author has not pointed out so far is that in many situations the woman is incapable of becoming independent and due to that reason is suffering ill-treatment. The support required should be available to women with this kind of need. In my personal experience, I have tried to closely observe many of my female friends when we talk about women. It tends to get very sensitive if the topic is about any bias shown towards women at the workplace. I have always disagreed with them. I am not narrow minded but I believe that one can’t have everything. My conversations with them have revolved around different salaries for the same job or more opportunities for a male colleague. These differences arise because as human over the years we have evolved by forming many biases (many of which are subconscious) and have become accustomed to many trends. This is not an excuse to not looking at a situation equally but the realization of the cause should be used to tackle these kind of thoughts.
The relationship between the person’s situation and their perspective is a very important factor. I come from India, where there is inequality among the sexes. I have witnessed 13-14 year old girls who are married off by their parents. But I think it very helpful that highly-developed countries are devoting efforts towards women studies. The reason is because nations all over the world can look at the model nation and hope to imbibe its changes.