Using History to Move Forward

I believe I'm going to enjoy this course. I have been around long enough to see a good amount of gender discrimination. I am almost fifty years old, when i was a young woman growing up females were placed into three categories. Older females ages forty and above would be referred to as woman, females between twenty one years and forty was called young ladies and under twenty one were called girls. In Women Lives page five, ''Myth 1: Feminism Is Ideological,'' i was very amazed by the feminist discriminatory wages of seventy seven cents for women to every one dollar paid to men workers. History has shown us that before ' women suffrage' if an educated woman and an uneducated man applied for a job, the man would have the advantage over the woman. It should be also noted that it didn't matter if the woman had experience or not.
Statistics printed in the article entitled ' Milestones in U.S. History: Institutionalizing and Challenging Social In Equalities' one is able to follow and understand the significant diverse experiences women have undergone over the years. As the chapter points out in order for the society to overcome gender discrimination both sexes have to work together. gender discrimination is a serious issue, especially when it affects feminists fighting among themselves due to race and/or color as experienced during three periods of activism for women right, referred to as waves. It is appalling to know that as early as 1851 even Christian ministers were apposing women's' rights, arguing that "Christ was male, that women were not as intelligent as men , that they were weak trained with eve's sin." ( Women's Live 9)
If one look at our present society it is very obvious that not only women but men too face gender discrimination. In our past election Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama faced discrimination in different ways. Hilary and Sarah as a feminist, and first women to run for presidency and Obama as the first African American president." women and men face a range of serious problems in the years ahead,... Over the past thirty years, various economic changes and government policies have made women's lives more difficult. (Women's Live 16). Women in the U.S. have found that in the struggling economy especially now in the recession a lot of husbands, fathers, and male partners have lost their jobs. as a result many stay at home mothers have found themselves for the first time out in the job force. due to lack of experience or lack of qualification many of these women are experienced in discrimination not just from the opposite sex but also from the same sex , because the system now presents itself has a 'dog eat dog world' or 'every man for himself'.
Five years ago I lived in New York and during my residency there I worked in the capacity as an assistant manager for a male assisted living facility. ten years ago or more this type of facility would not have employed a woman to work in a managerial position. such facilities was worked and manned by males with females hired only to do secretarial or domestic services. I share similar feeling with the author when he says, the words that comes to mind when she hears the word, "feminist," or "independence, strength and equality"( Fight Like a Girl 1). The sooner we begin to view feminist in a positive light, the easier it will be for the society to accept the role women play on a daily basis. Statements such as "feminism is no longer necessary, that equality has been achieved and that any hardships women encounter must be the result of their own actions"( Fight Like a Girl 7) simply goes to show that some people are certainly discriminating against women and is not in touch with their present surroundings and that the world is experiencing gender discrimination and barrier. It is my strong belief that it's about time women start believing and, be proud of their achievements and their gender, and stop indulging in self pity. each day i go to work and carry out my daily duties I consider myself as an individual and an achiever. I try to stay away from negative criticism and stereotyping because most negative views are constructed by people who are considered sexists. One should also be mindful of the media and the impact it has on imagery of genders.
As I continue to make my final decisions as to the project I will be working on this semester, I intend to use prior knowledge and information from this class to assist me in executing a positive change in the society for both genders