The topic that I have chosen that is important to me is hunger in Africa. I have been to Malawi, Africa on a mission trip a couple of summers ago, and it broke my heart to see the conditions that they were having to live in. Most of the children had swollen bellies that made it obvious that they were malnurished. There weren't very many people that you came across that looked physically healthy. They all were hungry.
Since my trip to Africa, I have been very concerned with what can be done to help them. I realize its a long and tuff process, but no one needs it more than they do. Thats why I chose this topic to write about. When I looked on the internet for an organization that was working on these issues I came across many organizations that are trying to end hunger in Africa. These organizations include USAID, IEHA (Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa), and CAADP (The Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Program). USAID pretty much makes it possible for these organizations to do what they do. They create the partnerships with Africa. The IEHA pretty much goes to Africa and helps them with their agriculture. They are helping change the farming industry to be successful. Their goal is to cut the number of hungry people in Africa in half by 2015. On their website, I thought it was really neat to see that Malawi was just recently added to IEHA in 2008.
I know that this issue will take lots of time to fix, but it is encouraging to see that people are working on it.
In the F Word, on page 185 I thought this statement was interesting. "What made you think that you could wake up in the morning and have all these wonderful rights adn priveleges--jobs, schools, sex--and enjoy the hard-won freedoms that women before you passed and not have to pay for it? Those rights were gained through electoral activity, not by a miracle." This statement interested me, because I never really thought about it this way. But I do agree with Reuss when she says it. Now days women just take for grantid what early feminists gained for us, including me! Even if all we do today is just be faithful to vote, we can make a difference. Although that is almost asking too much from us today. It just opened my eyes to not only taking lightly the freedoms that early women won for us, but also the freedoms that everyone enjoys.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Reading Gender
Short paper – Assignment – Reading gender: The Eternal Feminine
In this play, Castellanos is portraying how men and women are seen in the Mexican culture. It takes place in a beauty shop where the women always go to get fixed up. Some men come up with this stuff that makes the women dream instead of thinking while they are waiting. The men don’t want women to think. It is better that they just look pretty and stay out of the social world. That is where this whole play takes place. It is showing what would have happened if women did think.
In the play The Eternal Feminine, there was a scene that portrayed gender to a T. It was the scene where Lupita falls asleep again and starts to dream about Adam and Eve. This scene portrays men and women as completely different beings. It represents what our world has had to struggle with and over time change. This scene is also very good at representing why women have struggled so long for equality, and what women have had to go through.
In this scene of Adam and Eve, it very quickly portrays the man being higher than the woman. The way Adam speaks to Eve, and how he expects her to do exactly what he says. When Eve questions Adam about why her name is Eve he says, “What do you mean, why? A decent woman doesn’t ask those questions. She obeys and that ends it”. Through that one line, it is very clear that the woman is to do what she is told and that is it. The woman isn’t supposed to ask questions or think about why she is told what she is told, but rather shut up and obey.
The play very easily shows the assumptions of men and women. Some assumptions would include; men are the spokesperson for the women, men are superior to women, and women are made to look pretty and reproduce not represent the family. In the scene with Adam and Eve it clearly validates these assumptions. Adam treats Eve as a lesser person, therefore when Eve gets a chance to “think” she takes it. So when the serpent comes into the picture and tells Eve that she should eat the fruit so that she could be like him, she does. The part with the serpent is a whole story in its self. Through that whole scene the serpent is also representing gender in the way he treats her. In this scene Castellanos is being funny by making Eve worry about clothes and whether or not the fruit will make her fat. The serpent keeps throwing reasons at Eve to why she should eat the fruit, and one of the reasons he says is that she can be free. What he means by being free is that she would be able to think for herself and to make her own decisions. In prior works like in the beauty myth, it talks about how women are supposed to just be beautiful and our minds really don’t matter. Even in FIFE and The F Word there are many chapters over gender in society and how men and women are unequal. They all support what Castellanos is showing in this play. That women aren’t supposed to use their minds, they are just supposed to stay in their place. Yet we all know that today those things are changing, women today are thinking and changing our world.
In this play, Castellanos is portraying how men and women are seen in the Mexican culture. It takes place in a beauty shop where the women always go to get fixed up. Some men come up with this stuff that makes the women dream instead of thinking while they are waiting. The men don’t want women to think. It is better that they just look pretty and stay out of the social world. That is where this whole play takes place. It is showing what would have happened if women did think.
In the play The Eternal Feminine, there was a scene that portrayed gender to a T. It was the scene where Lupita falls asleep again and starts to dream about Adam and Eve. This scene portrays men and women as completely different beings. It represents what our world has had to struggle with and over time change. This scene is also very good at representing why women have struggled so long for equality, and what women have had to go through.
In this scene of Adam and Eve, it very quickly portrays the man being higher than the woman. The way Adam speaks to Eve, and how he expects her to do exactly what he says. When Eve questions Adam about why her name is Eve he says, “What do you mean, why? A decent woman doesn’t ask those questions. She obeys and that ends it”. Through that one line, it is very clear that the woman is to do what she is told and that is it. The woman isn’t supposed to ask questions or think about why she is told what she is told, but rather shut up and obey.
The play very easily shows the assumptions of men and women. Some assumptions would include; men are the spokesperson for the women, men are superior to women, and women are made to look pretty and reproduce not represent the family. In the scene with Adam and Eve it clearly validates these assumptions. Adam treats Eve as a lesser person, therefore when Eve gets a chance to “think” she takes it. So when the serpent comes into the picture and tells Eve that she should eat the fruit so that she could be like him, she does. The part with the serpent is a whole story in its self. Through that whole scene the serpent is also representing gender in the way he treats her. In this scene Castellanos is being funny by making Eve worry about clothes and whether or not the fruit will make her fat. The serpent keeps throwing reasons at Eve to why she should eat the fruit, and one of the reasons he says is that she can be free. What he means by being free is that she would be able to think for herself and to make her own decisions. In prior works like in the beauty myth, it talks about how women are supposed to just be beautiful and our minds really don’t matter. Even in FIFE and The F Word there are many chapters over gender in society and how men and women are unequal. They all support what Castellanos is showing in this play. That women aren’t supposed to use their minds, they are just supposed to stay in their place. Yet we all know that today those things are changing, women today are thinking and changing our world.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
blog # 9
Help support the NGO, Women for Women International. It is an organization that helps women who have been affected by war, to go from being a victim to survivor to an active citizen.
"Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We're changing the world one woman at a time."
This organization shows that people do care about other people, and people do have good hearts. It shows that no matter where your from or what you've been through there is someone who does care and wants whats best for you. The people who run this organization go out and give opportunities to women, like job training, rights awareness, and even leadership training. This organization is training these women to go back out into their towns and cities and not only survive, but make a difference.
In FIFE chapter 8, it talks about feminism globaly and how women everywhere struggle for freedom and rights. I think that living in the U.S we forget that we have it pretty good. I know that we have struggles and heart ache here in the U.S, but there are women in other countries that are treated so much worse. The book points out a few specific things that are still going on in other countries to women. Like in China when they still kill baby girls, and in some places they circumsize the women. I don't understand all of it, but I think we should be honored to live here. I know things aren't perfect here, but it seems to me that our struggles here are meaningless compared to what some other women go through. I also realize that all of the things that women go through are a result of men ruling over us. Our problems around the world may not be equal, but they do come from the same core problems.
"Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We're changing the world one woman at a time."
This organization shows that people do care about other people, and people do have good hearts. It shows that no matter where your from or what you've been through there is someone who does care and wants whats best for you. The people who run this organization go out and give opportunities to women, like job training, rights awareness, and even leadership training. This organization is training these women to go back out into their towns and cities and not only survive, but make a difference.
In FIFE chapter 8, it talks about feminism globaly and how women everywhere struggle for freedom and rights. I think that living in the U.S we forget that we have it pretty good. I know that we have struggles and heart ache here in the U.S, but there are women in other countries that are treated so much worse. The book points out a few specific things that are still going on in other countries to women. Like in China when they still kill baby girls, and in some places they circumsize the women. I don't understand all of it, but I think we should be honored to live here. I know things aren't perfect here, but it seems to me that our struggles here are meaningless compared to what some other women go through. I also realize that all of the things that women go through are a result of men ruling over us. Our problems around the world may not be equal, but they do come from the same core problems.
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