PlanetPapers.com RSS Feedhttps://www.planetpapers.com/ Mary Kingsley. Mary Kingsley was born in London 2006-11-13T14:36:42-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Mary-Kingsley_-6641.aspx Cinderella Female Characteristics What characteristics of females are valued in the four versions of Cinderella studied in class (French, Russian, German, Ever After)? Compare and contrast. The fairytale of Cinderella has come to have many different versions of the tale, each offering a different look on the values and ideology of feminism. Throughout the four different versions of this story the characteristics of Cinderella change, whether it be her beauty, intelligence, independence or the class she lives in. The four versions of Cinderella that will be discussed and evaluated are; the traditional French, German, and Russian versions and also the newer more westernized version, Ever After. Many people would portray Cinderella as being nothing more as beautiful woman, and in two of the four stories this is true. Beauty is made out to be Cinderella’s greatest aspect in the French and German versions of the fairytale, this can be seen through the fact that, in these versions, the only reason that the prince falls in love with her is because she looks beautiful. Within both these versions, Cinderella is also portrayed as a person who is good in heart, evidence of this can be seen throughout the texts as Cinderella puts up with her family and, even though they treat her with disrespect, she continues to obey them. Considering these two aspects of Cinderella it is evident that Cinderella has goodness within her, but the way that the story is written and how the events unfold it can be seen that her beauty plays a more dominant role than her goodness. It is arguable to say that beauty also plays the significant aspect in Cinderella’s character in the Russian version, but upon further inspection of this text it can be seen that the Russian Cinderella’s main aspect is her goodness. The reason for this is that the Russian Cinderella is not said to be beautiful in the beginning of the text but rather when she helps the old devi, through her goodness, and thus is repaid with beauty. Although the reason that the King in the story falls in love with Cinderella because of her appearance, she would not look beautiful if it wasn’t for her goodness. The other text, Ever After, portrays a different view on the role of beauty. The movies states that beauty is not everything and shows this with the character Danielle and her two stepsisters Marguerite and Jacqueline. Even 2006-09-17T21:47:50-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Cinderella-Female-Characteristics-6579.aspx HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS Thoi nguyen That due a person or claim a person has by virtue of being a human being. The term human rights is relatively recent. It was first used by U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a 1941 message to the United States' Congress in which he propounded four freedoms- - -freedoms of speech and religion, and freedoms from want and fear. The idea of human rights is an elaboration of what used to be called natural rights or the rights of man. These are a particularly Western idea that grew out of the medieval concern for the rights of specific groups, such as lords, barons, churchmen, kings, guilds, or towns. With the Enlightenment, philosophers began to consider whether people in general had any rights. John Locke in particular argued in his influential second Treatise of Government (1690) that all people have a natural right to freedom, equality, and property. He directly influenced the American Declaration of Independence, which almost a century later (1776) declared that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." During the French Revolution the French National Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), which proclaimed that the goal of political association is the preservation of the natural and inalienable rights of man, of liberty, private property, personal security, and resistance to oppression. Such rights were further defined in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, among them the freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. These and other rights have been included in many other constitutions and now are part of an International Bill of Rights. This comprises the 1945 United Nations Charter (Articles 1 and 55), the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the UN General Assembly, and the two international covenants passed by the General Assembly in 1966, one on Civil and Political Rights (CPR) and the other on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR). There is now a UN Human Rights Commission that can investigate alleged violations of human rights and also receive and consider individual complaints, a momentous advance for human rights in the state-centered international system. And there is the Helsinki process that began with the 2006-06-25T01:51:23-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/HUMAN-RIGHTS-6539.aspx HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS Thoi nguyen That due a person or claim a person has by virtue of being a human being. The term human rights is relatively recent. It was first used by U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a 1941 message to the United States' Congress in which he propounded four freedoms- - -freedoms of speech and religion, and freedoms from want and fear. The idea of human rights is an elaboration of what used to be called natural rights or the rights of man. These are a particularly Western idea that grew out of the medieval concern for the rights of specific groups, such as lords, barons, churchmen, kings, guilds, or towns. With the Enlightenment, philosophers began to consider whether people in general had any rights. John Locke in particular argued in his influential second Treatise of Government (1690) that all people have a natural right to freedom, equality, and property. He directly influenced the American Declaration of Independence, which almost a century later (1776) declared that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." During the French Revolution the French National Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), which proclaimed that the goal of political association is the preservation of the natural and inalienable rights of man, of liberty, private property, personal security, and resistance to oppression. Such rights were further defined in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, among them the freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. These and other rights have been included in many other constitutions and now are part of an International Bill of Rights. This comprises the 1945 United Nations Charter (Articles 1 and 55), the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the UN General Assembly, and the two international covenants passed by the General Assembly in 1966, one on Civil and Political Rights (CPR) and the other on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR). There is now a UN Human Rights Commission that can investigate alleged violations of human rights and also receive and consider individual complaints, a momentous advance for human rights in the state-centered international system. And there is the Helsinki process that began with the 2006-06-25T01:50:57-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/HUMAN-RIGHTS-6538.aspx HUMAN RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS Thoi nguyen That due a person or claim a person has by virtue of being a human being. The term human rights is relatively recent. It was first used by U. S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a 1941 message to the United States' Congress in which he propounded four freedoms- - -freedoms of speech and religion, and freedoms from want and fear. The idea of human rights is an elaboration of what used to be called natural rights or the rights of man. These are a particularly Western idea that grew out of the medieval concern for the rights of specific groups, such as lords, barons, churchmen, kings, guilds, or towns. With the Enlightenment, philosophers began to consider whether people in general had any rights. John Locke in particular argued in his influential second Treatise of Government (1690) that all people have a natural right to freedom, equality, and property. He directly influenced the American Declaration of Independence, which almost a century later (1776) declared that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." During the French Revolution the French National Assembly approved the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), which proclaimed that the goal of political association is the preservation of the natural and inalienable rights of man, of liberty, private property, personal security, and resistance to oppression. Such rights were further defined in the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution of the United States, among them the freedom of speech, religion, and assembly. These and other rights have been included in many other constitutions and now are part of an International Bill of Rights. This comprises the 1945 United Nations Charter (Articles 1 and 55), the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the UN General Assembly, and the two international covenants passed by the General Assembly in 1966, one on Civil and Political Rights (CPR) and the other on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ESCR). There is now a UN Human Rights Commission that can investigate alleged violations of human rights and also receive and consider individual complaints, a momentous advance for human rights in the state-centered international system. And there is the Helsinki process that began with the 2006-06-25T01:50:11-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/HUMAN-RIGHTS-6537.aspx "A woman's role in society is primarily that of a wife and mother" do you agree? “A woman’s role is primarily that of a wife and a mother” do you agree? The big debate about a woman’s role, and place in the society has been going on for a long time, and is still continuing. Women have been fighting to be able to stand on the same podium as men for over decades of years. However, I do agree with the given statement that the primary role of women in the society is to be a wife and a mother. This trend has been set since the early days of human civilization. The men would go out and hunt for food, while the women stay at home to take care of the children, do the housekeeping, and look after the husband when he comes back tired and worn out. This tradition of the women staying at home and the men going out to make a living is being passed down many generations and still remains true in many societies. The many biological differences between the men and women sure make this situation desirable. It has been scientifically proven that men are the ones who a better built body to take on the more strenuous jobs, and they are the ones who can withstand stress and pressure better than their female counterparts. Given these characteristics, it sure makes sense that the male would be preferred to step out into the society and brave all those difficulties to bring income home. The females, have been regarded as the gentler and more caring half of the human species, are then left with the job of raising the next generation and looking after the men when there is a need to. It may probably seem to make sense that the women’s role is primarily that of a mother since she is the one who bears the child, and thus she is the one who would be responsible looking after the child. Also, this extraordinary ability of the female is regarded as sacred in many societies and religions. Hence the women would be given the privilege of staying at home while the men make the living. This tradition might have been passed down over the many years, though with a change in perspective. It may be argued that the above statement is degrading the female’s status in society, in a sense that all the women do is to stay at home and not 2005-12-19T03:22:54-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/"A-woman-s-role-in-society-is-primarily-that-of-a-wife-and-mother"-do-you-agree-6345.aspx "A woman's role in society is primarily that of a wife and mother" do you agree? “A woman’s role is primarily that of a wife and a mother” do you agree? The big debate about a woman’s role, and place in the society has been going on for a long time, and is still continuing. Women have been fighting to be able to stand on the same podium as men for over decades of years. However, I do agree with the given statement that the primary role of women in the society is to be a wife and a mother. This trend has been set since the early days of human civilization. The men would go out and hunt for food, while the women stay at home to take care of the children, do the housekeeping, and look after the husband when he comes back tired and worn out. This tradition of the women staying at home and the men going out to make a living is being passed down many generations and still remains true in many societies. The many biological differences between the men and women sure make this situation desirable. It has been scientifically proven that men are the ones who a better built body to take on the more strenuous jobs, and they are the ones who can withstand stress and pressure better than their female counterparts. Given these characteristics, it sure makes sense that the male would be preferred to step out into the society and brave all those difficulties to bring income home. The females, have been regarded as the gentler and more caring half of the human species, are then left with the job of raising the next generation and looking after the men when there is a need to. It may probably seem to make sense that the women’s role is primarily that of a mother since she is the one who bears the child, and thus she is the one who would be responsible looking after the child. Also, this extraordinary ability of the female is regarded as sacred in many societies and religions. Hence the women would be given the privilege of staying at home while the men make the living. This tradition might have been passed down over the many years, though with a change in perspective. It may be argued that the above statement is degrading the female’s status in society, in a sense that all the women do is to stay at home and not 2005-12-19T03:22:17-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/"A-woman-s-role-in-society-is-primarily-that-of-a-wife-and-mother"-do-you-agree-6344.aspx Borderline Exploitation When it comes to the news, television, fame, advertising, the whole lot, I like to give credit where credit is due. I think that the primal coverage of the events that took place on September 11, 2001 was done well. Peter Jennings was amazing, giving the American people the perfect mixture of professional and human reaction. I love watching basketball games and the sportscasters always know exactly what is going on, no doubt. I am thrilled that Matchbox Twenty (the band) is finally getting the recognition that I think they deserve. But when I think about whom in the media I actually respect, it is all coming up men! A woman could not have done as good a job as Peter Jennings because she would have either been too young and not esteemed, or she would have already been forced into early retirement because she was beginning to look too old. And in sports casting, all those women need to know is how to read. So many have even admitted that they don’t know much about sports. And they chose to admit that in an issue of Maxim where they also all posed in rather scantily clad outfits and not exactly in reputable positions. And of course, fame. All Britney Spears has to do is take off her clothes and shake her derrière, and she is suddenly a millionaire. Let’s not worry about whether she actually has any talent! Bands like Matchbox Twenty, Blues Traveler, and Barenaked Ladies are only now finally getting some of the recognition that they deserve, after years and years of hard work and honing a brilliant talent. Why is it so difficult for a woman to get respect in the media? Because people like Anna Kornacova, Britney Spears, the actress that plays the older daughter on “8 Simple Rules to Dating My Teenage Daughter,” cars show models, Jennifer Lopez, the Coors Light twins…exist. These women possess little or no legitimate talent, yet they are all financially successful! But these women are not respectable. These women are all selling their bodies and good looks, not their talent. Perhaps because their talent is lacking, but either way it sets a precedent that even if a woman is intelligent or talented, she must be attractive. 2005-01-06T04:26:29-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Borderline-Exploitation-5988.aspx Women Inferiority to men according to Darwin Women Inferiority to men according to Darwin Throughout the years, women have been characterized as the weaker gender. Women are smart, intelligent and a strong creation of God made equally to men, not to dominate, but to complement each other, although scientists have proven that the female brain is smaller and less developed than the brain of men. Charles Darwin who is biased in his writings claimed women are inferior to men in anything requiring usage of the brain and hands. The measure of strength that establish between men superiority and female inferiority is irrelevant if power is defined as energy and not as control. How tall, how much they weigh, how fast they can run, and how much they are able to lift does not determine the transmission of message within the brain. Women might not be as “macho” and have physical strength as men, but mentally their brains are powerful and capable of doing anything. Mr. Darwin is clearly anti- biased towards women in which he underestimates the strength of women’s brains. Also, he overlooked that imagination does not come with gender but with aggressiveness and determination. For instance, Martha Stewart, a women and entrepreneur who utilize her ideas in selling home décor. In addition, Oprah Winfrey who is one of the richest women in the world, because of her uniqueness that she brings to the talk show world. Due to imagination and visualization of their ideas, these women are successful and are indeed millionaires/ billionaires. Women are as equally successful as men, but respect is not given where due. Hillary Clinton in winning Senator of New York State against ____________, a man. This was shocking for men around the nation, because she is a woman and “women cannot do a man’s job.” Queen Elizabeth II has been in control of England and several other countries for quite some time, and everything seems to be flowing correctly. She is an example of women being equal to men in the sense that she is looked up to by many of her fellow men. Since women’s brains are smaller and less developed than men, then why do men have women therapists? No one is saying they should be able to figure everything out, but considering the claim, “they are mentally stronger.” Why seek ideas from someone with a mentality less than theirs? Does this not prove that women are generally mentally just as 2004-03-05T20:20:12-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-Inferiority-to-men-according-to-Darwin-5498.aspx Comparison of Women's Rights in the East and West Woman—to many, she is God’s most complete creation. She symbolizes independence, love, caring, gentleness and intensity – both in love and in hate. More intelligent and emotionally stronger than man, why as she been called Adam’s better half? Undoubtedly women endure much more pain than men do. I challenge any man to go through even half the pain a woman goes through during labor. Margaret Thatcher, Benazir Bhutto Indira Gandhi have shown that women can rule a country even better than men… and maybe even the world! However women have not been treated nicely by men all throughout time. They have been denied their rights, their opportunities. It is commonplace, happening on a daily basis in offices, sports, factories, schools and entertainment. As much as I hate to say it, the eastern countries in particular have been the ones to do this more than they’re western counterparts. I feel the most alarming cause for concern in the East is that families feel that girls shouldn’t pursue higher education. Most scholarships, in fact 99% of them are awarded to boys. The common excuse is that girls are made to be housewives and mothers. Reasonably and honestly speaking, this is true. Motherhood is something that God has blessed only females with. But this doesn’t mean that girls should be totally ignorant about the world, current affairs, and history. God has revealed in the Holy Quran, “Seek knowledge from thy cradle to thy grave”. He has not added “this pertains only to men”. So, one does not have the excuse of religion for forbidding girls to study. Religion encourages it. In fact Prophet Mohammed has said “Read even if takes you to China”. This is without discrimination. Girls who are well educated make better wives and mothers than uneducated women. That way, a lot of people would benefit from a girls’ education! However, what does not get assurance is that fact that so many girls in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and many more eastern countries are having to give up their ambitions, simply because their parents feel that girls should be married and mothers by the age of 18. It is not only education where girls are forced to take a backseat in the East. The inequality spreads to many other things too. Such as rape. More than half of the total rape cases go unreported. This is because the victims do 2002-12-08T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Comparison-of-Women-s-Rights-in-the-East-and-West-5224.aspx Role of Women in China - Ancient times and Today The role of women in China has changed dramatically, from one of servitude and repression in ancient China, to one of equality in modern communist China. For two thousand years in ancient China women lived under the rules set by Confucius in his analects. Confucius doctrine said women weren’t equal to men, because women were unworthy or incapable of a literary education. Other than this Confucius says little about women, which perhaps shows better than anything else how a standing they had in ancient Chinese society. The author of the books that set social standards in China for two thousand years barely mentions them. This was probably because most Confucians accepted the subservience of women to men as so natural that it wasn’t really needed to write it down in the first place (Andrea and Overfield, pg.82-90). Throughout ancient Chinese women were in a position of servitude from birth till death. They were actually considered a man’s private property (Heng) This was justified because it was said, “disorder is not sent down by heaven, it is produced by women” (womeninworldhistory.com pg.3). Women were subject from birth to their fathers and brothers. They had to obey them without question. Women were often despised by their fathers, so much so that many Chinese women had no name. They were simply called daughter No. 1, Daughter No. 2 and so on. After women got married conditions remained much the same, only instead of being subject to a father they were subject to their husbands. Like they had to with their brothers and fathers they had to obey their husbands absolutely and without question. Their husbands often had two or three wives. A major change though when a woman got married was that she was also subject to her mother in law, a relationship that was often very nasty (Zhou). When a woman’s husband died she couldn’t remarry, that would be disloyal to her husband. Even if she had no food it was better for a woman to die of hunger than remarry. If a woman did remarry she had her skin peeled of the bones to death. Some women even committed suicide when their husbands died (Wudunn, pg. 1). A woman could rarely hold a job outside the house. They were supposed to spend their time cleaning the home for their husbands, indeed it was said, “the woman with no talent is the one who 2002-04-12T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Role-of-Women-in-China-Ancient-times-and-Today-4637.aspx Women's Role We live in an age where women have gained access, and freedoms to explore a wide range of interest, and life styles more than they ever could in the past: freedoms to enter the man’s work force; freedom to hold bank accounts, and get mortgages and loans. In some states, they even have the freedom to marry the same sex. In this age of increasing change, there is one area that I feel women got confused and would need help to make a right decision in their lives whether to look after the family or to work outside the home. In my opinion, today the idea of having a good job and career makes women struggle for their great wishes in life. That’s why the women of today are more assertive and demanding than they used to be. And there are many women today who are just as good if not better than their male counterparts. Moreover, some of the most successful people in today’s society are women. But some of these women have no opportunity even to care after their own child because of their demanding daily job. On the other hand, there are also some women that really succeed in raising a child and having an excellent career as well. So it means that for some women to have a work is to leave the children, and for the others it is to look after the family and continue working. But what is the reason that makes some women not to care after the family while they are at work? You would say, ”It is the reality of life”, but I would say that they are just trying to live the simple life not caring about their future existence in children. Furthermore, I think there is a comparison that won’t end between women who work outside the home and women who stay with their family. The fact is that some women who work think that they have such problems like looking after a child, doing the housework and some other duties within the home, so they just paid nurses to breast feed their children and do some housework while they are away from home at business work. But they are sure that by earning money they can back up all needs of their children. They are sure that everything goes as needed if there will be money at home. Moreover, 2001-11-09T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-s-Role-4023.aspx Academia vs. Morality A university professor has an exalted position, not only on campus but also in society. A professor’s students should have higher expectations of his/her behavior than they would of fellow students and others in society. Professor Dobyns was found guilty of sexual harassment by Syracuse University. Not only was a female student harassed and embarrassed, the reputation of the University also suffered. The verdict was appropriate, given the circumstances. A student attended a university sponsored party where she met the English Department graduate students and faculty members. At that party she was approached by Professor Dobyns. She was not close to Dobyns, they had only exchanged a few words of casual conversation. He immediately made aggressive remarks and acted in a belligerent manner. The girl ignored the professor’s overtures and turned away from the situation. Dobyns’ reaction was to make a comment to another male about her breasts. Such a remark, of course, turns the situation into one of a sexual nature. Again, the student showed no reaction. While she was walking away Dobyns yelled out, “Stalinist bitch!” When she reacted to the remark with silence, he became very angry and threw his drink in her face. This act clearly shows not only that Professor Dobyns has no respect for his female students, but also that he has much to learn in containing his tongue and his temper. Professor Dobyns was representing the University when attending the party. He was there in his capacity as a professor and should have acted accordingly. As a professor there should be a trust between students where they can feel comfortable. When that trust is broken both the student and the University suffers. Dobyns portrayed not a professor but an arrogant rude male who thought it was ok to interrogate his female students. Students need to feel comfortable and aware that their teachers will be there for them on and off campus for guidance and advice. Not to be intimidated and bullied by them. Someone who is recognized as a distinguished poet and novelist should be fully aware of his duties as a teacher and how to express himself appropriately. One of Dobyns colleagues stated in his defense, “Clearly, my friend is guilty-but only of bad behavior. You don’t go throwing drinks in a student’s face and talking about her breasts.” Dobyns’ friend admits that he was in the wrong. But how could she possibly 2001-09-17T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Academia-vs_-Morality-3739.aspx Gender Equality in Sports How is it fair that a men’s college basketball team is able to be transported on planes and dine on steak, while a women’s team from the same college, travels in a van and eats fast food? It’s not, but this occurs often nowadays even with laws passed preventing this type of discrimination. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletic programs (Kiernan 3). Many schools and colleges have not been able to comply with the Title IX standards mostly because of money. Some of the problems in high schools and colleges consist of insufficient scholarships for girls, not enough coaching jobs, a lack of equipment, and a limited amount of supplies. Not only does this inequality in athletic programs exist in both schools and colleges, but it is also prominent in many professional sports. After more than 25 years since the beginning of Title IX, there still is no gender equality among men and women in high school, college, and professional sports. Passed in 1972 by United States President Richard Nixon, Title IX was supposed to give women equality in sports, yet in the year 2001 there is still little difference in the way women are treated in sports. No legislative act has had a more powerful impact on the world of sports other than Title IX. Before Title IX was passed, only 31,000 women participated in sports, but in 1997, 120,000 women were active in sports around the country (Wulf 1). Title IX is now synonymous with women trying to find equity in athletics, but it originally had nothing to do with sports. It was a part of a larger legislative act passed to avoid any type of discrimination in the school system (Kiernan 1). Since 1972, the original purpose of Title IX has been clouded by media battles and a whirlwind of misinformation. Until the law required compliance, many schools did not take Title IX to be a serious legislative act. Compliance was not required until 1978, that’s six years after the law was first instilled into the American culture. The department that leads the battle for compliance was called the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, or often called OCR for short (Wine 1). All institutions receiving federal funding must comply with at least one of three specific criteria. One of them that they could 2001-05-30T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Gender-Equality-in-Sports-3428.aspx Women's Emacipation in Asia <center><b>Have Women Gained Emancipation in Asian Countries?</b></center> This is a question I’ve been asking myself a bit recently. But what is emancipation? Emancipation is equality amongst gender; the right of women to be treated the same as men. But in this part of the world is this happening? In many modern, more developed countries, women are more likely to be treated the same and given the same opportunities in education and employment. But in less developed countries, people are still prejudiced towards women, seeing them as if they have a lower value than men. Nowadays in nearly every Asian country, women have the right to vote and the right to have the same education as men. Many schools in Asia are now entitled to be single sex schools, in an effort to encourage people to give their daughters a good education. Many Asian countries have also recognised women as their leaders, Indira Gandhi in India, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan and Aun San Soo-kyi in Burma, etc. But as much as I hate to admit it, even in my country, Indonesia, women are treated differently to men. Women are more likely to be kept at home and raised to be housewives. Women may be given the same opportunities in education, but still the best jobs are given to men. Old ways and ancient traditions, where men are entitled to work and make a living for their families can perhaps explain this. The subject of female emancipation arose during the recent Indonesian presidential election. Before Ms. Megawati was nominated as one of the candidates, many people who claimed to be political experts didn’t believe that a woman had the ability to lead a nation, as if they had forgotten Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto. Their reasons and excuses were contrived and silly, which made them look foolish. They said that there is a religious law, which forbids women to lead a country. Thankfully many people didn’t recognise such a law. To many people it was a surprise when Ms. Megawati did stand for the election and still more so when she lost. To top it all, she was expected by many to win, since her political party was the ultimate winner. Many international experts believed that she could help bring Indonesia out of its economic depression, but it was not to be. It is difficult to know why women are treated differently, it is a deep rooted cultural 2001-03-22T13:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-s-Emacipation-in-Asia-3106.aspx The Movement of Womens Rights "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That was Margaret Mead's conclusion after a lifetime of observing very diverse cultures around the world. Her insight has been borne out time and again throughout the development of this country of ours. Being allowed to live life in an atmosphere of religious freedom, having a voice in the government you support with your taxes, living free of lifelong enslavement by another person. Many once considered these beliefs about how life should and must be lived outlandish. But visionaries whose steadfast work brought about changed minds and attitudes fervently held these beliefs. Now these beliefs are commonly shared across U.S. society. 1998 marks the 150th Anniversary of a movement by women to achieve full civil rights in this country. The staggering changes for women that have come about over those seven generations in family life, in religion, in government, in employment, in education - these changes did not just happen spontaneously. Women themselves made these changes happen, very deliberately. Women have not been the passive recipients of miraculous changes in laws and human nature. Seven generations of women have come together to affect these changes in the most democratic ways: through meetings, petition drives, lobbying, public speaking, and nonviolent resistance. Throughout 1998, the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement is being celebrated across the nation with programs and events taking every form imaginable. Like many amazing stories, the history of the Women's Rights Movement began with a small group of people questioning why human lives were being unfairly constricted. The Women's Rights Movement marks July 13, 1848 as it’s beginning. On that sweltering summer day in upstate New York, a young housewife and mother, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, was invited to tea with four women friends. When the course of their conversation turned to the situation of women, Stanton poured out her discontent with the limitations placed on her own situation under America's new democracy. Surely the new republic would benefit from having its women play more active roles throughout society. Stanton's friends agreed with her, passionately. Today we are living the legacy of this afternoon conversation among women friends. Throughout 1998, events celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement are looking at the massive changes these women set in motion when they daringly agreed 2001-03-12T13:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/The-Movement-of-Womens-Rights-3017.aspx Women: Their freedom, and how they got it <center><b>The Light at the End of the Tunnel</b></center> In the past, women have been oppressed to a point where they were treated as a completely different species. They were in a country that seemed to be a dark tunnel with no hope, dreams, or sense of fulfillment. Now, women have been given their natural birthrights, and they are now able to do everything males can do. As the United States of America was building, women for some reason were not treated like they should have been. Strong women like Sojourner Truth stood up for what they knew was right. She was able to fight for all women, represent a whole “race” and take control, she was one of the very few women who had the strength and will power to face this problem head on, and win. She was able to take on an entire nation and voice her opinion regardless of what her consequences could have been. That is what it takes to free yourself and or other people from the hold of injustice. Not too many people have the quality to be able to stand up in such harsh situations but because of some brave women all of the women are able to walk down the street and feel as equal as any man passing by. They can vote, hold office, get high paying jobs, and be independent women, with independent thoughts. In the lights of the horrible past, women were able to build a defense system far better than any army or navy that any country could produce. The women were able to attack with intelligence, perseverance, and being able to bring up common sense that seemed to have been missing before. With this defense, they were able to produce an illustrious history. Now, women can linger with their pasts, and with the memories of the women who preceded them, and look towards a bright future, where people like Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Rodham Clinton exemplify the American women, who can live out the American Dream, once only available to males. No longer do women write books depicting their insecurities and injustices. Now women are writers of Pulitzer Prize winning works and teach aspiring male authors how to be the best they can be. In a society where it was once unheard of for women to even be educated, women take up the majority of grade school teachers, and many more 2001-03-03T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-Their-freedom,-and-how-they-got-it-2976.aspx What is a Feminist? FEM-I-NIST n. A person who is involved in the movement advocating the granting of the same social, political and economic rights to women as the ones granted to men. When asking the question, "What is a feminist?," I received some very strange responses. When I posed this question, the people who answered seemed to be confused about their own beliefs. The question was also much more controversial than I had anticipated. The group that I asked was comprised of six females and four males, and was only moderately ethnically diverse (being one African-American, one multiracial person and one Israeli). They had many ideas about what it meant to be a feminist. Going into this assignment, I assumed that everyone would have the same ideas about feminism that I did. I believe that a feminist can be many different types of people. My definition includes women who are not afraid of their own power, and are not afraid of the power of the patriarchal society, and stands up for what they believe in throughout every aspect of their life. There are also male feminists who recognize some of the wrongs that have been done to women, and support the movement to change them. A feminist can be the militant, angry female who thinks that men are against her or the soft-spoken pro-choice woman who believes in her right to choose her own health care. I believe that feminists come in all shapes and sizes, and may not be able to fit into the label that encompasses them. In my experiment, people's view of feminism came in two varieties. One version of answers focused on a positive view of feminism. After posing the question, a friend of mine named Katrina immediately responded, feminism is the "reason why you can have a bank account in your own name." Another friend, who considers herself a feminist, said that feminism is "a person who believes in complete equality; socially, economically and otherwise, between males and females." She also said "because we live in a heteropatriarchy, (feminism includes) going out of your way to support women and help lessen the gap - I will be post-feminist in the post patriarchy." I also heard from a friend named Beth that "a feminist is someone who believes in equal rights for women, even in football". She thinks that they "go out and fight, sometimes bra-less." Greta says that a feminist is 2000-11-27T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/What-is-a-Feminist-2575.aspx Gender Inequality & Theories of Patriarchy <center><b>Assess the claim that gender inequalities in the domestic and occupational divisions of labour are best understood with reference to the concept of patriarchy. You should illustrate your answer with reference to a range of feminist perspectives.</b></center> <b>Introduction</b> Western female thought through the centuries has identified the relationship between patriarchy and gender as crucial to the women¡¦s subordinate position. For two hundred years, patriarchy precluded women from having a legal or political identity and the legislation and attitudes supporting this provided the model for slavery. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries suffrage campaigners succeeded in securing some legal and political rights for women in the UK. By the middle of the 20th century, the emphasis had shifted from suffrage to social and economic equality in the public and private sphere and the women¡¦s movement that sprung up during the 1960s began to argue that women were oppressed by patriarchal structures. Equal status for women of all races, classes, sexualities and abilities - in the 21st century these feminist claims for equality are generally accepted as reasonable principles in western society; yet the contradiction between this principle of equality and the demonstrable inequalities between the sexes that still exist exposes the continuing dominance of male privilege and values throughout society (patriarchy). This essay seeks to move beyond the irrepressible evidence for gender inequality and the division of labour. Rather, it poses the question of gender inequality as it manifests itself as an effect of patriarchy drawing from a theoretical body of work which has been developed so recently that it would have been impossible to write this essay thirty years ago. <b>Feminist Theory and Patriarchy</b> Although ¡§¡K patriarchy is arguably the oldest example of a forced or exploitative division of social activities¡¨ and clearly existed before it was ever examined by sociologists, the features of patriarchy had been accepted as natural (biological) in substance. It was not until feminists in the 1960s began to explore the features and institutions of patriarchy, that the power of the concept to explain women¡¦s subordinate position in society was proven (Seidman, 1994) . The feminist engagement with theories of patriarchy criticised pre-existing theoretical positions and their ideological use, tracing theoretical progenitors of popular views about gender, gender roles etc (Cooper, 1995; Raymond, 1980). Developing theories to explain how gender inequalities have their roots in ideologies of gender difference and a hierarchical gender order, feminist theoretical concepts of 2000-08-20T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Gender-Inequality-Theories-of-Patriarchy-2190.aspx Women's Right to Vote After reading Francis Parkman's article, “Women Are Unfit to Vote”, I found myself both offended and annoyed. His arguments were not only shaky, but they were also illogical. He states that the family has been the political unit; consequently, the head of the family should be the political representative. He goes on by stating that women have shared imperfectly in the traditions and not in the practice of self-government. Lastly, he suggests women might vote that men should go off and fight in war. Not only are these statements wrong, but they are very much so offensive. Women are humans, too, and they should be treated how a man is treated. We are, after all, of an equal race, so why do we women not get the right to vote? In my opinion,this question cannot be answered logically. Many reasons can contradict Parkman’s statements included in his article, and I plan to do so. To start with, Parkman declares that “the family, and not the individual, has been the political unit, and the head of the family... has been the political representative of the rest.” He is saying that the men are the head of the family; therefore, they should be the ones that vote. But what if the head of the family is a woman? Let’s say, for example, the husband dies unexpectedly, leaving the woman behind to raise the children and take the position as head of the family. Does she then get the right to vote? Or do we simply deny her that right because she is a woman? According to Francis Parkman, the head of the family is the political representative, and no where in that statement did he once specify the head of the family could not be a woman. Therefore, as long as the woman is the head of the family, they should be granted the right to vote. Many circumstances in one’s life may cause them to become, without notice, the head of their family. As quick as they become the new head, they should then be allowed to vote just as quickly. If they are denied that right, then Parkman’s statement is false. The head of the family should not be limited to just being a man, and neither should the right to vote. Parkman follows by commenting that “they [women] have shared very imperfectly in the traditions, and not at all in the 2000-06-18T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-s-Right-to-Vote-2117.aspx Women In The Labour Force The past decades their has been a dramatic increase of women participating in the labour force from countries all over the world including Canada. In 1950, one Canadian worker in five was a woman. By 1980 this percentage had doubled, and women are expected to make up more than 44 percent of the labour force by the end of this century. The increase in female participation started occurring during the 1970's. This increase also caused the largest baby boom that the Canadian female labour force had ever witnessed. In North America it is common for women to have part-time or summer jobs, and the participation rate of teenage girls is high. It is also mostly high throughout the world in places as United Kingdom because of the fewer women going to school. But in places like France, Italy, and Japan the female participation rate is very low. In most of the countries the labour force is most participated in the age groups between 20 and 24. The labour force of mature women is very high in Sweden, because of the encouraged day care facilities which also provides the females with legislation that provides them with excellent benefits. In Japan there is a drop in female economic activity, the reason why is it affects their marriage and the care of their only child. An observation of labour force participation rates in Canada show that female rates rose a lot between 1971 and 1981, while the male rate rose unnoticeably. The increase in the female participation rate was found in all age groups except in older women. For women aged 15 to 19 the rate was as almost as high as the men. But the largest increase was in the age group of 25-44 years old, where the rate rose almost 50 percent. This meant that the participation rates of the females had become more alike with the men. Family status also influenced the female participation rate but later on during 1981 it had a more less affect than in 1971. According to statistics just over one quarter of married women with young children were working, but this later changed and grew by 76 percent over the a 10 year period of time. The rate also showed an increase of 47 percent for widowed, divorced, and separated women with children. However single women with young children showed a slight decrease. However the female participation rate 2000-06-12T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-In-The-Labour-Force-2098.aspx Women's Liberation In early societies, women bore children, cared for the home, and helped maintain the family's economic production. Men hunted, made war, and, in settled societies, assumed primary responsibility for field crop production. Male dominance, however, was important from the time of the earliest written historical records, probably as a result of men's discovery of their role in development of hunting and warfare as status activities. The belief that women were naturally weaker and inferior to men was also certified by god- centered religions. In the bible, god placed Eve under Adam's authority, and St. Paul urged women to be obedient of their husbands. In Hinduism the reward of a proper woman is rebirth as a man. Therefore, in most traditional societies, women generally were at a disadvantage. Their education was limited to learning domestic skills, and they had no access to positions of power. Some exceptions to women's dependence on men did exist. In ancient Babylonia and Egypt women had property rights, and in medieval Europe the could join craft guilds. Men of the lower classes also lacked rights, but they could console themselves by feeling superior to women. The Enlightenment, with it's egalitarian political importance, and the Industrial Revolution, which caused economic and social changes, provided a favorable climate for the rise of feminism, along with other reform movements in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Of deeper significance for women was the Industrial Revolution. The transformation of handicrafts, which women had always carried on at home, without pay, into machine-powered mass production meant that lower-class women could become wage earners in factories. This was the beginning of their independence, although factory conditions were hazardous and their pay, lower than men's, was legally controlled by their husbands. At the same time middle and upper-class women were expected to stay at home as idle, decorative symbols of their husbands' economic success. Such conditions encouraged the feminist movement. Rapidly industrializing Great Britain and the U.S., feminism was more successful. The leaders were primarily educated, leisured, reform-minded women of the middle class. In 1848 more than 100 persons held the first women's rights convention, at Seneca Falls, New York. Led by the abolitionist Lucretia Mott and the feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, they demanded equal rights, including the vote and an end to the double standard. In the U.S. progress was slower. The number of working women increased virtually after the two world wars, but they generally 2000-06-12T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-s-Liberation-2099.aspx Women's Rights in 3rd World Counrties Women’s Rights in 3rd World Countries There was a young woman who left her home in Mycrorayan in Kabul, Afghanistan for Peshawar after the January 1994 fighting and told Amnesty International of the following situation. "One day when my father was walking past a building complex he heard screams of women coming from an apartment block which had just been captured by forces of General Dostum. He was told by the people that Dostum's guards had entered the block and were looting the property and raping the women." The following story comes out of Iran. "On August 10, 1994, in the city of Arak, Iran, a woman was sentenced to death by stoning. According to the ruling of the religious judge, her husband and two children were forced to attend the execution. The woman urged her husband to take the children away, but to no avail. A truck full of stones was brought in to be used during the stoning. In the middle of the stoning, although her eyes had been gouged out, the victim was able to escape from the ditch and started running away, but the regime's guards recaptured her and shot her to death." From China comes the following observation. "Still in the streets an occasional old crone hobbling around on her miniature bound feet was a relic of the pre-Revolutionary, almost dead past. I also heard an echo of that past in a silk thread factory in Wuxi, China. A woman member of its Revolutionary Committee was introduced to me as a ‘veteran worker’. The description astonished me because she looked so young. On inquiry I learned that she was indeed only 34 years old, but that she had toiled in the mill for twenty-six years, having begun this job as an 8-year old child.” These three incidents reflect typical crimes and injustices against women in the Third World countries. Crimes against women include abuse, slavery, false imprisonment, murder and rape. In these countries, women are considered to be inferior to men and are not granted equal rights or protection under the laws. The governments, religions and cultures of these countries support the inequalities, thus allowing vicious crimes against women to continue without any recourse by the victims. The phrase “women's rights” refers to the basic human rights that are withheld from women simply because they are women. Women’s rights promote political, social and economic equality for women in a 2000-03-17T13:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Women-s-Rights-in-3rd-World-Counrties-1764.aspx Living the Legacy: The Women's Rights Movement 1848-1998 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." That was Margaret Mead's conclusion after a lifetime of observing very diverse cultures around the world. Her insight has been borne out time and again throughout the development of this country of ours. Being allowed to live life in an atmosphere of religious freedom, having a voice in the government you support with your taxes, living free of lifelong enslavement by another person. These beliefs about how life should and must be lived were once considered outlandish by many. But these beliefs were fervently held by visionaries whose steadfast work brought about changed minds and attitudes. Now these beliefs are commonly shared across U.S. society. Another initially outlandish idea that has come to pass: United States citizenship for women. 1998 marks the 150th Anniversary of a movement by women to achieve full civil rights in this country. Over the past seven generations, dramatic social and legal changes have been accomplished that are now so accepted that they go unnoticed by people whose lives they have utterly changed. Many people who have lived through the recent decades of this process have come to accept blithely what has transpired. And younger people, for the most part, can hardly believe life was ever otherwise. They take the changes completely in stride, as how life has always been. The staggering changes for women that have come about over those seven generations in family life, in religion, in government, in employment, in education - these changes did not just happen spontaneously. Women themselves made these changes happen, very deliberately. Women have not been the passive recipients of miraculous changes in laws and human nature. Seven generations of women have come together to affect these changes in the most democratic ways: through meetings, petition drives, lobbying, public speaking, and nonviolent resistance. They have worked very deliberately to create a better world, and they have succeeded hugely. Throughout 1998, the 150th anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement is being celebrated across the nation with programs and events taking every form imaginable. Like many amazing stories, the history of the Women's Rights Movement began with a small group of people questioning why human lives were being unfairly constricted. <b>A Tea Launches a Revolution</b> The Women's Rights Movement marks July 13, 1848 as its beginning. On that sweltering 1999-09-13T14:00:00-04:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Living-the-Legacy-The-Women-s-Rights-Movement-1848-1998-859.aspx Ideal Women The American women of today can never be too thin or too pretty. In most cases thin equates beauty, so the present ideal is a thin, fit, radiantly healthy, young woman. In magazines stuffed with models and advertisements, billboards on the highway, and actresses on TV, the message of what women should look like is everywhere. The inescapable presence of these images in effect shapes the image of women today. It is very unfortunate that the media influences American society to the point that it defines the "ideal woman." According to Naomi Wolf, author of the bestselling book, <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&offerid=6424&type=2&subid=0&url=http%253A//search.borders.com/fcgi-bin/db2www/search/search.d2w/Details%253F%2526mediaType%253DBook%2526prodID%253D2647098" >The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women<IMG border=0 alt=icon width=1 height=1 src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=pcZ8g7DjAzA&bids=6424&type=2&subid=0" ></a>, one reason media is so influential is "advertising is a 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches 30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines. That adds up to exposure to 1500 ads daily" (45). Advertising is a powerful educational force in our culture due to the simple fact of exposure. Economics is also a significant factor in the development of the ideal image. There is a wealth of businesses that depend upon the American desire for thinness to survive. Exercise and diet companies are an example. In order to create a market for their product, they attempt to make women feel inadequate about their own bodies through advertisement. According to Wolf, "the diet industry has tripled its income in the past 10 years from a $10 billion industry to a $33.3 billion industry" (47). Other companies that cater to the current "large" population sell beauty, tactfully. As William Lutz points out in his article, "With these Words I can Sell You Anything," girdles are called body shapers or control garments (158), and in Diane White's article, "Euphemisms for the Fat of the Land," extra-extra large is changed to queen size (176). Either way, it is their diet, exercise, or control product that will get women on the way to the thinner, and better, more popular, sexy ideal. Advertisers manipulate women into thinking their value is dependent on their physical appearance. They appeal to that basic human desire to be wanted, accepted, and sexually attractive, as Charles O'Neill points out in his article, "The Language of Advertising"(163). One reason this "ideal" has manipulated the American society in particular, is that it appeals to some basic American 1999-03-04T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Ideal-Women-600.aspx Feminism And Gender Equality In The 1990's Overall, the rights and status of women have improved considerably in the last century; however, gender equality has recently been threatened within the last decade. Blatantly sexist laws and practices are slowly being eliminated while social perceptions of "women's roles" continue to stagnate and even degrade back to traditional ideals. It is these social perceptions that challenge the evolution of women as equal on all levels. In this study, I will argue that subtle and blatant sexism continues to exist throughout educational, economic, professional and legal arenas. Women who carefully follow their expected roles may never recognize sexism as an oppressive force in their life. I find many parallels between women's experiences in the nineties with Betty Friedan's, in her essay: The Way We Were - 1949. She dealt with a society that expected women to fulfill certain roles. Those roles completely disregarded the needs of educated and motivated business women and scientific women. Actually, the subtle message that society gave was that the educated woman was actually selfish and evil. I remember in particular the searing effect on me, who once intended to be a psychologist, of a story in McCall's in December 1949 called "A Weekend with Daddy." A little girl who lives a lonely life with her mother, divorced, an intellectual know-it-all psychologist, goes to the country to spend a weekend with her father and his new wife, who is wholesome, happy, and a good cook and gardener. And there is love and laughter and growing flowers and hot clams and a gourmet cheese omelet and square dancing, and she doesn't want to go home. But, pitying her poor mother typing away all by herself in the lonesome apartment, she keeps her guilty secret that from now on she will be living for the moments when she can escape to that dream home in the country where they know "what life is all about." (See Endnote #1) I have often consulted my grandparents about their experiences, and I find their historical perspective enlightening. My grandmother was pregnant with her third child in 1949. Her work experience included: interior design and modeling women's clothes for the Sears catalog. I asked her to read the Friedan essay and let me know if she felt as moved as I was, and to share with me her experiences of sexism. Her immediate reaction was to point out that "Betty Friedan was a college 1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Feminism-And-Gender-Equality-In-The-1990-s-516.aspx Mutilation of Women The number of mutilated woman and girls in Africa and the Middle East is increasing due to population growth, according to Win News. But internationally financed population, health and safe motherhood programs ignore Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and have failed to implement effective preventive education. Education should be provided to the woman and men in the participating countries so the risks of this mutilation can be understood fully. FGM is painful, dangerous, and disrespectful to the woman/child and her body and I belive evry woman has the right to education to help make this critical decision. The mutilation most often performed is Clitoridectomy or Excision- cutting off without anesthetic, the clitoris and most of the external genitalia. This is practiced in a broad area from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Coast. The most dangerous operation, Infibulation is customary in Sudan, Somalia, N.Kenya,, W. Africa and all along the Red Sea coast. After the clitoris is excised and all external genitalia are carved away, the bleeding raw edges of the libia majora are held together by thorns or other fasting devices, until a scar forms to close the entrance to the vagina. The legs of the little girl are tied together for several weeks until the wound heals; a tiny opening is created by inserting a splinter of wood to allow urination. Thus virginity, which is considered especially important by Moslem men, can be proven. These dangerous operations result in permanent damage: hemorrhage and shock, which may be fatal; many infections including tetanus, scaring which obstructs normal childbirth and may result in the death of both mother and child; infertility due to infection. And that's not all, FGM causes urinary and menstrual problems, frigidity, painful intercourse, and many, many needless deaths. The highest childbirth mortality is recorded in areas where FGM is practiced. Some may argue that this is their culture, we cannot judge, or interfere, and I agree. I do not feel that these are bad people, and I do not think we should outlaw this practice. I know that this is a way of life to them. But the decision is not being made by a educated adult. The operations are being performed on children only a few days old up to puberty. These children do not realize that their life could be at stake just so their future husband will be satisfied. They live a life of pain 1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00 http://75.150.148.189/free-essay/Mutilation-of-Women-530.aspx