SCHOLARLY RESOURCES

Common Mental Health Issues Women Face- Macy Moe (Scholarly Resource)  https://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/mental-health-issues-in-women.aspx 

Summary: Mental health is a subject that should be talked more about openly. Hook toys to expose the reality of mental illnesses women face everyday in her Mental Health Issues in Women article. The reality is that 23 percent of the women American population suffered from a diagnosable mental health-related disorder in the past year. The illnesses that women face can sometimes differ from what a man will face in his lifetime. The sad thing is, most of these cases will go undiagnosed and not be treated. Women can face illnesses like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Why does our gender affect our mental health so much? There are three main factors that Hook says affects our mental health. The first is from biological influences where our hormones have effects on how we react after events. The next contribution is socio-cultural influences where our status can control mental health. Behavioral influences also prove to play a role when women and men can react differently when faced with mental illness. The article brings light to the reality of women facing mental illness here in America and how it can effect their everyday life. 

Response: This article was filled with statistical information. It is important for people to understand this information so they can be well educated on the subject. Hook says 29 million women in America face the reality of a mental illness. As a young woman that will face marriage, building a career, and pregnancy in the near future, this topic is an important one to myself. I want to be able to know the realistic effects of the challenges I am going to face. That is why it is so important for women my age to educate themselves on the research and patterns found linked between gender and mental illness. As more research comes to light and there is greater understanding of women’s mental health issues, experts are hopeful that targeted treatments will bring better results and more positive outcomes for women with mental health conditions. Women are a vital part to society and we must understand how our body and mind will react to certain circumstances are know the right steps to follow to bring peace of mind. 

Scholarly Resource- Macy Moe

How To Build A Movement - Alicia Garza

Nasty Women Page 225

Summary 

This essay captures Garza's personal experience with joining a movement to march for what she believes in. Yet, Garza is unsure through her journey if marching in Washington for the Women's March is the best idea. She struggles with wanting to make a difference and while wanting to be a part of something she one hundred percent believes in. Do her beliefs line up with the white middle-class women marching Washington for women's rights? Garza decides to march and from this decision meets many women from various backgrounds. She highlights how these backgrounds are generally seen as dividers, but they can actually bond us together towards a group fight. Garza talks about how we can all have anger towards the mistreatment of groups that flows from the government, but anger is not enough. Anger can start the spark but it cannot keep the flame burning. She concludes that we can all have different backgrounds, but we can agree that we deserve change. To make a movement means to believe that we can and we will change to promote good. You must put your differences aside and fight to a goal that is bigger than yourself. 

Response

The Women's March in Washington, D.C is an event that I was familiar with. I had heard news reports on the march and seen pictures of thousands of women all lined up together. Garza's experience with the march made me consider the event in a different way. I was under the impression that all these women were fighting for the same thing together as one. They all had a centered goal and believed oppression towards women was coming from one central enemy, but I was wrong. The one million women present that day in Washington did not all have the same views. They were not all from the same background, but Garza explains that having the same exact opinions is not the way to build a movement. A movement takes diversity. You must see every angle. A movement breaks down every barrier of class, race, and gender while uniting people who want to see change for everyone. The women's march was not held for only white middle-class women who want to be known for standing up for something good. The movement was made for everyone and needs everyone. The essay made me think about things I am passionate about and want to stand up for. I cannot be discouraged if the people standing alongside me are not one but like me because that is what we need, diversity for a difference. 

Scholarly Resource- Macy Moe

Native Nasty Women- Mary Kathryn Nagle (Found in Nasty Women book page 157)

Summary:

This essay tells about the mistreatment the Native American Tribes have been through in American history. Mainly this mistreatment has flown from our judicial system and government leaders. For years, Native Tribes have been ripped of their rights and kicked out of their homelands but numerous presidents. The mistreatments seen in the native communities are mostly directed towards women and children. For decades, women have been left uncared for by our government systems and raped by non-Natives. Presidents including Andrew Jackson, Jimmy Carter, Martin Van Buren, and Barack Obama have made laws and allowed the supreme court to pass law that strip the Native nation of power. At one time, the native people had the power to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who commit crimes on their territories. Nagle tells of how this power has been stripped from them so they are unable to make those who rape Native women pay for their crimes. It is stated that Indian policies are pre-constitutional. Natives should have access and jurisdiction over the lands they conquered before America existed. Even with these facts, the policies set for Natives by our government do not aline with the rights found in the constitution. Inequality is pointed towards the tribal populations as a whole, but women and children bear most of the weight. 

Response:

The power for Natives the exercise criminal jurisdiction on non-Natives who commit crime on their territory was once granted to Native Americans. This could protect the women and children of past and present generations from sexual assault and mistreatment. Over time, this power was ripped from the Natives along with the possession of land they claimed. The sad thing is that the Native's power was taken by government officials who came to the land after the Natives who claimed it. Future and present presidents believe that it was their right to move the Natives from their homes and push them into concentration camps. The problem came from the fact that the white men running Washington believe they had control over the tribes because of their race and, for women, their gender. They criticized the Tribes for not working towards industrial innovation and believed that if they were not progressing by their terms they should be moved. In the process of forcing tribes to move, government leaders took away their power and suspended their safety allowing women to be raped. We run America like we were the first to discover it.

Philomela's Legacy:

Rape, the Second World War,

and the Ethics of Reading

/ Elisabeth Krimmer/ 2013

Elisabeth Krimmer brings light to the traumatic period during WWII when wartime rape was relevant although silenced; she discusses the shame associated to German women being raped, how rape was considered consentual by some during war , and describes how women remain silent after these sexual assualts, and also the political stand point of rape on just too fight, which is not true. When it comes to fighting they are fighting for a purpose. 

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Several hundred thousand German women and girls were forced into sexual acts that haunted them for the rest of their lives; some women would exclusively have a sexual relationship with one soldier in exchange for protection. “Many women did not survive the ordeal. Some succumed to injuries inccurred during the rape; some were killed after the rape; many committed suicide” (Krimmer 83). There is a particular absence of rape within German narrative caused by the shame associated with being raped. Although rape is a topic in many narratives, the way it is written envokes the author’s situation rather than presenting and describing an author’s personal experiences; this is done in order to minimize the victimization of German women and to favor liberation of the country.  The second section begins by looking for the reasons rape was used so much in the war. It is said that hateful propaganda encouraged soldiers to violently act on women this way. The essay goes on to say that some soldiers believe there were no rapes to happen during the war. They claim the women consented to the intercourse. The essay also suggest that the definition of prostitution and consentual sex was blurred during the war. There are many personal accounts of sexual violence from many points of views mentioned in the section. It is obvious that people perceive rape differently and will do anything to justify their actions. Many rape victims from the WWII era are silenced by their ordeal and this silence occurs in many ways. Most women who experience rape and decide to talk about it leave out the actual act.  This can be seen in “A Woman in Berlin '' as she describes before and after she is raped in her journal but doesn’t explicitly write about the encounter. In interviews after the war women use euphemisms such as “take” or “fetch” to describe their experience with rape. Verbalization of rape does not help the healing process and may even inhibit it. Much of written history does not include the rape of these women which silences the fact that it did happen. Rape is one of the most frightening things that can hapen to a person but outsiders looking in who read these memiors cannot grasp the horrendousness that these women have gone through . To conclude the article, Ingo Munch is the main focus of literature and talks about the political side of rape in different countries going through war. In the beginning of this section she states a thought about rape; “Rape is not only a crime but also a powerful trope that lends itself to political appropriation”(95). She mentions the majority of the time Germany and what the Nazi’s were doing to women, but also she talks about how other places within the world that had war going on that were doing this wrongful action towards women. She states, “Rape and warfare frequently go hand in hand” (96). She starts to let the readers see that basically rape is following the war because of the men in the society and the circumstances in that community. As she continues to argue about different policies that were going on in this time period - she explains to the audience a better understanding on how these soldiers and how society looks at women and their bodies. At the end of this section she gives the audience a clear understanding on how the truth is and always will be a memory, and they shape the person and their thoughts the rest of their life. 

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As a reader, it is important to differentiate the feelings of discomfort with the feelings of wanting justice for the women being violated in these narratives. “If we as readers fail to do justice to the dual challenge of these texts, that is, if we fail to acknowledge the suffering of the victims or the political complexitites and moral quandaries inherent in these stories - we are likely to reactivate the trauma of rape or to replicate the silence that obstructs the representation of rape in the first place” (Krimmer 85). Elisabeth Krimmer describes wartime rape not being seen as rape. In Gelfand’s personal account he is portrayed as a ladies man. It states that he does not have to so much pursue women because women pursue him. There is one point where he invites a woman into his room and she complies at first, but ultimately wants to leave. It is explained as “In, an encounter that appears consensual in the beginning becomes coercive as Gelfand refuses to let her go” (88). Gelfand offers her food which she accepts, but he also continues to rape her. Yet, to him it’s not rape. Gelfand fails to understand his actions by manipulating them to favor himself. Some things are not meant to be perceived any other way than exactly how it happened. Rape is rape. Gelfand’s manipulating tactics are still used today by men to make women feel inferior. Elisabeth Krimmer thoroughly describes how victims of sexual assault struggle to directly speak up about their ordeals and how readers of journals or interviewers cannot truly understand their experience through looking at specific interviews and writings of rape victims during this time. Many women are fearful about speaking out about rape as it is very difficult to discuss and can be psychologically harmful to think about this horrible act.  Krimmer shows this when she describes how the author of “ A Woman in Berlin” does not explicitly describe her rape when journaling. She describes the events leading up to it and how she feels about it afterwards. Krimmer suspects this is because it is damaging for the writer to specifically explain the encounter as this makes her face the fact that she was raped. Krimmer also discusses how women who were interviewed used euphemisms in order to explain what had happened to them such as describing their rape as being “taken” or “fetched”.  In this way they are able to discuss what has happened to them without having to face it themselves.This helps them cope with it, but may also hinder readers and viewers of their accounts as they are not able to fully grasp what has happened to them and may assume that it wasn’t as serious as it actually is. Rape should be recongnized by all as a tramuatizing experience and all victims should be given the support they need in order to get past it. Looking further into this writing, I would like to point out different things in the writing that may catch the reader’s eyes. Krimmer states her attitude and opinion on the women that are getting this terrible action done to them. “Of course the number of victims is crucially important, but so is the suffering of every individual woman” (96) Yes, the number of victims is important, but one has to have this happen to them for the suffering to apply to them. Not that this statement is true, because it is true that the women are important but you have to have the woman have the suffering from this to seek help. If the women who have this action happened to them, and do not seek help or tell people that this terrible action happened to them - then no one will ever know that this is how they feel and this is the suffering going on in their head.

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Letter to Mammi etc./ Alice Walker/1998-2010

Alice Walker collection, Special Collections, Ina Dillard Russell Library, Georgia College, https://libguides.gcsu.edu/walker-collection 

As a class we visited the “Special Collections” in the Ina Dillard Library at Georgia College and State University. We looked into and discovered more of Alice Walker and her letters she had written over the years to her sister, Mammie. Alice Walker was a female who grew up in Georgia and is known for her work of literature. She is famous for all her poems, and novels, but specifically we looked into her letters to her sister.  As going through these stations, we as a group notice that Alice showed different themes in each letter she wrote. Our main focus is on her ways of looking into race, class, and illness. Alice shows these themes in her letters to her beloved sister by speaking on the past and fun stories of her class, she also spoke on the racial background and how she was never ashamed of her race, but also she spoke on her sisters illness and how she left her in her fifties. 

Alice Walker boldly writes “You’ve heard of the second wave of feminism? Well, this morning I planted the second wave of sweet corn” in a letter to her sister on July 1, 1988.  This connects race and class as the Walker family was poor and African American which was a difficult combination during this time. Because of this, she feels the need to speak up and encourage others to be a part of the second wave feminism during this time to create an equality for all.

Walker and her sister both grew up in Eatonton, GA; they had a rough childhood for one being looked at differently for their skin color and also due to the fact they lived an impoverished lifestyle. Through their struggles, Alice and her sister fought hard to see hope in the darkness. Even once they grew up, Alice continued to fight for them both after Mamie got sick. She writes fondly of and to her sister and keeps her spirit alive through her works. “For my sister Mamie who in the fifties knew all the written things that made us laugh and stories by the hour waking up the story bids like fruit.”

Walker has first hand experience dealing with racial discrimination. Growing up in the deep south in the town of Eatonton, Georgia could not be easy especially in the time she was being raised. The Civil Rights Movement was in full swing in her teenage years. One thing Alice was passionate about was her race and heritage. She writes of experiences in South Africa where she fell in love with the people and culture. In one letter she talks of her sister teaching her traditional African songs that, “Sounded of much humility, love, and devotion”. Her confidence in herself and her heritage is inspiring to many around the world, especially given her circumstances. 

In Alice Walker’s poem “Word has Reached Me” she writes “I hear your quiet moans of resistance”.  This line refers to her sister’s resistance against death on the surface, but when considering Alice Walker’s class and race this line is referring to so much more.  She is describing her sister’s and her overall resistance in society and how they continue to fight for equality as two female African Americans living in an impoverished area of Eatonton.  A more personal example of the connection between illness with race and class exists in a letter Sally Walker wrote to her sister on September 8, 2000. She wrote “May the peace of the Earth and moon goddess be with you through this exceedingly trying time”.  She depicts how through her illness she must remain strong, not only due to her illness, but also because of her race and class which most likely contributes to the healthcare that is available to her.

Alice Walker is a courageous woman as well as a brilliant writer. She brings light to the issues she noticed throughout her life such as culture, race and illness. Following reading her letters to her sister Mamie, we learned of the characteristics that created her not only to be a credited author but as well as a kind, strong and compassionate person. She reaches her readers through her poems and stories by connecting all of her experiences with life connections as an impoverished african american woman living in the deep south of Georgia. 

Bad Feminist-"The Careless Language of Sexual Violence"/Roxane Gay/2014/http://www.roxanegay.com/bad-feminist/(SY)

Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist embodies the complicated yet beautiful ways that feminism has shaped our society today. One chapter that we have read called “The Careless Language of Sexual Violence” has had a lasting effect on me in regards to the ways that sexual violence is depicted in our culture. Gay points out that rape and sexual violence has been so normalized in the language that we use today and the way that we communicate victims stories that it has made us immune to the seriousness of it all. Crime shows, news channels and newspaper articles are just a few examples of the distorted ways the public is receiving this ill portrayed information. Gay explains that we are living in a “rape culture” which means that society is engulfed in the idea that it is acceptable and inevitable for men to act out in aggressive and violent ways towards women. She adds that rape has most likely become such a desensitized subject because we see and hear about it so often. “We have also, perhaps, become immune to the horror of rape because we see it so often and discuss it so often, many times without acknowledging or considering the gravity of rape and its effects”(Gay 120). This constant deadened feeling many people associate with rape and sexual violence seems to root from the casual ways that media and society portray it. Gay writes that we talk about rape but not as carefully as we should. As a culture we need to become more conscientious about the language that we use to discuss the brutality of rape and the never ending suffering that rapists cause to their victims. 

This chapter completely opened my eyes in regards to the inhumanity brought upon victims of sexual violence. I have had instances where I have been sexually assaulted, but it never occurred to me that I was a victim from the situation. I have just always assumed that it was my fault for putting myself in that position. My reason behind this was most likely due to the fact that I was raised to believe that, but I also presume the casual ways that media and society depict sexual violence has had a factor on my speculations as well. In my opinion, there is no doubt that rape has been desensitized in our culture. Everyday we hear news stories about women being sexually assaulted and we watch crime shows about rape victims, but this just feeds into our numbness that surrounds our thoughts about rape. Sure, they depict the stories of rape victims to be morose and devastating, but are these news stories and crime shows truly exhibiting the suffering the victims had to go through? I find it extremely disturbing that T.V. shows and newscasters tend to romanticize the unspeakable adversities that victims of sexual assault have to undergo. As a culture we need to grow out of these habits and adhere to the respectful language deserved by those who have endured the unimaginable. 

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Testing an Intervention for Recognizing and Reporting Subtle Gender Bias/Jessica L. Cundiff/2018

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00221546.2018.1437665 (SY)

A team of researchers wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention called WAGES. WAGES or, Workshop Activity for Gender Equity Simulation, was designed by researchers to help people recognize the subtle gender bias within the workplace or any social setting; although they were aware of this obvious disadvantage to women, they wanted society to be more knowledgeable about this topic. “Subtle gender bias is rooted in culturally derived, broad assumptions about gender that ascribe greater value, competence, and leadership qualities to men compared with women” (Heilman, 21 ). There were 177 participants from an academy in this study and each were evaluated based on a review of a woman faculty member. A member received either a blatant sexist, subtle sexist, or nonsexist review. The results of the participants concluded that there indeed is a subtle gender bias in social settings such as the workplace; many of the participants were not aware of this and are now more likely to report any concerns they have after this intervention. “The subtle nature of gender bias makes it difficult to detect and thus diminishes the likelihood of action to address it” (Cundiff 1).  The researchers who performed this study as well as the researchers who created WAGES proved that intervention is necessary if we want to influence the decline of gender bias. 

Ever since I was a little girl, I noticed there was a gender bias throughout my years in school and the jobs that I have worked at; this bias may be subtle to many, but women all over the globe experience interactions within society, the workplace, and educational institutions that favor men. There is no question that women have fought long and hard to obtain gender equality, but some don’t realize that we still have so much more to fight for. Although women have come a long way on our path to equal opportunity, there are still issues that are present but might not be very obvious to us. “These stereotypes bias evaluations of, and behavior toward, women and men, typically unconsciously and unintentionally” (Cundiff 1). Jessica Cundiff, as well as her team of researchers, made it clear to us that the only way that we will see this change within society is if there is action taken to influence change. The participants in the academy that they evaluated were in no way opposed to gender equality, they just did not have the proper education to notice such bias; this once again justifies the importance of being educated and knowledgeable about gender bias. 

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Story of Faith/Mamle Kabu/2010

https://www.amazon.com/African-Women-Writing-Resistance-Contemporary/dp/0299236641 (SY)

In the story by Mamle Kabu, “Story of Faith,” the main character Faith becomes a prostitute shortly after going away to college in order to ignore the struggles in her life that are truly bothering her, and to find an inner feeling of freedom that she never could before. Faith is an intelligent African girl who had a Christian upbringing, and traditional parents who never took her intellectual talents to mind. Being a woman, Faith is expected to play the traditional role of getting married and having children, the life that her father had wished for her. But after Faith’s aunt convinced her father that her knowledge should not go to waste, Faith soon left for college to study economics. 

One of the catalysts of Faith’s decision to become a prostitute was her poor relationship with her father. Faith and her father could never quite relate to each other due to the fact that Faith obtained all of the qualities that her father wished any of his three sons would have. Faith’s father is a very traditional man in the sense that he found women that pursue independence and ambition to be indecent because he considered that a man’s role in life. He wished that Faith would take on the traditional role of  a woman, which is to get married and have children, and Faith was always aware of this. “No, academic and professional glory was best earned for a family by its sons. A daughter, no matter how intelligent, earned glory mainly by being virtuous and dutiful and conforming to the role laid down for her” (Kubu 66). When she was young, Faith was sent away to live with her aunt in order for her parents to focus on her three younger brothers. Faith was fond of her aunt, she is the main reason that her father allowed her to go to college, but she knew why her parents had sent her there. She knew her father cared more about planning for her brothers future than hers even though they were younger than her,  which was just another reason she craved the freedom of being on her own.“Investing good money into educating someone who was ultimately best off with marriage and motherhood did not make sense. But his sister had a soft spot for Faith since she had lived with her for so many years- a fact which also gave her a better appreciation than her brother of how intelligent and academically inclined Faith was. And it was she who finally convinced him that his daughter’s talents should not go to waste” (Kabu 67).

Another cause of Faith becoming a prostitute was the sexual abuse that she endured from her uncle, and the horryfing memories of those years that will follow her for the rest of her life. When Faith went off to live with her aunt when she was younger, she was often sexually abused by her uncle. She never chose to share this with anyone, especially her extremely Christian parents who would never dare to talk about such things. “They were no more likely to talk about such things than to sprout wings and fly. No one talked about such things. And the only time she ever heard her parents talk about sex was when they commented on topical issues” (Kabu 63). Having gone through such a battle by herself has taken quite a toll on Faith mentally and physically. “In addition to this, the years of practice she had received at the hands of her uncle made it easier for her to shut off her feelings, shut everything off, and watch her body being used for someone else’s pleasure in the knowledge that, this time at least, there would be a reward for it” (Kabu 68). Faith told herself that having endured her uncle’s abuse for all of those years had made her job as a prostitute easier, ignoring the true permanent effects that it had on her. As she continued on with her career, Faith chose to see her prostitution in economical terms in order to avoid ever feeling upset or degraded. 

Faith, as an economist, likes to think of her prostitution in economic terms in order to ignore how it truly makes her feel. “And it was thus, in economic terms, that she preferred to think of what had happened in that dark hotel room. Physically, she could place the experience in the same category as an invasive but unavoidable gynecological procedure” (Kabu 68). Faith had convinced herself what she was doing was not wrong, but would contribute to her success in the future and help her to live her dreams.  

Although Faith's decision to become a prostitute was not within reason, she convinced herself that there was beauty in her “trades” with men. “The beauty of what they were doing was that it enabled them to consume more money than they could otherwise produce” (Kabu 69). Faith continued to think this way because it allowed her to ignore the feelings of emptiness brought on by memories of her past that had been hindering her and led her on a path to freedom. She could finally escape the life she felt was once holding her back. As she grew more accustomed to her new lifestyle, Faith strayed further away from the things she truly craved in life the most- being given the respect that she deserves, and most importantly, the feeling of being loved. 

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Link: https://www.politics-prose.com/book/9781250155504

"Nasty Women" by: Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Published October 3, 2017 (RM)

Samhita Mukhopadhyay’s essay “I’m a Woman, Vote for Me” in the collection of essays "Nasty Women"is a passionate look into the reality of identity politics. She begins her essay by describing the loss she and her friends felt after Hillary Clinton lost the election. She explains that Hillary’s loss was based on the fact that her identity politics were unique and unlike that of other political candidates in the past. Hillary Clinton’s identity politics primarily surrounded minorities and the disadvantaged, while trump catered to the white upper class. Trump’s identity politics primarily surrounded white fear of the ‘other’ and spoke to ways of securing white power. Mukhopadhyay describes how the dislike for Clinton ran deeper than just a difference in political opinion. Hillary was antagonized because of the way she talked, dressed, and seemed untrustworthy, or in other words because she was a woman. Mukhopadhyay ends her essay by stating that questions need to be raised about the discrimination that exists in politics in order to begin to reverse it.

Throughout her essay, Samhita Mukhopadhyay raises many thought-provoking questions to her readers in order to make the point that identity politics should be a way that politicians campaign and should impact who citizens vote for. She first asks her readers in the beginning of her essay “Do we recognize that different groups of people experience unique challenges based on their identity and organize round and embrace those differences, or do we ignore them in service of a more universal, uniform understanding of Americanness?” (Mukhopadhyay 2). She is making a point that it is not beneficial to our society for identity politics to continue to leave out the consideration of entire populations in order for America to continue to remain universal and unchanging. Politicians need to embrace the different cultures, ethnicities and races in our united nation and give support to all people in the unique ways that they need it. After elaborating more on the importance and necessity of some identity politics, Mukhopadhyay explains to her readers that it is sometimes difficult to definitively decide “What issues should be included? How can we include all of these issues and still stay focused on a common goal? How do we prioritize our agendas with so many different factions involved?” (Mukhopadhyay 8) when considering identity political agendas. She includes this to get readers talking about what issues they may think are important and to consider looking into a politician’s identity politics before casting their ballot.

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Link: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/03/22/gender-pay-gap-facts/

The narrowing, but persistent gap in pay By: Nikki Graf, Anna Brown, and Eileen Patten; Published: March 22, 2019 (RM)

In the article The narrowing, but persistent gap in pay insightful explanations into the gender gap are presented. Although the gender gap has gotten significantly smaller over the last fourty years, it has still steadily persisted over more recent years. According to the research conducted in this study, in 2018 woman who are aged twenty-five to thirty-four earn eleven cents short of what men earn. This compared to the thirty-six fewer cents that women of this same age group made to the dollar that men made in 1980 is a significant improvement but is still obviously an issue. In a Pew Research Center study conducted in 2017, forty-two percent of women said that they have experienced discrimination based on their gender at their occupation. Some of this gender discrimination boils down to motherhood. According to this article twenty-seven percent of the women with children interviewed had to quit their job in order to raise their children or take care of other domestic responsibilities. Only twenty-four percent of men said that they had taken off a substantial amount of time off of work to take care of their children. Another surprising statistic portrayed in this article was that twenty-five percent of women said that taking off work for childbirth, adoption, or childcare had a negative impact at their occupation, while only thirteen percent of men conveyed this.

This article sheds light on the fact that the gender gap is still prevalent and probably isn’t going anywhere any time soon. In general women are disadvantaged from the start as gender norms promote woman to seek lower paying jobs and depend on men for more financial support in the form of a husband. However, according to this study there is a lot more going on than just the way women are raised. Even in this day and age a significant portion of women still find that they are being discriminated against at their work. This is surprising considering how far society has come in the realm legality of gender equality. The even more heartbreaking statistic summaries displayed in this article is that women are still being taken advantage of due to their amazing ability to grow another human being. One and four women interviewed for a study in this article admitted that they’ve been negatively impacted by their work due to some form of child rearing, whether it be pregnancy, adoption, or childcare and in another study the same percentage of women admitted that they were forced to quit due to having a child. Better and cheaper childcare services should be provided in order to limit the percentage of women whose occupational goals are being hindered due to motherhood.

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“Women’s Rights.” Opposing viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018

Delainey Saxon --

Summary:

In this article by “Gale”, it speaks on the history, and the future of women’s rights as a whole. Gale touches on how the US women’s rights movement did not begin until the middle of the nineteenth century. That women historians of America have been working towards greater autonomy. A woman named Anne Hutchison argued years ago about the voice of religions opinions. A woman, was fighting for her rights to speak religiously about her own thoughts and beliefs. The fight for women’s rights was even further shaped by the Declaration of Independence since it states that “all men are created equal…”, some women look at this and fought for something a nation was trying to believe in, when they could not make it correct in society. The article states, “Movement for the equal rights of women in the United States have been shaped in response to a system of patriarchal social norms and laws that, according to historians and social scientists, form the basis of American cultural, political, and economic life” (GALE). The article continues and focus on “Economic Independence”, “Bodily and Sexual Autonomy”, and “Political Participation and Women’s Leadership”. Each of these sections have been affected by women in the up most negative way since the American society of living in a “man’s” world has come true. Meaning, people want to live the “American Dream”, but that is very hard when American Women cannot even get the respect that they have earned day-in-and-day-out.

Response:

My personal response on this article is that GALE speaks truth. The article does not speak by opinion, it speaks by truth and pulls historical background from what has happened in the past to bringing it up again and showing the audience what could happen if things do not change. This article was a very good read because of the facts and knowledge it lays out for readers. Not only does it encourage women to fight for their rights on gender roles and economic status, but it also gives them a positive boost because we, as women in America, have not had something positive in a while. I do believe that our society is changing more, companies now want to have more “diversity”. College and other schools or jobs in big law firms want to have diversity as they hire people or let people into the college itself. Women have fought for years for different things in our society, but at the end of the day, the people stand against them are others that have stubborn minds and do not want to see things a different way. People do not like change, we know this because the historical facts in our past show us. This just tells us that the people who do not like change, need to learn how to accept what is happening and move on from it. Change happens all the time, some people just do not like to see it happen.

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Bleacherreport.com” - Delainey Saxon

“Jen Welter on becoming NFL’s 1st Female Coach: It is an opportunity to inspire”

By: Damon Sayles

On a Monday afternoon, the Arizona Cardinals hired Dr. Jen Welter as a training camo/ preseason intern, coaching inside linebackers and making her what is believed the first woman to hold a coaching position of any kind in the National Football League (NFL). Welter was a 14-year-old girl playing football and kept pushing herself to become better. She is now known as a two-tine Team USA gold medalist in football. She continued her dream of football and became the first woman to coach men’s professional football for the Texas Revolution. Now she is located in Arizona along with the cardinals. She tells reporters that this was something she thought would never happen because society would not let her live her dream, but she did it anyway. Welter herd that the NFL was hiring and she applied for the job thinking she would never hear back from them, but she did. Her journey to get here was a little tough just because the NFL or any football organization is considered all males. The NFL general manager was struggling wrapping his head around giving her this opportunity to live out her dream, but later he decided that everyone should have a shot at their dreams. Welter’s got an opportunity of a lifetime, that almost no one ever could get. She is known as the first female coach in the NFL and people in our society have more respect for her than she could have ever thought they would.

Response:

I was touched by this article because it was just an amazing story how women have these dreams and goals, and to think that they could get crushed by a male who is in a higher power just is not right. Welter thought that she would get degraded for her gender because of males in a higher power. This is an example of gender roles being placed in society. I personally believe that the roles of this issue are being more persuaded now since this has been a major change to what used to be known as “normal”. Typically, you always see males coaching a “male” sport, and you would see females coaching a “female” sport. You cannot say that watching a male teach/coach ballet would be odd, but not saying that it could not happen, typically, one would just not see this because of the gender roles on society today. I was raised in the south, and I am an only child, the only girl. My father raised me to be a football, and baseball lover because that is the person he is. I know a lot about male sports because that is just what I like and how I was raised. I do think that women should follow their dreams more and to not get disappointed when they get judged on their gender saying that they cannot coach or do their lifelong dream. I would just like to say that Jen Welter’s is a role model for a lot of girls out there that love the sport of football and she is giving power and confidence in those to follow their dreams.

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“I am a Woman, Vote for me”. By Samhita Mukhopadhyay. October 2, 2017

Nasty Women (Pages 1-9).

Summary:

Mukhopadhyay opened up in her first sentence stating that there was the largest glass ceiling in New York City during the 2016 election of The United States Presidency. Hillary Clinton was running to become the first women president in the United States of America. Samhita describe in her writing that women began to get anger and upset once Clinton started to become defeated in the race to success. She states, “In 2016 election wasn’t just a loss for Clinton, but a loss for feminism.” Samhita talks about Clinton wanting to help the minorities and their concerns, and also talking about how Clinton showed interest in women and people of color and sexual minorities and the disabled and how apparently trump didn’t see or consider those people. Samhita explains to readers that our society will or may never see eye to eye on the political positions of these candidates or how the details of identity politics play out on the national stage, but coalitional politics – recognizing and fighting for the diverse needs of many are our best shot at building a progressive future. At the end of this article, Samhita wants to let others begin to love. To do things out of love and not hold people against their own opinions or rights on their personal beliefs.

Response:

While reading this article by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, she discusses the power of people in our society and how people look at others different depending on what they look like, their gender/sex, or their personal beliefs. Since over the years our society has change drastically. Samhita’s whole beliefs was to state a point that women do not necessarily get treated the way we should, but she wants people to at the end of the day love others the way we should because that is the main purpose of life. I personally believe that the purpose of life is to love your neighbor, and treat them the way that you would like to be treated. Being loved is something everyone strives to have in life and if our society keeps pushing people down or not accepting the things that others believe in, we will never love, and we will never see eye to eye. Over the years of society changing our world has pushed farther away from love, and acceptance in life. People now in our society like to judge or hold a grudge over one’s head – a secret in life that I will always hold dear to me, I am not perfect, not one is perfect and I so not expect anyone to be so harsh because of that. Samhita makes a good point come across that yes people are different, but that is how life is, if you do not agree with them that is fine, but still love.

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