Wednesday, December 5, 2007

CRJ #11 - Feminist Futures

There are two core principles that define what a feminist is. The first principle is that feminists concern themselves with the equality and justice for all women and seek to eliminate systems of inequality and injustice in all aspects of women’s live. In addition, they strive to celebrate women’s achievements and struggles and to create a positive vision of women. A pro-feminist man seeks to add his voice to the feminist movement and change the way that men feel and act toward women. They want to set women on an equal level in social, political, and institutional levels. I am able to claim that I am a feminist now. I have always been very liberal and strongly believe that everyone should have equal rights. I also think it is a travesty that women in less civilized countries are going through the hardships today that women in our country went through in the past. I think we need to help them learn from what we have seen, so that these women do not have to struggle the same. Without knowing it, I think I actually have always really been a feminist.

My experience in a feminist classroom has had an impact on me. Being an engineering major, this class is much different than any that I have experienced before. It made me leave much of my analytical thinking behind, and allowed me to think about how I really feel about society. Before taking the class, I really had the same stereotypical view of a feminist as most people in society do. I never would have wanted to be labeled a feminist. I am a very liberal person though, and after reading that feminist ideals basically come down to trying to gain equal rights for everyone I believed I might already be a feminist. The readings completed changed the views I have on feminists and after understanding what a feminist really is I would not be afraid to claim that I am one. I now see feminists in a very positive aspect and agree that these people are very necessary in our society today.

Before taking this class, I didn’t really realize how much of a struggle women still face today. I read about so many women that still today are fighting for their rights in the U.S. and especially abroad. After seeing this enthusiasm and drive from women still today, I think this will help me continue the drive to fight for my rights and women’s rights in the future. Also, I have from some of the modules I saw that I have some prejudices that I never realized before, such as against larger people. Now that I know this, I am able to work on facing this prejudice and hopefully I will be a better person in the future. I think the topic that relates to my future career the most is the section on women in the workplace. I think engineering is a huge field where women find they have a glass ceiling above them. Women have not been in the field very long, so I think their work is not respected the same as men’s yet. I think it is important that women with the same feministic ideals as I have continue to join the field and fight for women’s equality.

Event #2 - IWiN Informational Meeting

International Women in Need Informational Meeting
December 3, 2007
Women’s Center

A group met at the Women’s Center to discuss the new project for the International Women in Need (IWiN) organization. IWiN was a brainchild of an undergraduate student in 2004 who wanted to raise awareness and money for international causes. Projects have already been completed in Mexico and Sudan. This year’s project is called “Corn for Kenya – A power mill to empower women”. This purpose of the project is to educate the community about problems in Kenya and to raise enough money to buy a corn mill for a Kenyan village. The corn mill will be located in Ngeta Village. This village is composed of 200 households; the majority of the people here are children because the area has been devastated by the AIDS epidemic. The average life expectancy for women is only 49 years old. The women cannot own land; however, they do most of the farming in the village. The corn mill is something the women really need because they spend hours daily grinding corn and it is laborious work. Also, the nearest mill is extremely far away and is usually broken down. A small group of Kenyan women called the Koriko Moyie Woman Group has formed to try and help women of the village. Currently there are about 25 women in the group who have raised about $150 to support village women. The goal of IWin is to help this group by raising $3000 in order to purchase a 2-piston power mill and $4000 for a shelter for the mill and business organization. We brainstormed several ideas in order to raise these funds and plan to meet twice a month to move further in the project.

The focus of the event was discussing how we can help women internationally. Recently, we discussed how we need to take a global perspective on women’s rights especially when discussing sex discrimination. Sex discrimination is extremely visible in this Kenyan community. The women do extremely hard work on the farms, yet they are not able to own any of the land. Also, if a woman is seen thatching a roof or doing other “men’s work” she will be ostracized from the community. We have seen women suffer these hardships in our country and it is important to help eliminate these problems from other countries. The half the children in the village are orphans. Grandmothers and other women of the community take on the responsibility to raise these children, while the men take on no additional work. This shows how much extra work the women are doing that they are not getting credit for.

I actually really enjoyed this event. It brought all of the international hardships from the readings much closer to home. It’s unbelievable how something as insignificant in our society as a corn mill can be one of the most needed items in another society. I actually am excited to be involved in the organization and help with fundraising events next semester. I think it will really show me how lucky we are in this society, even though we still struggle with so much.