Interview on "Women's Issues When the Term Feminism"

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Women's Issues

When the term feminism was first used in the United States of America, it was largely used to refer to the pursuit of women to get the right to vote. Later, it became synonymous with the attempts of women to be seen as equals of men in all aspects of life, from wages to family responsibilities to legal rights. In today's society, other issues such as reproductive rights and freedom to make autonomous decisions about such things as abortion, along with the attempts to make men responsible for their families in instances of child support and divorce, have come to the forefront of feminism and the women's movement. While all of these issues are important to the overall concept of feminism, there are certain issues that remain the definitive elements of the women's movement and that are absolutely necessary in securing equal status of women in the United States society and culture.

Moreover, when people speak about the feminist movement, it gives the impression that the experience of being a woman in America is a universal one. That is clearly not the case. While women in America have certainly been subject to the same types of legal discrimination, that discrimination has had a different impact on women from different backgrounds. Women that have come from some type of privilege, which has generally meant wealthy white women, have sometimes been able to avail themselves of benefits that they could not have gotten under the law. For example, when abortion was illegal, it was not unusual for wealthy white women to travel abroad for abortions, an option that poor women simply could not afford. However, the differences in the female experience do not belie the fact th

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at some experiences can be said to be universal. For example, domestic and sexual violence know no race, class, or religious boundaries, and women in all groups have been pressured to keep this violence secret.

In order to determine which of these elements remain the most important or debated in American society and culture, I conducted an analysis of two scholarly articles, several feminist and women's rights films, an interview with a close family friend, and my own opinions. For my interview, I chose to speak with Suzanne Neville. Suzanne is a 94-year-old woman who grew up in West Texas, spending the majority of her life in El Paso Texas. Suzanne is a white woman of some privilege. Though she spent her early childhood in a less affluent home, her mother married her stepfather when Suzanne was 12, and Suzanne entered into a comfortable-middle class lifestyle. When she married her husband at the age of 19, Suzanne became a member of the upper-middle class. Suzanne attended two years of college prior to her marriage, but has never held a job nor had the need to have a job. Upon her husband's death, Suzanne became responsible for her finances for the first time in her life, a task she passed on to her son-in-law. From anyone looking at it from the outside, Suzanne had a comfortable life. However, because I am familiar with Suzanne's family, I am aware that two of her daughters were in abusive marriages, one of which ended in divorce, the other in suicide. I am also aware that one of her granddaughters is a lesbian. All of these factors have helped shape Suzanne's view of the women's movement and feminist issues, so that she has far more awareness of those issues than one would expect of a woman of her age and social class.

The Women's Movement

The women's movement has had different importance for women in different times in history. The women's movement refers to the fight to establish equal rights for women in the United States and around the world in all areas of life and society. There are both surface elements that denote a woman's unequal status in the United States and more severe, dangerous elements that continue to make women second-class citizens and practically subservient to men. For example, "women pay more for haircuts, dry cleaning, and cars. More seriously, we also earn less, are less well represented in our political institutions, do more than our fair share of household work, enjoy less personal security on city streets, and have less leisure time than do our male counterparts" (Brennan, 2009, p. 142). One of the continued discrepancies in American culture is the expectation that women will do the bulk of the household chores and child rearing, without regards to their employment status. However, the fact that there has not been a complete shift should not be discouraging. "New social orders are established gradually" (Hooks, 2000, p.161). While the idea of a revolution may bring up images of a violent shift, the reality is that cultural revolutions take more time to accomplish.

Suzanne's take on the women's movement was interesting, because she grew up in an age before the women's movement became a guiding force in society. She did not participate in marches or women's groups promoting women's rights. However, that does not mean that she is ignorant of women's issues, or that women's rights issues do not inform many of her decisions. According to Suzanne, women's issues influence her vote and she donates money to women's issues. Moreover, Suzanne's emphasis on women's rights reflects a woman of her time period. To Suzanne, the most important women's rights are the right to work and the right to own property, "because, without them any other freedom is meaningless. A woman needs to be able to support herself, or else she is dependent on a man. Dependency equals vulnerability" (Neville, 2011). However, Suzanne seemed unwilling to consider the role that she may have played in perpetuating a sexist system. According to Bell Hooks, "women must begin the work of feminist reorganization with the understanding that we have all (irrespective of our race, sex, or class) acted in complicity with the existing oppressive systems. We all need to make a conscious break with the system" (Hooks, 2000, p.164). Suzanne, however, seemed to believe that the feminist movement somehow did not apply to women like her, who happened to marry husbands that would keep them secure. However, examining the losses that Suzanne suffered as a result of gender-bias, it is clear that was not true.

My own experience with the women's movement has been limited, not only because of my gender, but also because I have grown up in a time that many consider post-feminist. However, I do not think that the women's movement is actually finished. In my own opinion, I believe that women are both expected to work and be the same mothers and wives that they were expected to be in 1950 American history. This is impossible. In many ways, in fact, the women's movement, feminism, and establishing equal rights have created a more difficult situation for women in that they are expected to fulfill both the traditional male role as breadwinner (or at least contributor) and the female role of wife and primary caregiver to children and aging parents.

Gender Bias in Schools

While Suzanne showed remarkable alacrity in discussing some women's issues, she seemed almost oblivious about other issues. She acknowledges that there was probably gender bias in schools when she was in school. However, she did not seem to connect the idea of gender bias in education with a broader pattern of sex-based discrimination. Instead, she seemed almost disinterested in the idea of gender bias in education.

Furthermore, in my own personal experience, I have not encountered any type of bias associated with my gender throughout my education, nor have I witnessed it occurring with others. However, the readings on gender bias do make me question those assumptions. The evidence seems to suggest that gender bias in education can be damaging even when it is subtle, and that a casual observer is not likely to notice the gender bias. However, the fact that may be a continuing gender bias in education does not prevent women from achieving in certain fields. For example, the fact that girls are not encouraged to pursue mathematics and science as rigorously as boys does not mean that women are unable to do so. Much of the encouragement may need to come from the home, but this is does not necessarily make it an issue that should be at the forefront of the women's movement. In fact, according to Brennan (2009), "moral philosophers and social activists should give priority to ending evil, rather than to eliminating inequality" (p. 145). This would be one of the situations in which an inequality is occurring rather than an evil. In my opinion, then, it is not a necessity a question of women having equal legal rights, but rather an issue of changing societal attitudes.

Role of the Media in Woman's Self-Image

Another interesting historical factor in Suzanne's interview is that the media impacted her self-image in an almost miniscule way. Suzanne pointed out… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Women's Issues When the Term Feminism" Assignment:

“

Course ..Womens-Realities-2011B01-HUMU-200-9201

In the past 20 years, research on violence against women has demonstrated that women of all bacfbackgrounds experienced violence, often at the hands of men they love. In fact, the far-ranging physical and emotional consequences of violence against women make it a major public health and criminal justice concern in the United States. Whether in the form of rape, domestic violence, or childhood sexual abuse, violence against women represents an abuse of power in a misogynist culture. When violence occurs in the family, as in the case of domestic violence and incest, a cloak of privacy surrounds it, frequently silencing its victims. The feminist insistence on the political nature of private life enabled women to talk about the experience of violence, revealing how widespread it was and shattering the myths surrounding it.

TEXBOOKS ONLY

Read WIR Part 7 pp. 478-533. Scan through the articles in this section. read carefully

Kesselman, A., McNair, L.D., & Schniedewind, N. (2008). Women images and realities: A multicultural anthology (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Hooks, B. (2000). Feminist theory: From margin to center (2nd ed.). Brooklyn, NY: South End Press.

Click inside this folder to read the information titled, *****Week 7 Notes.*****

WEEK 7 *****"NOTES*****"

Violence Against Women in Intimate Relationships

* Ann Jones gives us an overview of violence against women in the home, as well as in dating relationships, and suggests steps that our society must take to end it.

* Lanette Fisher-Hertz tells the story of Cassie, a young girl who watches her mother*****'s attempts to steer clear of her boyfriend;s angry outburst.

* Mitsuye Yamada share the terror of living with her abuser.

* From a Latina Anonima, a chicana feminist in graduate school, writes of how she looks back on an abusive relationship.

* Margaretta Wan Ling and Cheng Imm Tan discuss the experience of Asian-American women who face numerous obstacles at shelters for battered women and law enforcement agencies, and those imposed by the traditions of their own culture.

Sexual Violence and Rape

* Susan Griffin draws rape out of the realm of inexplicable atrocities and places it squarely in the context of a patriarchal society.

* Ntozake Shange show how the irrational violence of rape occurs *****"with no immediate cause*****".

* Peggy Reeves surveys studies of acquaintance rape on college campuses and its impact on women.

Incestuous Sexual Abuse

* Lanette Fisher-Hertz provides an analysis of the extent to which child sexual abuse laws essentially protect abusers while they place the burden of prevention on children.

* Peri Rainbow shares her compelling account of recovering from childhood incest.

* Ruth Whitman writes a poem recounting a grandmother*****'s experience of incest 80 years earlier

Review the instructions for Paper B below.|

PAPER B

Paper B is your last paper this term. It is due Sunday of Week 8, so you will have to work on it. It is worth 70 points. You will write a 5-7 page double spaced paper based on an interview with your mother, grandmother or another appropriate family member or older woman you have known for years. You will combine your interview with TEXT READINGS and your own ideas. There are SEVEN steps to complete this assignment. Make sure you follow EACH step.

FIRST, read the interview questions below, and make a note of others you may wish to add (it is optional to add your own).

SECOND, arrange a time for your interview and prepare to take notes or record so that you have a complete record. You will be responsible for submitting notes from your interview as an addendum of your paper. It may be typed or a scanned copy of hand-written notes.

THIRD, conduct the interview.

Required questions are as follows (if you are interviewing someone other than your mother, substitute that person*****s name or title for *****mother.*****:

1. What is your mother*****'s view of the women*****'s movement? Has she ever spoken out for the rights of women? What are the most important issues for the women*****'s movement in your mother*****'s opinion? How did she come to believe these were the most important issues? Were there life events that persuaded her to feel they were the most important? Did your mother ever participate in any activities in women*****'s organizations for women*****'s rights?

2. Does your mother feel there are gender biases in the schools?

3. How does your mother feel about the role of media in her self image as a woman?

4. How does your mother feel about her sexual freedom including her view of her rights to reproductive freedom?

5. What does your mother feel are the attitudes about women in the workforce today? Is it a fair playing field? What were they like when she was younger?

6. How have areas of law affected your mother*****'s identity? i.e. Divorce, Sexual Discrimination, Domestic Violence, Social Security, Abortion, Job Discrimination, and Welfare.

7. Has your mother ever been abused by the healthcare system?

8. Has your mother ever been the victim of racism, class prejudice, ageism or poverty?

9. How does your mother feel we can best help women of abuse or who have been battered?

10. What is your mother*****'s definition of her own *****"identity*****" as an individual, as a member of a family, and as a member of society?

FOURTH, after you have completed the interview questions and the transcript of the answers, write your paper using BOLD HEADINGS from the questions. This paper will be more like a technical report divided by headings that show the issues/topics that we have studied in the class. Then under each heading compare your own thinking, your mother*****'s thinking, and our text authors*****' thinking about those social issues. Are they the same? Different? How? You must use proper citation format for any quotes from our texts AND for any quotes from your interview. The interview is just another *****"source*****" and needs proper citation as well. Cite your interviewee*****'s words and use (Grandmother, 2011, Question #4) as the citation. Then your paper should end with a summary statement -- expressing what you have learned about yourself and response to the interview itself.

FIFTH: INPORTANT Be sure you included your interview! NOTES! as an addendum to your final essay.1 PAGE

SIXTH: Follow the scholarly formatting guidelines below.

1. When you present direct quotations from the text, please quote each precisely using quotation marks and then cite the text author*****s name, the publication date and page number in parentheses followed by a period. (No period after the quotation; just leave a blank space followed by the reference in parentheses with a period after the closing parenthesis.) When you cite the quotation from my comments, merely enclose my last name in parenthesis, along with the number of the unit. The reference to the text at the end of the paper is formatted as follows: Author, First initial, Second Initial. (Date). Title of work. Location: Publisher. That is, please follow the APA style guidelines for citations and references found in the APA style guide in.

2. Please run spell check and grammar check to ensure that there are no errors. This is a formal essay. The paper will be scholarly in tone and will be organized similar to a research article. Avoid all contractions and colloquialisms.

3. Please keep the format of the paper simple and do not include any extra spaces (no title page) or blank areas. Use a 12 point Times New Roman font with 1*****" margins and make certain that it is easily readable. Kindly single-space this and all submissions for this course, and insert a blank line between paragraphs so that there is a clear boundary between. Include a properly formatted title at the top and make certain that your name appears just under the title.

SEVENTH: Save your paper as a doc or rtf with your name and the assignment name in the file, using Last Name_Assignment. So, if your name were Alicia Jackson, and this is Essay 1, you would title it Jackson_Essay 1. Upload your paper here.

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