Throughout our campus, we see both men and women pursuing different career opportunities, but it was not too long ago that the only education most women received was taught within the walls of their homes .Although feminism has come a long way, that does not mean that women are on an even playing field with men.
Many think that because we are not taking to the streets marching as Gloria Steinem did in the ’70s that feminism is dead; to some it has even become a bad word. Many young women do not see identifying themselves as feminists as something positive. Female celebrities like “Fault in Our Starts” star Shailene Woodley are not an exception. Woodley has made public comments about not being feminist and instead considers herself a “humanist.” Still, there are brave souls that go out of their way to let the world know that the fight for women’s equality is still in progress.
On Sept. 20, actress Emma Watson, known for her role as Hermione Granger in the “Harry Potter” movies, addressed the United Nations about the hardships women and girls face because of their gender. During her speech, she emphasized that feminism, which is just another word for equality, is more than just a woman’s fight. Men also need to play a key role in the movement.
Gender inequality not only limits women’s attributes to being delicate, nurturing and emotional — it also harms men by creating the pressure of having to fit into the stereotypes of being strong and always in charge. Pitting the genders against each other is no way for our society to become safer and more progressive. The messages that children and adults receive about gender need to be changed collaboratively.
Little girls should be encouraged to play with more than Barbies by not just their mothers but also by their fathers, brothers and uncles. Little boys should be encouraged to explore their nurturing side. Men should be unafraid to stand up for each other and for the women in their lives and around the world. Although there are benefits to having actresses use a platform that the average person does not have to spread the word, real and long lasting-change occurs outside the U.N. chambers.
Showing support for women’s equality is not something that men should save for just a few days of the year or certain occasions. It should be part of everyday life. It implies being brave enough to tell your boys that joke with a misogynistic tone was not funny; it means not judging the women in your life based on their looks; and most of all it means believing in everything women are and can aspire to be.
So speak, share and let all the voices be heard. Progress will not be achieved if half of the population is not involved in the conversation.
Or people have lost the ability to understand a speech or read only fragments scattered around the Internet, and therefore fail to understand fully told. Analyzing the discourse of Woodley (in its entirety) what we see is that she is femista because their speech exposes feminist thought such as the achieve equality of genders, what she does not want is to be labeled FEMINIST, because in their design people are segregated, isolated.
Excellent!
How would little Miss barely out of her tweens, millionaire, ACTOR/ACTRESS Emma Watson have a clue about the hardships anyone would face? Talking to the UN was just another performance.
Obviously you have no understanding of how society is set. Albeit she may be of a great and prosperous role, and have not as many hardships within life as we may, however, as an actress, life is harder in the sense that they never haa e a moment to themselves, what they say can be edited against them and heir world is never private. But sir, all women, whatever position they may be, have a right to state what they feel, what they believe and what they know. Miss Watson had the chance that not a lot of us have to stand up against many who most probably (as you most certainly do for you have just stated) believe that she has no right to comment on matter such as what she did. However, we all have that right. We all understand different hardships for we all not the same. It is not about who we are, but what we believe that makes us able to speak out for things that we are committed to. You obviously judged her on her wealth rather than her intelligence and her good state of mind. Speeches are a performance, but not of fiction, but of reality and of human thought. she stood up, not for her career, but for what she strongly belives and has her whole life. It wasn’t her career choice, it was her life choice and belief.