A Ruckus
I was going to rant about class credits and minors, but something else happened the other day that I have to vent. Sorry, but this is a ranting post but I think you might want to hear about it, especially seeing as all of my readers are pretty much female. So in my literary studies class we are reading Death of a Salesman. I arrived not expecting the discussion to take the turn that it did, and I had no intention of speaking up. I’ll try to keep this short.
So my professor opened up the discussion about whether or not growing up without a father does any damage to a person. The character in the play Willy grows up without one and whatnot. So my class contains only women. Several of which grew up with their dad not being present in their lives…they spoke up so I’m not speculating. I want to discuss what two particular classmates of mine said during our discussions. Let’s call them Girl A and Girl B. So both A and B grew up with out their dads. I had said, that I felt it depends on how a person handles certain things in life that determines whether or not having a dad or not will hurt or better them. I know there are probably studies that show children do better with both parents, but there are also kids from a single parent house hold that accomplish a lot because of how they were raised. Girl A starts to spout about how she didn’t need her dad and that it does depend on the person. I digress, on to the real rant…so my professor leads the discussion to the job of a husband and wife in a house hold. For every dollar a man makes a woman makes 77 cents. I’ve always known that men have been paid more than women. Girl A starts to speak up again, she looks at the difference and says, “It’s so sad.” My teacher begins to question her and asks why. She then starts saying how it’s a pill women have to swallow and how horrible it is. But to just swallow it. O.o huh? I couldn’t believe my ears.
She completely starts to contradict her earlier statements about how women are strong and then says women just need to lay back and take it? I was peeved. She continues to speak about how she’s anti feminist, now I may not be a feminist but I still respect what they do for women. She starts saying how they shouldn’t cause such a ruckus. I’m really annoyed by this point. So I speak up. I start by saying, “If people didn’t make a “ruckus”, then there would still be slavery and women wouldn’t have the right to vote…do you vote?” She says yes and I’m sure I sounded huffy because I was. I could feel my temperature rising and my head got heated. I tried to keep myself calm, but never had I heard someone blatantly say how that women shouldn’t fight for equality. Ok, she might not have actually said it, but she pretty much was with her whole swallow the pill bit. I mean, seriously? I may not riot and protest, but I can still voice my opinion in a class discussion. Can you imagine if the women who fought for our right to vote thought the way she did? I know time isn’t too different but I’d like to think that women, especially one so young, thought more highly of her gender. Girl A continues by saying that it takes a strong woman to handle this “pill” and fight to keep her man happy….O.o
Girl B speaks up when the discussion turns to the jobs considered a woman’s. Cooking, cleaning, caring..ECT. And she says that she enjoys doing her husband’s laundry and that women want a man to support them, so who cares if they make more money? There’s nothing wrong with taking care of your house and family. However:
We continued on with how women are supposed to be the ones who care for the children because men won’t do it. I don’t feel like getting into that. But my point is, I was outraged by what Girl A said. People should make a ruckus. Otherwise there will be no change. I hope I didn’t offend anyone by posting this, that was not my intention and I apologize if I did.
Robin Said:
on April 9, 2013 at 1:19 pm
I think you made a great point! You are right when you say that a lot of things changed because people made a fuss about them and wouldn’t just take it.
Some couples/families can afford for a woman to stay at home and be a housewife – but it shouldn’t be something that a woman *automatically* has to do because she is a woman. There are some women who take advantage of the idea. Two of my husband’s relatives deliberately got pregnant so they could be housewives and not get jobs.
kim Said:
on April 10, 2013 at 8:13 pm
@Robin, Exactly, women can do loads of different things. Being a housewife is hard work and I commend the women who do that job.
I was just shocked by how the girl phrased things.
Kristen Said:
on April 10, 2013 at 11:47 am
*Stands up and starts clapping frantically*
YES!! OMG this goes sooo perfectly with a post I’m working on right now! It really bothers me when I meet girls like this… girls who think we should “sit back and shut up”. I love the point you made about the women who fought for our right to vote and what would happen if they had a different attitude. It’s terrifying to think about that!
This was a great post!
kim Said:
on April 10, 2013 at 8:15 pm
@Kristen, Thanks Kristen. I couldn’t believe me hears when she started saying the things she did. I was like…what are you talking about? Swallow the pill? Are you kidding me?!
I tried not to get too upset during class, but I was just so outraged. I had to speak up. And this is an entire class made of women. I could tell there were other girls in my class who were agreeing with me by nodding their heads but were too afraid to speak up. And I just couldn’t “sit back” without voicing my own opinion.
Mija Said:
on April 14, 2013 at 10:37 am
You already know how I felt about this topic. Especially when I worked with so many brokers and had to fight for higher pay just because I was in my early 20s AND a Hispanic girl. If my former boss knew I was Hispanic when I was hired he probably would have not allowed my pay increase. Actually he didn’t know I was until a year later.
-____-; same thing with my current job, new boss was like “you’re hispanic? can you speak spanish?” me: “Some yes….” boss: “right on!”
At least my new boss is very pro chicks and sweet, and takes care of us!
Ginger Said:
on April 21, 2013 at 9:16 am
This is interesting to me; I wonder when this study was done. I’m not saying that it isn’t true….I just wonder.
Gaming is still a male-dominated industry, and sometimes I wonder if the reason I was lowballed on my pay when promoted to ASM, as well as the delay in my promotion, was because my DM at the time was sexist. I had never really thought about it until my friend pointed out how few women there were in management positions in the district, and how several of us were keyholders, but there seemed to be nowhere to go from there. And, it was like a lightbulb almost, especially considering my last DM promoted two of us and had us actively recruiting women and other ethnicities to “even things out.” Even my RD, I wonder about sometimes, but that may be because I don’t particularly care for the man in general.
On the flipside, there are some industries that are actually paying females more, and promoting them faster because of their gender. My brother’s company does it fairly often, and I don’t think this is fair either. I do feel that we’re on the cusp of moving forward when it comes to women in society though; in the end, I feel it’s a woman’s job to make sure she is noticed and appreciated for her work, whether in the officeplace or home!!
Crissy Said:
on April 24, 2013 at 3:20 pm
Oh wow! I don’t think I could keep my cool around that. I get all heated when people say similar things and contradict themselves. Some people really don’t understand how different things were and how struggling it must have been and that it’s still going on.
Equal work definitely deserves equal pay.