How to Make Your Artificial Christmas Tree Look Better Tuesday, Dec 8 2009
Uncategorized artificial Christmas tree, Christmas tree, decorate a fake tree, fake Christmas tree 7:34 am
Scammers, Liars, and the Benefit of Doubt Saturday, May 30 2009
Social Issues beggars, dealing with deceit, liars, not being scammed, people who scam, scammers, taking advantage 9:04 am
Scammers, Liars, and the Benefit of DoubtWhat Is Love? Sunday, Apr 26 2009
Uncategorized define love, defining love, describe love, love, what is love 9:16 am
Defining LoveThoughts on How to Deal with Loneliness Sunday, Apr 26 2009
Thoughts About LonelinessDedicated to Mothers Sunday, Apr 26 2009
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On Mothers and Being A Mother
Should Parents Raise Children Without Television Monday, Mar 30 2009
Babies and Children and Parenting Children, no tv for kids, raising kids without tv, television and children 7:47 pm
Does Discrimination Against Women Still Exist? Thursday, Mar 26 2009
Uncategorized discrimination against women, gender discrimination, Girls, Women, women's equality, women's rights 5:59 am
Women are not just victims of widespread discrimination. They’re victims of hidden discrimination.
The widespread discrimination with which most of us are quite familiar is easiest to see in cultures where women simply are not seen as equal, and where the idea of “women’s rights” is seen as laughable and/or against the rules of nature or religion. Even in those cultures where there are laws that offer women some protection, those laws are often not enforced and/or not enforcable as a result of ingrained personal beliefs too widespread to be managed by laws. So, easy-to-see, widespread discrimination and any number of injustices and crimes against women run rampant in many parts of the world.
In cultures where women’s equality is, at this point in history, predominantly embraced widespread discrimination continues to exist – sometimes in patently obvious ways and sometimes more insideously.
To see examples of the more obvious ways in which discrimination against women exists even in the most enlightened cultures, one need only realize that women don’t always receive equal pay for equal work. Another example that may not make the news each day, but that can be seen when watching it, is the fact that skilled, experienced, credible, television news women often lose their jobs to younger, more attractive, less experienced women. Women who have passed a few too many birthdays (only a few) can sometimes hang onto their jobs if they’re still attractive enough to allow for “leg shots”. While cleavage was once not seen as acceptable on television, it today seems almost to be the norm.
Anyone who even occasionally visits websites, where people have a chance to ask questions or voice opinions, will be shocked to see the discriminatory beliefs, hatred of anyone perceive as a “femininst”, and widespread misogyny. While it may seem sensible to disregard such beliefs as “ignorant”, the fact is many people do not see it as “ignorance”; and the numbers of people exhibiting that ignorance are vast enough to make it qualify as “widespread”.
Questions about whether a woman “could ever really be as good a president as a man” were not uncommon when Hilary Clinton was in the running for the presidency. Discussions of women and PMS arose as a result of the over-60 candidate’s name being on primary ballots. Closer to most of our homes, companies often have no formal policy against hiring and promoting women to positions men may or may not have traditionally filled, but that does not mean that any number of qualified and capable women candidates are not passed by in favor of men as a result of a more hidden discrimination of which even the most guilty parties may not even realize they are guilty.
The more insidious type of discrimination that exists is something with which women must deal on (sometimes) a daily and/or long-term basis in day-to-day life. This has to do with “type” of woman any one woman is. Which women will “earn” the right to respect depends on the values of others (both men and other women), rather than an automatic “respectable-and-competent-until-proven-otherwise” view. “
Women who are “glamorous” may be respected and admired for that but presumed to otherwise not to be taken seriously. Women seen as “traditional femininsts” (who don’t often wear makeup, who favor functional clothing, and who have hair that doesn’t take up too much of their time) are often viewed with contempt, not respected as “what women should be”, but at least (sometimes) taken seriously. “Soccer moms” may be taken seriously by anyone seeking elected office and the support of voters in the soccer mom’s numbers, but any stay-at-home mom will tell you that being taken seriously in the world can be a challenge; and that being respected for more than “just being a mother” does not come easily or often.
Mothers with careers often still battle being viewed as “selfish”. Mothers who have no choice but to work often battle being viewed as “having no choice” (and anyone who “has no choice” can have trouble being taken seriously or respected by others). Here again, just as “glamorous” women may be admired and respected for their appearance but nothing else; women who “have no choice” may be admired and respected for their hard work but not their innate capabilities and intelligence.
Women even battle discrimination when it comes to their voices. Women who had deep, mannish, voices may be taken seriously more than women with “little” voices; but a “mannish” voice can be interpreted as being “overbearing”. At the same time, a low voice may be interpreted as “sexy”, but a sexy voice does not particularly earn respect for anyone wanting respect for reasons other than sounding sexy. Quiet voices are often not heard, but when women try to add volume to their voices they are often viewed as “shrill”, “overbearing”, or “crass”. Women who refuse to elevate the volume of their voice in an attempt to be viewed as “refined” or “professional” may find that anything negative they say will be viewed as “whining”.
In general, everybody loves and respects mothers – but only if those mothers are the kind of mothers any particular person thinks they should be. A lot of people love middle-aged and elderly mothers for their love, sacrifices, and even strength – but not necessarily for their intelligence and capabilities not related to being a mother. Middle-aged mothers who look the way any particular person believes a middle-aged mother ought to look may be respected for that, but since everyone has a different idea of what a middle-aged mother is “supposed to be” that means any one middle-aged mother will not be viewed as “equally worthy of respect” by a good number of people.
Women (including working women) still find themselves in marriages in which it is “taken for granted” that the housework “belongs” to women. In one-on-one dealings with people women are sometimes at a disadvantage as a result of their “non-booming” voices or smaller statures; and when they are at such a disadvantage they are often then viewed as “weak”, rather than being viewed as the more “civil” or “reasonable” person.
When it comes to finding a job, there is a “look” that employment agencies and human resources people expect in order to consider hiring a woman; and that standard of appearance for women can be tougher than the standard of appearance to which men are held.
Any of us can look at the progress women have made over the last few decades and see how we have, in fact, “come a long way, baby” . Still, most women can tell you that, as they go through each day, they do experience discrimination in large and small ways. In fact, discrimination against women remains far more widespread and insidious than many people realize.
