Human Trafficking and different forms of activism

If you believe or are interested in human rights and the universalism of human rights, check out NOT FOR SALE - http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

They are all about standing up for a universal understanding of human rights and fight all forms of human trafficking and slavery.  There are many forms of trafficking, not just sex trafficking.  Slavery and trafficking can be unfair/unpaid work, forced sex acts, illegal adoption, and others.  They are a large organization that partners up with dozens of local organizations around the world to raise awareness and fight slavery world-wide.  They have a bunch of different things that you could do, or learn from on their website.  Petitions, videos, list of local organizations - you can find one near you and have options to volunteer or get involved some how etc.  One of my favorite things is the FREE2WORK branch that they have.  You can go and find a specific brand or product and NOT FOR SALE has graded that brand or product on an A-F scale of how fair and just their work force is.  This is a fun and interesting way to be active in buying socially just products.

Also, I thought I would throw in my blog - elizabethheld1dress.blogspot.com

As some of you know, I am working on an anti-human sex trafficking campaign focusing on the Trade in the US.  I am raising awareness by wearing the same black dress in different ways everyday for a year and gaining support for Rahabs Hideaway which is a local columbus group dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating sex trafficking victims.  You should check it out!  I also have a facebook, 1dress. 1 cause.  "Like" it if you're interested and tell your friends!

Elizabeth Held

Equal Pay Rights In China

Before taking the WGS class, I knew a little about equal pay rights. I thought everyone should have equal pays if they did same works. When I received the phone call from my mom, I asked her some questions about it. After the talking I found that her wage has 1280 RMB less than her collegues than who are male and have same position in their company. Also, China has a law that requires females retire at 55 and males retire at 60. Although you have good standing in company and have healthy bodies, you must retire, because that is a law!
On the way to developed countries, China did have solved many society problems, but we still facing some problems. For working women in cities, their average income is roughly 70 per cent that of men, representing a disparity of about 7 percentage points wider than that of a decade ago More female workers choose to laid off than before. They have the rights to speak out and fight for their rights. When journalist interviewed them , one of them who named Ban Lin said "Politics is a men's game and I do not have much interest in that. What concerns me most is completing well whatever is assigned to me and getting paid on time"

Perspective is extremely important

So considering it is finals week. And I am sure no one is procrastinating at all... I was actually on this website when i cam across this picture that would fit perfectly in with our class, and especially the book that we have all read. The image is with this link.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/iwsmt.smellmybacon.com/November-11-2011-02-53-53-ScreenShot20111110at5.jpg

This picture was extremely interesting to me. It shows that here in america many women look at women who wear vials and feel bad for them. They believe that they are being completely forced into dressing a certain way because of the males in their society. On the other hand, the women who is wearing the vial feels bad for the women without much clothes on. She sees that society forces her to wear hardly anything.

As we talked about in class, in our society women are asked to be extremely skinny in order to be beautiful. Also a lack of clothing on a skinny girl makes it all the better. After reading Playing with Fire we started to see a new view on lives that we could not ever imagine.

In conclusion I feel that this image could be used in a lot of issues we talked about in class. It is pretty self explanatory and shows a lot from this one little comic strip.

Stereotypes in the workplace

In class we had talked a lot about how women were affected in the workplace. How they couldn't get jobs or were discriminated against because they were a mother or thought about having children. We talked about how they were getting paid less because of the type of field they had gotten into. So bottom line is we focused mostly on women in the workplace.
I wanted to use this blog to bring to the attention of how jobs are also stereotyping against men, and how people view certain jobs as only masculine or feminism. In particular the job of nursing. I came across a video that talks about how nursing is only seen as a job for a women, and how they are trying to get more men involved. As the demands for nurses keeps increasing throughout the years, it was said in this video that there were roughly 1/2 million job openings for nurses nationally every year and only 6% of nurses are men. It talks about certain things like the outfits that people think about when they hear the word nurse is a dress outfit and the name nurse in general comes across as feminine.

Check the video out and see if you agree...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PnqCDVT1PE&feature=related

I also like how they talk about how this is a perception problem, and how they are trying to get more male nurses out to share their stories. I think this is a great idea and that it would benefit in helping get more men into a nursing career. 

Gender Roles and Women in Politics

     In "The Social Construction of Gender," Judith Lorber examines how gender is performed and created as a process, system of stratification, and structure for society to organize its members within.  Although gender is neither inherently good nor bad, the ends to which it is put to use are often harmful to both individuals and society as a whole.  Lorber even goes so far as to argue "that the continuing purpose of gender as a modern social institution is to construct women as a group as subordinate to men as a group" (131).  One of the ways this occurs is through the designation of social roles along gender lines.  For example, women are encouraged to pursue careers that are almost universally lower paying and with less prestige than "male" careers.  When a woman does pursue a stereotypically "male" career path, she often faces the brunt of criticism, prejudice, and the charge that she is not truly "suited" to the profession.  In particular, women in politics are regularly belittled by the media and the public at large for things that their male colleagues are not.  A key example of this is the emphasis on the physical appearance of women politicians.  About a month ago, the following article was published in The Washington Post:

Hillary Clinton Style Evolution: A Look Back at Headbands, Scrunchies, and More


"From scrunchies to headbands, up 'dos to butterfly clips, there are few hairstyles Hillary Clinton hasn't bravely attempted.

The politico (and political wife) has made history for her accomplishments in the realm of law, politics and diplomacy. But along the way we've also been watching her style, whether it was the unfortunate hair styles, the oversized jackets, the beloved pantsuits and even a few ball gowns.

Just like in politics, Hillary's been critiqued (Tim Gunn recently questioned her borderline masculine look).

But she's stuck to her guns -- and her favorite styles. The shoulder-length blonde hair, bright colors and, yes, the pantsuits are here to stay.

In honor of the Secretary of State's 64th birthday on Wednesday, here's a look back at over three decades of Hillary Clinton's most memorable looks!"


     I could not help but wonder as I read this article why The Washington Post thought the best way to pay tribute to an astounding politician on her 64th birthday was to examine her "style evolution" rather than recounting her evolution as a lawyer, politician, and high level diplomat in her own right- UNLESS one focuses on the pronoun "her."  I keep up on the news, particularly in the realm of politics, and I have never read an editorial premised on a male politician's "style."  The media instead chooses to evaluate them based on their political success and importance because that is viewed as newsworthy- not how their style in pantsuits has changed over the years. The fact that they choose to focus on females' appearances as the most "newsworthy" part of their political careers delegitimizes them as leaders and seems like an attempt to put them "in their place" as women.

Tide "dad-mom" Commercial

One thing that Women Gender Studies has done for me is making me more aware of the stereotypes men and women are put in the moment we are born. Every day I am reminded of gender social norms whether it’s on television, I am walking to class, in the dining hall, etc. Towards the beginning of the quarter we read a few articles on gender social norms where examples were given of when babies are born girls are put in pink clothes and boys in blue. There was also an article on parents having a kid where they did not tell anyone the sex of it and let the baby dress and play with whatever he wanted. These articles are examples of when we are little, but there were also some of when we are adults. Articles of women getting discriminated in the workforce and how they should be stay at home moms taking care of the house and children. There were also examples of men being stereotyped into being the source of income for their wife and family.

An example of me realizing the gender social norms in my everyday life is this Tide commercial. This commercial is about a “dad-mom” doing laundry and taking care of the children. This really caught my attention because the husband is a stay at home dad but they have to call him a “dad-mom” in the commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1qW7Po-1KI

As I was looking this video up on youtube it was kind of humorous reading some of the comments under the video. Even though some of them were funny, some people did post some valid points like “he's a "dad-mom" so we don't forget that laundry is women's work”, and “I'm a stay at home dad, not a dad mom. seriously Tide? who is this ad supposed to appeal to?”

This is a response to the most resent Women in the Workforce (it wont let me respond)

Women over time have overcome so many of the barriers that have kept them from have equal opportunities as men. A long time ago it was voting. Today it is the glass ceiling for women in the workforce and also their annual salary, which is often lower than men’s salaries even for the same job. Women over time have gotten used to having to fight for what they deserve. This fighting has given women all over the world strength. I believe this strength going into the battles over jobs, positions, salaries, and hours will eventually be the benefit to women and not men. If they have had to work harder just to be equal or fall short of men then one day this extra work will be enough for them to make what men make or maybe a little bit more. Women work so hard in the workplace. Companies will not be able to afford favoring men (glass ceiling) over women or women might quit their jobs and transfer the skills, abilities, and work ethic to a company who values them as a person, a worker, an individual, not a gendered being. If woman continue to work as hard as they have over the last century they will be the ones who hold high ranking positions within companies. Society puts a lot of pressure on woman and women put a lot of pressure on themselves. They will rise up to the challenge of finding equality in the workplace with men. They have come so far already. Women have become more and more valued over time, making more money in their jobs; choosing jobs not only in female dominated fields, many women choose not to be housewives. Women today have freedom, they have their own choices to make, and they have opportunity. Nothing really has to stop women. I believe women won’t always be undervalued in every way. I believe this day is soon.

Surrogacy

 

Surrogacy

Simon Lee

Historically, Korea has been developed the idea of one-blood nation over its rich history of 5000 years.  During the years of the last dynasty in Korean peninsula, named Joseon, the founding principle of Joseon based on the neo-Confucianism developed and completely established the idea of primogenital succession in family and the society.  As Repulic of Korea is a relatively young country, compared to many western countries in the viewpoint of modernization and democratization, Korean government adopted modern value of equality regarding race, class and gender faces to social struggles and gender.  This newly adopted social value has broken many of old social norms and customs; however, it is still facing to many social issues and conflicts. 

Traditionally in Korea, married women’s primary task was to give a birth to a male child for the continuum of family from the previous generation to the next.  Often, the failing this result the forced divorce or husband’s deserting wife.  In both social and cultural way, the divorce of a couple was normally viewed as problematic in husband or family.  Also, it would result the negative effects on their social reputation.  In order to catch both rabbits of continuing the family and social reputation, high class and rich families usually chose surrogated mothers.  Infertility could be caused by either or both partners in a couple; however, such a male dominant family oriented culture and society often brought all the responsibilities on women. 

The value of equality is well adopted in today’s Korea and women’s right in society is well protected on the surface; however, some of the cultural customs still make pressures on women.  The continuum of family is one of those things since it is considered as a very important value in Korean society.  Both parents suffer from infertility; however, the level of women’s stress is usually much higher than men.  

In accordance to the survey of Korean Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology, one out of every five couples in Korea survives the infertility.  Korean government’s national health insurance makes financial support for getting In Vitro Fertilization (IVF); however, this method’s lower rate of successful pregnancy and couples’ individual circumstances drag them to choose surrogated parent. 

Korean government prevents surrogacy by its health and prostitution prevention laws, however, desperate couples often choose to have a surrogated parent illegally.  This business transaction of surrogacy occurs through online café, blog, or social network systems.  Lately, this becomes a big social issue because its market shows its significantly fast growth and it retrogrades the cultural and social improvement. 

‘VJ Special Corps,’ one of documentary-type reporting TV programs in Korea, dealt with this specific issue in depth lately.  In a secret interview with a surrogacy agent, hiring the surrogated mother cost 30,000 USD to 100,000 USD depending on the type of women and their providing services and hiring surrogated father cost around 30,000 USD.  Yes, it is illegal and Korean government’s restriction for life related violence is extremely strict.  But the volume of this market seems increasing day by day.  The lust toward money is using the pure and natural will of parents’ happiness of having children.

Yet, the adoption is not common in Korean culture due to the stronger blood related family ship.  Korean society needs to make the cultural growth by expanding its cultural and social quality of family.  

Violence Against Women

After doing the research on My Sister’s Place for the female activism project, I wanted to do a little more searching into what the government was doing about violence against women in general. What I found was actually pretty surprising. Though overall rates of violence against women have decreased since 1993, young women ages 16 to 24 still experience the highest rates of rape and sexual assault, and people ages 18 and 19 experience the highest rates of stalking.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/1is2many

This is a link to a movement started by Vice President Joe Biden called “1 is 2 Many.” Vice President Biden introduced the Violence Against Women Act into the U.S. Congress on June 20, 1990. This was a huge step in violence against women. “The bill established new federal crimes of interstate domestic violence and stalking, doubled penalties for repeat sex offenders, and sparked the passage of laws at the state level to protect victims. Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, rates of domestic violence have decreased by over 50%.” Since then Vice President Biden has been advocating on behalf of women. He has even appointed the first ever White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, Lynn Rosenthal. In her role, Ms. Rosenthal “Ms. Rosenthal advises the Vice President on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, serves as a liaison to the domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy community and promotes collaboration across federal agencies.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mud-pQ-NZWU

This is a quite a long video of Vice President Joe Biden visiting the University of New Hampshire to raise awareness and announce a new Administration effort to help the nation's schools address sexual violence on April 4, 2011. Not only has Biden helped with the Violence Against Women Act but he also is still a larger advocator of prevent sexual violence in schools. He also discussed on September 14, 2011 in a video message that calls on high school and college students to share their ideas for how to prevent dating violence and sexual assault at their schools and on their college campuses. Over the next two weeks, girls and boys are invited to join this important conversation by submitting their ideas through the “1 is 2 Many” website or by using the hashtag #1is2many on Twitter.

The real "Rosie the Riveter"

After watching the movie in class last week about women in work during WWII, I began to wonder what the life of the real “Rosie the Riveter” was like. I began to think that Rosie was probably just part of a propaganda campaign used by the U.S. government to encourage women to take men’s job, and that the real Rosie probably had never riveted anything before in her life. I also wondered if there even was a Rosie or if she was just a fictitious persona.

After doing some research, I learned that Rosie the Riveter was indeed a real person. Her name was Rosina Bonavita she was 21 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, soon after that Rosie’s fiancé went to war in the Pacific. Rosina took a job as a riveter and made the news when she and a co-worker (also female) riveted an entire trailing edge wing assembly for the Avenger bomber between midnight and 6 a.m. They drilled more than 900 lap joint holes, fitted the skins together and drove 3,345 rivets. Not one had to be redone. Rosie lived a simple life once her husband returned from the war, and after her riveting job never worked outside the home again.

Rosie never considered herself a symbol. “She saw her factory work as a patriotic duty, like selling war bonds, giving blood and learning home safety in case Peekskill got bombed. She never made a nickel off being called "Rosie the Riveter" and never drew attention to herself.” The article goes on to talk about how Rosie become a public figure in her community and had a large role in her local schools and church. Personally, I’m glad the real Rosie was a patriotic American that gave every effort she could to help the war effort, and not a made-up figure used by the American government for their own interests. It gives hope that maybe there are still people in this nation whose interests are for the greater good and not monetary gain…

http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/01/08/1503796/how-the-real-rosie-the-riveter.html

(Rosina Bonavita on the right)