Hooks

In any movement that is trying to bring upon change, there are always a chance that mistakes may be made. No movement is ever perfect. In The Significance of Feminist Movement, Bell Hooks expresses some of the mistakes that feminists in the past have made. The Feminist movement was supposed to be one in which women fight for their rights be considered equals of men. Women did not focus on that as much as they focused on male domination. They made the movement more focused on how bad the men treated them, rather than how the women should be treated. This made the movement seem as if it was a battle of the sexes. It was like a war between the sexes in a sense that if the women won their rights, the men were considered the losers of the war. The women’s movement was meant to benefit the whole society, not just the women. The women made it seem as if the men would not benefit from the movement at all. Feminist begin to have feelings of anger and hostility. This made it hard for the men to accept the changes so willingly. It is already hard for people to accept change anyway. The past feminists must have done something right, because they were able to gain some equal rights. Making the movement a focus on women empowerment, instead of trying to make the men enemies, may have brought out a different outcome of the movement, but no movement is perfect.

Gilligan

There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that men and women were created differently. People always talk about how men and women should be treated the same, when in reality they are different. They handle situations differently. In Woman’s Place in Man’s Life Cycle, Carol Gilligan expresses the differences between the way that men and women regard relationships. She starts off by explaining both of the sexes during infancy. Mothers treat their daughters as more like them, and so females have a certain attachment with their mothers. Males on the other hand are treated like opposites by their mothers. To become masculine males separate themselves from their mothers. When I read this it made me think about relationships in family. Mothers and their daughters have a more intimate relationship. They are able to show their love and affection for each other. Males on the other hand are not as intimate with their mothers because they want to maintain their masculinity.
Since males are used to being separated and being an individual, this makes it hard for men to be in a relationship. Females on the other hand are able to attach to someone, and they do not like to feel separated. This makes it hard for men and women to see eye to eye in relationships. Females feel that they need a companion, and males feel that they do not. Men in return are less sensitive to the needs of women. Not all women have a need for a companion, but it is just their nature to want to love, nurture, and care for someone.

Simone De Beauvoir

Many of the thoughts that men have about women are myths. In the reading Simone De Beauvoir explains many myths about women. The reality is that women and men are equal human beings. For so long they have been separated into two categories. Men were put in superiority and women inferiority. This separation has brought men many benefits. They have more power and are able to control women. One of the myths that she talks about says that women are mysterious. Men do not understand women, because they are not women. This applies for women also. They cannot fully understand men either. These myths about women justify the privileges of men, and give them authority to abuse women.
Beauvoir believes that the only way to break the bondage that has been holding women down for so long is to forget about these myths. She says that the times that women were treasured were when men have regarded women as true creatures, and when women were seen as truly romantic, and in literature when the heroines were without mystery.
She stated that men are willing to accept women as equals, but they still treat her as if she is unimportant. This is present in today’s society. Women are given the same opportunities as men most of the time, but women are still looked at as unimportant. The workforce is a good example. A woman may have gotten the same education as a man, but her ideas may be looked over, because she is a woman. This is something our society needs to work on.

Virginia Woolf

I thought it was interesting how Virginia Woolf explained the life of Shakespeare’s imaginary sister. During Shakespeare’s time women were not allowed to act in his plays. Shakespeare hired young men to play the roles of women in his plays. That shows you the role that women played in the society around this time. Women were not given a voice or the same opportunities that men were given. Woolf explains that it would be impossible to have a woman with Shakespeare’s genius during this time. This would be impossible because women were not educated nor were they able to become an artist. Woolf also explains that in Shakespeare’s plays, the way he portrayed women was the opposite of how they were treated during that time. In his plays women played very important roles. In society women could hardly read or write. I thought that this was interesting.
Woolf also highlighted that women were not on the “shelves where history stands”. By this she meant that women are rarely in the history books. She explains that history scarcely mentions women. There are no diaries and very few letters written by women in history. This meaning, that women had no voice. Men would wonder why a woman needed to write.
I have never stopped and thought about the feelings of a woman artist during that time. We usually talk about women wanting to enter the workforce. We never think about how women were not able to express their creativity, because that is just as important as being able to be educated.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft had some very interesting thoughts involving women’s rights. In the reading, Pernicious Effects Which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society, Wollstonecraft brought up some interesting points about the jobs that women should do. In the 1700s women were looked at as inferior to men. Women were expected to take care of the home and serve their husbands. They were not allowed to work outside of the home. Wollstonecraft did not have the average thoughts of a feminist. She believed that it was a women’s duty to take care of her family. Taking care of a family is more important than being admired by a man. Wollstonecraft believed that nurturing children will make the woman useful and happy. She also believed that it is a woman’s job to educate her children. Being a good example for your children is important.
It may sound like Wollstonecraft agreed with the thoughts of men, but she didn’t. Even though she thought that the most important job for a woman was to be a good mother, she knew that women were capable of so much more. Women were capable of being physicians, nurses, and midwives. They were also capable of studying politics and pursuing business. Women are worth more than the beauty that they posses. That was a main point that she brought up.
Today, women have found a balance between the two lives. They are able to stay at home and raise a family, and work outside of the home. Women are very dependent and strong. Even though they have not been given all equality, there has been a huge progression.

Robert Reich

While reading I did a lot of thinking. Robert Reich classified workers into three different groups. One of the groups that caught my attention was the routine producers. When I think of routine producers I think of factory workers. Factory workers do the same job constantly in order to produce a product. Reich feels that as time passes there will be a less demand for these workers.
There has always been competition in the workforce. There is usually competition between companies. Reich believed that these workers have more competition with their counterparts than the average worker. He explained some cases in which corporations moved to different countries to higher workers because they were willing to work for a lower wage. Once they found a group that was willing to work for less than that group, they would move to another group and higher them. When he explained this it reminded me of Henry Ford. When he started the assembly line he hired a certain group of people. When that group was tired of working for him he would hire another group of people. The cycle just continued. It made it hard to keep a job because of the competition. It also made it hard to keep a good income because corporations were looking for people who were willing to be given low wages.
Reich main point was that is that as time passed there will be fewer jobs for these people. He believed that technology was making it less necessary for these people to work. His thoughts were true, because there is a less need for factory workers these days. There are now machines that do the work that our parents used to do.

Galbraith

There were a couple of things that came to mind when I read about insular poverty. Insular poverty is when everyone in a certain area is poor. The first thought that came to mind was New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit all of the people of New Orleans were left with nothing. Those who were more fortunate were able to get out of New Orleans. Those with less money had no choice, but to stay in New Orleans and wait to be rescued. The people here ended up poor because of a natural disaster.
The city of Detroit also came to my mind while reading about insular poverty. In my Honors 1000 course we have been spending a lot of time learning about why Detroit is the city it is today. One of the main issues brought up is poverty. While reading, many of the issues that were brought up were a lack of education, jobs, and malnutrition. Detroit is going through a hard time when it comes to poverty. I learned in my class that 48% of children in Detroit go to bed hungry. That is almost half of the city. This is a city that has insular poverty.
There were some very good points brought up in the reading. Galbraith did a good job of classifying between the two types of poverties. Poverty is a very important issue that is affecting our community. Galbraith also named some ways that poverty can be reduced. There are many steps that need to be taken to better our community.