On March 1st (Beijing time), a group of activists (I should define
them terrorists) was killing civilians at the Kunming Railway Station in Yunnan
Province. 29 civilians died, and 130 civilians seriously injured. In this
group, there are 4 young females. Three of them were shot dead, one of them was
being captured. In her interrogation, I found out that she is just 16 years
old, absolutely follow male family member's orders. This time, when her male
family members proposed killing people, she just took two machetes killing
civilians in the station. Their purpose is pushing local government to release
several activists who declared their province is an independent country.
This morning, I just
read about an article about Saudi female activists sent a petition to Saudi
Arabia Council, demanding the end of male guardianship and the expansion
of women’s rights. I keep thinking, why these activists willing to
challenge something that deeply rooted in history and could not be changed, The
reason is their excessive political consciousness or they’re innocent? The
Saudi women and the terrorist girl both have victim backgrounds of certain
gender discrimination. The difference is whether they have the environment
carrying out their extreme side.The conflicts and sharing identities with
others (Kim& Sriramesh)
leading them to have courage to stand up telling society their opinions.
In Kim& Sriramesh's article, there is another example, as
a woman protester stayed on top of a redwood tree for 738 days. She did not
compromise until a company agreed to stop logging. In this case, she did not
hurt anyone. However, she used public media resources, making not only news,
but a powerful societal influence. Activism can be divided into two
different groups. One benefit for the society, another one disrupts society
order. There are lots of famous female activists in our society. For example,
Margaret Chan, Director of WHO, who fight global virus in many campaigns. What
Chan does are for public goods. What that terrorist girl did was for personal
goods. Although more and more women have equal positions as men, but in public
relation activity, female activism still always get much more attention than
men. This is mean gender inequality still exist. Female activists should use
this inequality in a good way, or at least understand it in a good way.
It is an interesting point, that female activists will get more attention because they are female. I'm sure this has a lot to do with them breaking their traditional role definitions placed upon them by society. This is reflected by media reports that often sensationalize the role of women in protests, as seen in the revolutions that swept across the Arab world. I think you can see this in politics as well, when women step out of their 'determined' roles as advocators of 'women's issues' such as education and family planning, and into more 'men's issues' such as in the financial and judiciary sectors, as we have seen with the various Supreme Court nominations of the past, and the recent placement of Janet Yellen at the head of the Federal Reserve.
ReplyDeleteChen and Culbertson talk about the "'Miss PR' problem" in China, which is basically the fact that people equate PR with beautiful, charming women and as a result, equate PR with a general lack of drive training and ability. Activism has a long history of strong women working alongside men, all of whom share a vision for a better, healthier, happier and more peaceful world.
ReplyDeleteGender inequality absolutely still exists, about that you're very right. I'm curious what you mean by saying that female activists should use this inequality in a good way. I probably agree, because I believe that women can use discrimination as motivation and drive to continue our shared work toward a world that truly values everything that women bring to the table. More than saying "women" in general, I think it's important to widen that statement to say that societies around the world should work to understand the value and importance of qualities and traits traditionally considered feminine that men are fully capable of personifying, as well. I personally know men here in Denver, as well as being aware of the work of men around the country, that sidestep traditional gender norms and expectations in order to live out qualities that produce societally and communally beneficial outcomes, especially in the progressive, nonprofit sector.