Author Archives: marywollstonecraft

by | December 12, 2017 · 3:58 am

Communication Fails Without the Individual

John Dewey fails to educate society in Another Mass Shooting, a post which degrades progressive movements and perpetuates ignorance following the mass shooting in Las Vegas. The article summarizes events proceeding the attack, referencing Devin Kelley as a criminal and criticizing loose gun control for allowing the mass murder to occur. Dewey predominantly asks for improved conversation, led by experts and elitists, to improve gun ownership regulations. He  prefers a Great Society where the individual is silence, wrongly assuming communication would thrive, “The only way we will be able to move past this is if we communicate. There are thousands of studies on this topic, and every citizen needs to work to try and understand the actual research, rather than just spewing their [uneducated] opinions… Then, and only then, we will be able to come to a gun control solution that works for everyone and actually passes into law.” He proposes that communication, orchestrated dogmatically by expert opinion, will be fostered in communities where the individual is lost. He mentions research, but gives no citation for his readers to study. Dewey’s Great Society ignores the isolated or abused, leaving children and the underprivileged behind in a race for education. Such mentality results in our current society, where the lower class is more likely to be exposed to gun violence and has limited access to expert opinion. And, if multiple classes are involved in the same shooting, the upper class will surely have the final word on innocence and blame. Gun violence targets underprivileged communities, women and minorities, limiting their positive liberties and restricting their potentials. Survivors of gun violence may struggle with physical damage or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), affecting their negative liberties by preventing them from being as happy or productive as they might have been without the shootings.

Individuals will care more others’ lives when aware of disorders resulting from violence, humanizing the reality of mass shootings. For the individual to best contribute to society and debate, they must be educated in gun control and the consequences of domestic violence. Women fail their rationalities when disregarding the abused rights of their fellows, limiting their sex from greatness and perpetuating oppressive behavior. Ignoring gun violence due to privileged experiences, assuming everyone has the same access to police protection and information on gun control, is preferring vanity over rationality. The rational desires informed communication, while the vain prefers lectures full of technical jargon and biases favoring the elite. Educating citizens will better representation in the gun control debate, trusting the integrities of individuals and allowing American citizens to decide on gun laws instead of politicians funded by large corporations like the National Rifle Association (NRA).

If our representatives truly favored the lives and liberties of civilians affected by shootings, they would restrict gun laws following mass shootings like the one in Las Vegas, instead of passing legislation prompted by NRA funding. Laws were already lax, as Dewey writes, before the shooting: “Kelley was able to pass the background check required to buy guns on four separate occasions and in two different states. In a time when we can share information across the world in just seconds, it is absurd that none of his history showed up.” Elected representatives clearly do not favor the lives of Americans still, considering recent legislation passed allowing guns to be carried across state lines. Despite the mass shooting, and others like it, politicians ignore research and silence conversations on restricting gun access. If the general public were better educated, they could elect officials who call for restrictions following mass shootings, instead of being duped into making it easier for people like Kelley to kill others and cause physical and psychological harm to survivors or families of those affected. Preferring ignorance to life is another type of vanity for fastidious sensualists who spread their unnatural biases by preventing gun control, themselves acting as instruments of tyranny and destruction.

Instead of demanding experts (who substitute simple terms with a jargon of words) to act as patriarchal magistrates in conversations about life and morality, we should encourage the individual, by means of reflection, to be educated so as to improve understanding, which can only render communication and society more agreeable. Our rational conscience is the most enlightened philosopher and will lead educated individuals to prevent further shootings, acting in the interests of life and liberty.

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by | October 4, 2017 · 1:29 pm

Saudi Women Driving is a Promising Step Towards Equality

Saudi women were granted the ability to drive last week; a huge progressive step in the country after over 3 decades of campaigning. This act will allow women to truly take charge of their life as they become more independent citizens.

 

By no longer having to be accompanied by a man, women business owners will be able to operate more efficiently. “Being able to drive really facilitates a lot of logistics and helps with shaving off the time to get things done,” said Kholoud Attar, a 32-year-old Saudi designed and magazine owner. “It’s so thrilling to be able to do this.” The lifting us this ban will allow for more women in the workforce, increase the number of women entreasures, and lower the cost of employing women. Women have just added that much value to themselves as members of the labor force but also individuals.

 

Women being banned from getting behind the wheel of a car had become the accepted norm in Saudi Arabia. A norm that should have been overturned as soon as it began. This act has been robbing Saudi women from their basic human rights. Sheikh Saad al-Hajari, a Saudi Cleric, said this ban must remain because they “lack the intellect” of men. This reasoning proves the government’s position was to oppress women into servile roles.

 

Women driving is hopefully the first domino to fall in a long line of issues that continue to label women as unequal in Saudi society. Women still cannot marry, travel, or get a job without permission from a male guardian. These obstacles are standing in the way of women being truly equal to their male counterpart. A civil existence is impossible when laws like these are inhibiting citizens from taking advantage of their God-given rights. Women will not be able to realize their true potential until they are given the ability to live freely.

 

The lifting of this ban will also promote healthier relationships between men and women in Saudi Arabia. Marriage is designed to be a mutual respect and friendship between two people. Two equal people sharing a bond that allows them both to grow together. As soon as one member of the marriage is more powerful and the dominant, the relationship ceases to remain healthy. Women being able to drive is slowly limiting the dominance the males have in Saudi relationships.

 

Nouf Alosaimi is an adventurous diving instructor who is excited about the new change in her life. “I live in a country that I can’t explore,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to explore the kingdom’s coasts…” This is an exciting time for the people of Saudi Arabia and hopefully the change continues to come in the coming years.

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by | · 5:10 am

Women and the Catholic Church

Pictured above are Cardinals: a position occupied only by priests, a position only available to men.

Taught from a young age to be in touch with their emotions, women learn that a main aspect of what sets them apart from men is their ability to utilize these emotions to form and kindle deeper relationships. They are told they wield this skill with more ease than men, as if it is something they can do better than their male counterparts, which then makes it their responsibility to bring men to a similar understanding. It is believed that this passion for relationships is then translated into a lack of yearning for power, as they, being women seek understanding rather than leadership. A woman, according to the Catholic church, is said to have such a close relationship with God that her role within the Church is not to lead, but to help others in finding proximity to God. Because Jesus did not pick women to be his disciples, the Church has come to the conclusion that those permitted to be ordained as priests must be strictly men. However, as the walls of sexual barriers still standing today crumble, reserving priesthood to men alone places the church under deep scrutiny, as many have begun to question the value it places in women. While women are able to play other vital roles in the ministry, the overarching decision making for the Catholic Church is arguably done by bishops and cardinals alone, all of whom must be ordained priests.

I earnestly want to point out that while women and men are still not yet equally represented in each sector of society, there are, to date, very few niches that altogether prevent women from entering. The Catholic Priesthood is one such frontier. To argue that their relationship with God comes easier due to the male to female nature of the relationship is almost synonymous with saying that women should view their connection to God in a marital way. Women should, however, see themselves, as men do, as disciples and children of the Father, not as a spouse. The latter also begs the question: would we not want those leading us in prayer and teaching us the Word of the Lord to have a certain ease in forming a relationship with God?

I love man as my equal and find no fault with male leadership in the church, but men should not be given omnipotence and exclusive access with regards to the teachings and practices of Priesthood. This would mean the church assumes, as so often has happened in decades past, that in all major decisions, men alone have the capacity to make the final call for Catholic individuals world wide, women included. This then belittles the opinions of women within the church, assuming that they should have no say in the rules they follow in order to be viewed as “good Catholics”. Furthermore, it presumes that men have an understanding and depth of knowledge great enough to encompass the thoughts of women as well. A man should have no more right to lead mass than a woman, just as the claim that women have a special access to the heart of Jesus should not be made in a way that excludes men from having the ability to gain that same access to the heart of Jesus.

The restrictions placed on women with regards to their ability to gain the status of a Priest, or further that of a Cardinal, are outdated, and should continue to be questioned. As once occurred with politics and education, men are making all the decisions for the population at large. This is yet another frontier, and the only way to combat this injustice is to question it until they no longer can defend it.

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by | · 4:17 am

On the Suggestion of Graduating More College Students

In the present state, the United States ranks 14th in the world in the percentage of young adults receiving a college degree. Economists claim that attainment of a college education is reflective of economic growth; thus, they say America needs to graduate higher numbers of college students, fast. Although education does allow a mind to attain virtue, not all college education is the same. Women still lack the ability to achieve their full potential through college education, making their virtue a more pressing matter than simply graduating more students.

Education is the first step towards rendering the heart independent, and earning a college degree has proven to be a stepping stone out of poverty and into liberty. In the matter of having the opportunity to receive a college education, women have no complaints. In fact, 34% of young women are likely to receive a bachelor’s degree before the age of 29, while only 26% of young men can hope of the same. Thus in the United States the opportunity for a college education does exist, and even more women take advantage of it than men.

However, in college the problem of unequal studies begins to show. The extreme disparities in gender, which exist in certain majors, show the type of education men and women are pressured to receive. The majors in which women are more than 90% dominant include: early childhood education, school student counseling, nursing, and elementary education. These focus on child development, attaching women to their motherly nature. The majors in which men are more than 90% dominant include nuclear engineering, mechanical engineering, naval architecture, and industrial production technologies. Compared to women, men receive education which focuses more on attainment of mathematics and natural sciences.

While no wrongs can be directly exposed from inclinations toward studies based on gender, it can be shown that society does not weight the two educations the same—despite the utmost importance of both. This conclusion can be drawn by comparing the average earnings of post-graduates in fields relative to female-dominated majors versus male-dominated majors. Social workers (82% female) on average earn $43,619, compared to civil engineers (89% male) at $63,457. Elementary education workers (91% female) earn $40,000, but construction services workers (92% male) earn $70,000. The major which earns women the most money out of college is nursing (92% female), which on average pays $60,000; however, it still falls far short of nuclear engineering (91% male), which earns $104,630 on average.

This monetary gender gap prevents women from reaching their full potential, because property matters the most in society. As men are paid more, they have the opportunity to amass more property, leaving women with less ability to remain equal to men. Such trend begins in college.

Men dominate the fields of power. Although women make up 40% of graduates with MBA degrees, they only control 24% CEO positions, allowing men to lead the fate of most businesses. Even more worrisome, while women make up 51% of law school graduates, only 19% of Congress is female, allowing men to lead the fate of the United States. And, men have been proven to rule like tyrants over women on recent occasions. The Uber scandal showed a toxic culture towards women within a technology business dominated by men, and the propositions for a new healthcare bill have shown to exclude women in the drafting process of federal legislation. These disparities in power limit the freedom of women, because the tyrannical rule of men infringes upon the liberty of women to choose the destiny of institutions.

All in all, increasing the number of college graduates will not solve other, more important, problems women face economically. Property is the most important aspect of being free, and men receive a disproportionately large amount of it compared to women. Men have also shown to rule over women like tyrants in male-dominated fields, infringing upon the liberty for women to grow. We must keep pressing for equality of women in society before committing to plans of graduating more students out of college.

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On the Necessity of a Paid Maternity Leave

It’s astounding and outrageous that the United States continues to be one of the only developed countries in the world that doesn’t mandate a guaranteed paid maternity leave for its working mothers.  A paid maternity leave is essential in helping to ensure that all American women have the ability to realize their full potential within their careers.  Since this issue persists within the public sphere of employment, it is worthy of our discussion.

Let’s first discuss how insufficient the current protected parental leave period is in the United States.  Though no paid leave is guaranteed, new parents are permitted 12 weeks off after the birth of their child before returning to work.  However, this is only if certain stipulations are met.  The 12 week leave is mandated by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which only guarantees time off to employees who have been with a company for a year, worked at least 1,250 hours during that year, and work for a company that has 50 or more employees.  Thus, an estimated 40% of U.S. employees are not entitled to any sort of parental leave.  Individual employers may decided to permit more time off, but this is not required.  For those who do receive the 12 weeks off, this period is abysmally low compared to other developed countries.

The result is that women are barred from reaching their full potential in the workplace.  For many women, 12 weeks is simply not enough time to recover emotionally or physically from labor, or to properly care for their child in the earliest stages of development.  This often means that a new mother can’t return to work when her 12 weeks are up (if she was given any maternal leave at all) and is forced to quit her job.  When she does return to the workforce, if she is even able to do so, she’ll face many barriers.  First, she will need to find a new job after quitting her previous employer.  If she had earned any promotions or raises, or worked up the corporation ladder at her previous workplace, she will now find herself once again at the lowest level of employment.  She will also be several steps behind her male counterparts, or other women without children.

Even if a woman does receive adequate time off from work after having a child, it’s unlikely that she receives a paid leave.  Giving a new parent paid time off is not required of any employer in the United States.  If a woman isn’t earning an income while recovering from labor and caring for her newborn, her male partner often steps in to work more and become the sole breadwinner.  This reinforces antiquated gender dynamiques that trap women in the role of home-maker; preventing women from pursuing their goals and reaching their full potential.  The consequences of unpaid maternity leave are even more severe for single mothers, who may find themselves with no source of income at all after giving birth.  Being barred from an income as a consequence of the biological necessities of reproduction is a truly egregious infringement on the rights of women.

It’s clear that the lack of a maternity leave infringes on a woman’s liberty to pursue a career and thus establish her own financial security.  A woman’s biological predisposition for having children should never interfere with her rights to realizing her true potential.  It’s high time that the United States mandates a paid maternity leave, and thus liberates its women.

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by | October 4, 2017 · 2:00 am
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Silicon Valley Backlash and Women in the Tech Movement

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

It has been a long and winding road, the path for women and equality; a plight that ranged from the most pressing academic challenges to personal issues within the family structure. Only until 1980, we had women attending college in equal numbers to men. Back then, it seemed that women were swimming against the current, and in many ways, it seems it still is no different. This past August, executives at Google made the decision to fire an engineer who wrote a memo questioning woman in tech. In the internal memo, James Damore expressed his thoughts on diversifying the workplace and the inclusiveness of women in tech. I acknowledge that Damore’s memo has been accused in the media as in favor of “male separatism” and “the end of gender diversity efforts.” Therefore,  I encourage readers to read the memo with an open mind before reading any articles that could be right or left wing biased.

Damore makes a mostly fair argument when he says, “Feminism has made great progress in freeing women from the female gender role, but men are still very much tied to the male gender role. If we, as a society, allow me to be more “feminine,” then the gender gap will shrink, although probably because men will leave tech and leadership for traditionally “feminine” roles.” He wrongly assumes, however, that by allowing men to be “feminine” they will leave the tech industry. He adds, “The traditionalist system of gender does not deal well with the idea of men needing support. Men are expected to be strong, to not complain, and to deal with problems on their own.”Here, Damore makes a good argument since equality needs to challenge gender roles. Yet, the rest of his proves, in my humble opinion, the following flaws.

Damore presents some research to back up his claim that women are more prone to anxiety and therefore less likely to pick high-stress jobs. However, there are generalizations that are not backed up by evidence, such as “Openness directed towards feelings and aesthetics rather than ideas. Women generally also have a stronger interest in people rather than things, relative to men.” Or “Extraversion expressed as gregariousness rather than assertiveness, Also, higher agreeableness.” It’s absurd to think that women are less reasonable than men because of their “soft nature,” although Damore does mention that these are generalizations, he is contributing to the stereotype by even considering them as factors. Furthermore, in his attempts to differentiate men and women, he argues that men are more assertive than women which is why men are more likely to get hired and receive bigger salaries. This argument lacks reason. These are not biological differences between men and women but a social conditioning issue. When a woman is assertive or aggressive, she faces negative treatment compared to a man who shows these same characteristics.

Damore also writes, “The same compassion for those seen as weak, creates political correctness.” Although women have been historically disadvantaged this should not be perceived as weak, or in need of protection. As Mary Wollstonecraft said, “If girls were only treated as boys in terms of their fear and displays of weakness, they would grow up to be more respectable.” It is important to acknowledge that both men and women have differences that are both advantageous and disadvantages for both genders. We often do a disservice when we pretend that men and women are equal. It’s important to clarify these distinctions. Women do play different roles within society, raising children for example, but this doesn’t mean that our mind is incapable to do the same things men do. It is still important to advocate towards equal opportunities regardless gender so we can leave a legacy for our children that we can be proud of.

Upon reading it carefully, there are some valid points. Damore, however, fails to present a reasonable argument to a more diverse workplace. The memo in itself should’ve started a conversation between the company instead of demanding his immediate dismissal. In order to have an equal opportunity for integration for women, the mind should be cultivated through discussion.

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by | September 28, 2017 · 1:06 am