#acb223

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Final Plenary

The final plenary was extremely emotional and touching. I really liked the intensity of both the presenters and the audience members. I have never had to struggle through anything serious in life so I was both shocked and moved that many of my peers have to fight through serious physical, mental, and emotional challenges everyday. The final plenary inspired me to look more into activism and to make sure that I am always there for my friends. I really liked that the presenters were acting out things that had actually happened in their lives because it made the skits that much more personal. Finally, I am glad that we could create such a comfortable and inclusive space for everyone to share some of their deepest secrets. I hope that the final plenary was as much of an eyeopening experience for others as it was for me. 

[annabequality-blog]

After discussing the lack of women in STEM fields and the degrading way that the female biological sex is often referred to by scientists and scientific studies during class this week, I started thinking a lot about how stereotypes start at such a young age through the mass production and advertisement of toys. Maybe, if there were more toys that encouraged young girls to play with concepts revolving around math and science, more girls would grow up to pursue STEM careers. In order to change the way that gender is discussed by the scientific community, it is necessary to employ more women in STEM fields. In this article, there are some awesome pictures of toys that defy typical stereotypes and encourage boys and girls to play with whatever they want to play with, regardless of the harmful stereotypical gender beliefs our society still has today.  

[drcknowledgeandpower]

98th Annual Yule Log Ceremony

On Sunday night, I had the privilege of attending the beautiful Yule Log Ceremony at the Voorhees Chapel. The concepts of unity, acceptance, and diversity were displayed in a gorgeous array of light and smiling faces. I really enjoyed the different readings from the Qur’an, the Bible, and the Torah, and the excepts about Native American and Hindi beliefs. Although I am Christian and listen to the Bible being read each Sunday during mass, I love learning about other religions and cultures. I think broadening our cultural and religious knowledge is a key factor in the quest for universal acceptance and will allow everyone to live in harmony with all of the diverse groups of people in this world. All of the different aspects, the glowing candles, the dark chapel, the angelic singing of the choir, and the many readings, resulted in a night of inclusivity, acceptance, and celebration. I will definitely be attending the Yule Log Ceremony next holiday season and will recommend it to all of my friends. 

[drcknowledgeandpower]

This video is a horrifying example of just how early gender bias begins in contemporary society. Young woman are discouraged from following their dreams by boys their age from the day they enter the school system, and in many cases, even before that. We need to take action to combat this and we must immediately educate the children of today’s world on gender equality before they establish such harmful, stereotypical, biased opinions. 

[drcknowledgeandpower]

After discussing the lack of women in STEM fields and the degrading way that the female biological sex is often referred to by scientists and scientific studies during class this week, I started thinking a lot about how stereotypes start at such a young age through the mass production and advertisement of toys. Maybe, if there were more toys that encouraged young girls to play with concepts revolving around math and science, more girls would grow up to pursue STEM careers. In order to change the way that gender is discussed by the scientific community, it is necessary to employ more women in STEM fields. In this article, there are some awesome pictures of toys that defy typical stereotypes and encourage boys and girls to play with whatever they want to play with, regardless of the harmful stereotypical gender beliefs our society still has today.  

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Response to Plenary 3

I have been listening to National Public Radio (NPR) for as long as I can remember. During my thirty-minute ride to and from school every morning while I was attending elementary school, my father would put on NPR for the duration of the trip. I would listen to the station’s wide array of news broadcasting programs and would either be extremely annoyed by the intellectually stimulating conversation barraging my ears at 7:00 in the morning or I would find myself extremely invested in the story and would be distraught when we arrived at school and I could not hear the end of the segment (although I would never have admitted that to my dad at the time). Now that I am able to drive myself, I listen to NPR on my way to and from work on a daily basis. I also have the NPR app downloaded onto my phone so I can catch up with the latest news while traveling to my classes.

Needless to say, I was extremely excited when I discovered a journalist working for NPR was coming to speak with us. She was very informative, well rounded, and kind. She also brought up extremely interesting and important points on the topic of women in the media. Just as we have been discussing in class, women are very poorly portrayed in the media because, as Miss Representation and Ms. Fessler state, women make up a significantly lower percentage of the media industry. As Ms. Fessler stated today, there are few radio stations that have any women or minorities in the top three positions of power. This is very distressing and gives such a large percentage of the population such a disadvantage for communicating our ideas to the world through media outlets. I hope that with journalists like Ms. Fessler and corporations like NPR, women and minorities will break the stagnation of the media companies in their nonexistent efforts to diversify the workforce and start to be hired at a rate equal to that of white men.  

Knowing that NPR employs so many women in not just communications positions, but in leadership roles as well, makes me proud to listen to the radio station. It is so interesting to think that segments such as the one about fifteen year old girls around the world may never have been created if it hadn’t been for the compassion and intelligence of the women leaders working for NPR.  I found it truly interesting and extremely empowering to hear Ms. Fessler speak and I hope that she will inspire many journalists to break the media-centered norm of white male reporters interviewing white male experts.  

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Plenary 2

I really enjoyed our second plenary speaker, Wendy Cai-Lee. She was extremely inspirational, exceptionally wise, and an excellent orator. When I originally heard that our speaker was going to be a businesswoman, my interest was not piqued. I am not majoring in business and know nothing about the subject, thus I could not foresee just how meaningful Wendy’s speech was going to be for me. 

As a child who grew up with a stay-at home mom, I find myself very thankful for the extensive amount of time I was able to spend with her and am happy that she was always there to support me whenever I needed her help, love, and guidance. This, however, is not what I want to do with my life. I strive for both a successful, rewarding career and a large, loving family. I do not think that a woman should ever have to choose between one or the other. I have never had a role model to look up to in this respect because my mom and her sister are both stay-at-home mothers. Wendy Cai-Lee provided me with a woman leader who I could strive to emulate, regardless of our differing chosen career fields.

I find the issues that Wendy Cai-Lee spoke about regarding women in a male-dominated profession very interesting, particularly her confession that she has experienced quite a few issues with women in the workplace. I can attest to the unfortunate fact that, many times, women are the ones who perpetuate harmful, gender-biased stereotypes. I used to work as a cart-puller at a supermarket and more often than not, whenever I received a hurtful and ridiculous comment, such as, “women should not be doing a job like this” or “you should be inside, not out here doing physical work,” the perpetrator would be a woman. Most, but not all, of the comments coming from men were much more supportive, encouraging, and constructive. It is very interesting that Wendy, a woman with an extremely developed career, has experienced some of the same negative encounters with women. 

Finally, I believe that Wendy Cai-Lee’s supportive marriage is an incredibly important step in the integration of women in the workplace as true equals to their male counterparts. Because Wendy’s husband took on fatherhood in the true sense and equally split the work with his wife, both him and Wendy were able to balance their family and their careers. Wendy’s relationship gave me hope that regardless of whom you are married to or whether you are married at all, if you have a great support system, the sky is the limit (just watch out for that glass ceiling). 

[drcknowledgeandpower]

Gloria Steinem is an extremely wise woman who clearly knows what it takes to be an empowered leader and knows what it is like to endure the prejudices and biases that all powerful women are forced to face due to modern society and the extremely ludicrous, yet deeply ingrained notion that women should not be and ultimately cannot be as successful as men. It is a popular trend to condemn and call women who assert their authority “bitches,” while men are praised and called “bosses.” Personally, whenever I am called a bitch by a man, 99% of the time, it is because I, a female, took control of a situation and acted as a leader, much to the man’s chagrin and completely against what he was unfortunately raised to believe. Gloria Steinem has the perfect phrase for a woman who is called a bitch to respond with and I will most definitely utilize it in my future.