I found this surfing the internet, reading it reminds me of today's political environment. Please note the date. And it was written by two women.. Take that and smoke it in your pipe Mr Republicans.
Check out the paragraphs near the bottom of the writing be4 the resources. The ERA amendment has not been passed here in the United States, and I find that terribly disappointing, this is the land of the free and the home of the brave. We as women have not been accorded the equal rights, that men have. The writers were correct when stating "All men are created equal" that is in the Constitution, but what about us. It does not say 'All men and women are created equal' That is because way back when the Constitution was written, women were not involved with its conception, it was very much a man's world. I will not go any deeper, because it would get deep. And this little piece of writing says it all.
Peaches
Arrington
Professor Judith
Watry ly
English
102
11
March 2004
“When
I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning,
two
at noon, and three in the evening, you answered Man.
You
didn’t say anything about woman.” “When
you say
Man,”
said Oedipus, “you include women too.
Everyone
knows
that.” She said, “That’s
what you think.”
---Muriel
Rukeyser, “Myth”
All
people are created equal, right? If
that is true, then why does it feel strange when speaking the phrase, “All
people are created equal?” It
feels strange because we, society, men and women, have been trained in early
childhood to say, “All men are created equal.”
It has generally been accepted that the word “men” includes
everybody. As a child, I remember asking my teacher, “what about the
girls?” She laughed at my
comment and went into a ½ hour discussion about how the word ‘man’
means everybody, boys and girls, men and women.
I then asked her why it doesn’t say “all women are created
equal” and have that apply to everybody as well.
Instantly, all the 3rd grade boys said, “no way.”
The
point is, even third graders know that we are not all equal.
We, men and women, were not created equal, were not born equal, do
not live equal and do not die equal. Our
jobs are not equal, our pay is not equal and our life styles are not equal.
In fact, I cannot seem to find one area at all were we are in fact,
the same or equal.
This does not mean that either sex is better than the other.
It just means that we are different.
This is a good thing. Otherwise
sex would be boring and children would be impossible. There are things that a man can do that a woman can’t.
A man is physically stronger than a woman and that gives him many
benefits, like lifting heavier objects.
This is great for women, because we really don’t like taking out
the garbage anyway. Likewise,
there are special functions reserved just for us women, like bearing
children. And just as most
women are glad to have the husband take out the garbage, he is equally as
happy not to have to go through labor contractions.
Male
and female bodies are physically different, and not j ust the pelvic region.
Our brains are “molded” slightly different and there are size
differences in a few of the glands as well.
For instance, Jim Thornton of USA
Today tells us that “the SDN, or sexually dimorphic nucleus, a cluster
of cells in the hypothalamus is 2 1/2 times bigger in males than in
females” (Thornton). He then tells us that, “Another brain structure with a
sex-based size discrepancy - this time, it's larger or thicker in women - is
the corpus callosum, the bundle of nerves that link the right and left
hemispheres like a biological computer cable. Two other connecting cables,
the anterior commissure and the massa intermedia, are larger in women”
(Thornton).
Doreen Kimura,
who is a professor in psychology at Simon
Fraser University, tells us, “The
structural differences affect the hypothalamus, which controls sexual
responsiveness, and the corpus callosum, which connects the left side and
right sides of the brain and permits the flow of information between them.
Male brains have less ability to simultaneously access both sides of the
brain and generally have more development of
he right side, which gifts them
with better processing of visual and spatial information and a more focused
problem solving capability. The female brain structure allows freer access
to both sides creating a climate for less focused or specialized data
processing. The structurally more balanced female brain permits better use
of the left side, which controls verbal and language fluency, but is less
capable than the male brain in visual and spatial interpretation” (Kimura).
So,
do these small differences cause so many problems that we are not able to
co-exist as equals? The answer
should be no. Our physical
differences are not so much that is like contrasting an ape and an ant.
Most men and women have the same goals, wants, needs and desires.
Women desire wealth and power as much as men.
Men would love to spend some time home with the kids.
But society is the problem here.
Society is not willing to let a woman run companies, fly our bombers
or become president of the United States.
At the same time, can you imagine a man who, in front of his Sunday
Football friends, during the game, decides to turn away from the game for 10
minutes to play dolls with his daughter and how he would be ridiculed?
And though now we do have a few female fighter pilots, and a few
fathers who might stop during a football game to play dolls with his
daughter, there isn’t nearly enough of either.
Daughters need their fathers and sometimes they need them during that
time
.
Society
is the problem. It is been bred
into each one of us, girls wear pink, boys blue; boys play with trucks and
cars, girls play with dolls; boys play in the dirt and get dirty, girls stay
inside and stay clean in their dresses; boys work “men jobs” and girls
stay home and take care of the baby or become
secretaries. It is this kind of
thinking that has negative effects on both genders. (the atmosphere of the 50s & 60s)
When
this type of thinking exists, it is very difficult to see past what the real
differences are and what they aren’t.
We know in child abuse victims that the child will begin to ‘go
along’ with the beatings so that they will not be as severe.
Similarly, women will go along with sexist jokes, groping, sexual
advances, looks, comments and even assault – just so
that they can get through life and somewhat do what they want to do, but at
less pay.
Men
also have a lot to tolerate on their end.
Even if they are not an egotistical, womanizing creep; many feel that
they have to behave somewhat as others so as to not be discriminated against
from other men. My husband once
stood up in a room where several men were telling extremely sexist jokes in
front of several women and asked them to please stop and to be considerate. The men who were telling jokes, instantly began to call him a
girl, tease him that he must be gay and asked what exactly was wrong with
him. And while one of the three
women that were in the room at the time thanked my husband for trying to
stand up and do something about it, the other two women joined in with the
men asking if my husband was gay.
This
goes to show the thinking of a large part of society.
If there is any one thing that needs to be changed, it is our
attitude towards each other. Sure,
it would be nice if legally we all had the same rights (Constitutional
Amendment). However, changing
one word in the constitution will not change how we are viewed, talked about
and treated. It is
the minds, emotions and attitudes that need to change.
And short of making it illegal to say something bad about another
gender, I do not see how this will all change.
I
tell my three daughters that they can help change this with not tolerating
any type of “gender abuse.” If
there are people sitting around telling jokes which make them feel
uncomfortable, I tell them to ask them to stop and tell them they are being
rude and impolite, something their mother’s should have told them long
ago.
Perhaps
that is where the education needs to begin, with the parents. Supposed we took a group of children and raised them with
things completely opposite of what they are now.
We could have the mother leaving home every morning going to her CEO
position of a large company and the father working as a secretary, or even
stay home as a homemaker. We
could have the father play the “caregiver” and the mother be
self-absorbed with her work, not coming home until late at night.
We could have the father prepare the meals, do the cleaning and
shopping. On weekends we could
have the mother cut the grass, do the home repairs and build a dog house. What do you suppose the children growing up in this type of
environment would choose for their own roles in the environment?
Should
parents raise boys and girls as equals and in the same manner with the same
toys, same clothes and surrounded by friends who are being raised in the
same manner, would the outcome be different?
I suspect it would be. Without
the outside social influence, I would wager that boys would be helping with
the dishes and the girls would play with the trucks with the boys.
I would be willing to further that wager that if this same situation
was carried out into adulthood that some of the girls would become pilots,
astronauts, mechanics and engineers; and that a large number of boys would
become nurses, secretaries and even homemakers.
And what is wrong with that?
A
modified version of the above is exactly what needs to happen.
Currently society tells women that we have equal opportunities
available to us. However, we
are raised in stereotypical gender-biased homes.
Unfortunately, our brain processes these roles when we are extremely
young and it is very difficult to change the view. These are the views that are damning to women and to some men
as well.
Because
of the biased gender views that exist today, some companies and corporations
pay women less than they do a man, for the same job.
One occurrence of this is an
EEOC lawsuit under Equal Pay Act Title VII, where “a federal jury awarded
$2.2 million to a former employee of Outback Steakhouse.
The employee alleged
that the restaurant chain discriminated against her by paying a male
counterpart a significantly larger salary and then firing her after she
complained. Following four days of trial, the jury deliberated about five
hours before awarding the female plaintiff $27,000 for the difference in
earnings, $36,800 in back pay, $50,000 in compensatory damages for emotional
pain and suffering, and $2.1 million in punitive damages”
(EEOC). This is not an isolated instance.
While this case was brought to justice by one state who has adopted
the ERA, it continues to happen elsewhere.
There is of course a perfectly reasonable excuse for this from the
companies, “it is legal.”
Large
companies are not the only one profiting from the legalities of
discrimination, insurance companies make sure to profit as well.
Insurance companies force women to pay a higher premium for the same
coverage that a man receives. They
claim that they do this because women live longer than men;
or that they have higher healthcare costs than men do due to pregnancy.
While there was a ruling that made this illegal by Title VII’s sex
discrimination in employment; this only applied to those who received
insurance through their employer and not by those who purchased private
insurance. While this insurance
difference may not seem to be such a big deal, it would save women who are
discriminated against by this over 2.5 billion annually (Now).
I would say that is a pretty big deal.
Currently
women earn 0.73 cents for every one dollar a man earns, doing the same job.
This has increased from the 1920’s when at that time we earned 0.59
cents for each one dollar, (an increase of 0.14 cents in the last 84 years)
(Maloney). This income loss
does not just hurt the female either; it affects the husband as well.
That lost income could have bought them some baseball tickets.
Not
that you would find any females playing on the field.
Donna Lopiano tells about her experience in trying to become “part
of the team.” She had dreamed
of becoming the pitcher for the New York Yankees from the age of 5.
She tried out for Little League at the age of 10 and was found to be
the best pitcher at tryouts. After
receiving her uniform and the world’s greatest ego boost, a father walked
up with a rule book and pointed out four little words, “No girls are
allowed” (Lopiano).
Women are finding the same words still posted
near the military recruiting stations.
Currently only 14% of our military personnel are female.
Some would claim that this is due to women not wanting to be in the
military. However considering
that many military positions are still off limits to women, this may explain
this small percentage better.
In fact, as of 2002, in the Army branch there are a total of 123,657
jobs off limits to females, including 8,318 Officer positions and 557
Warrant Officer positions. The Air Force claims to be “fully integrated” however
statistics show that there are still 1,684 positions still restricted from
females, including 61 Officer positions.
Marines have 30,810 positions that are not being filled by women
(Harrell).
When you consider that there are 6 million more women then men in the
United States, with 56% of our Bachelor’s degrees and 57% of the
Master’s degrees being awarded to the female population, one would expect
those numbers to be slightly higher (Maloney).
The military viewpoint is this is due to a majority of positions
being limited until 1992, when Congress repealed the combat exclusion laws
which now allow women into combat, or at least indirect combat.
The Department of Defense also replaced their risk rule and allowed
more women into positions. Now
they are only restricted from direct ground combat.
Hence, the above mentioned positions which are still deemed, “no
girls allowed.”
These positions are most clearly off limits due to the same arguments
presented in 1992, when the combat exclusions laws were presented. These arguments alleged that women were unable to carry their
own “rucksack” for 12 miles. They
claimed that “a group is only as good as its weakest member…”;
“women are at higher risk for exercise-induced injuries than
men”; “it would cause sexual jealousy, social and moral conflict in the
troops”; and that “putting them in the same roles is just ludicrous.”
(United States Presidential Commission).
A
possible solution to the above statements could be to have the military
control the men of the units who would have difficulty in dealing with
“sexual jealousy, social and moral conflict,” and have women meet the
same training requirements for these positions.
Then, if a person can pass the physical requirements, they are in;
regardless of skin color or anatomy. Of
course this would only take care of the actually physical conflicts, the
attitudes of both sexes needs to be adjusted as to create a non-harassing
workplace.
Presently several groups are working hard at equalizing some of the
above problems. The ERA
organization is working at (and has been working at) trying to amend the
United States Constitution by adding a small phrase,
“Section 1.
Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States of by any states on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress
shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions
of this article.
Section 3.
This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification”
(Equal Rights Amendment).
This
amendment was first introduced into Congress in 1923.
Congress finally passed it and submitted it to the states for
ratification on March 22, 1972, with a 7 year deadline.
This 7 year deadline was then extended to June 30, 1982.
When June 30, 1982, arrived only 35 states had ratified, leaving the
amendment 3 states short.
It
has been reintroduced into every session of Congress since that time (Equal
Rights Amendment).
While amending the constitution would be a big
step in equal rights between men and women; it will not take care of it all.
As stated earlier, it is “we the people of the United States,”
(United States Constitution) who need to stand up and change what is happening.
Men and women, boys and girls, male and females need to change the
way things are going.
Part of the solution would be to start with education. Many men and women are not aware that women do not have equal
rights. In fact, “72% of male
and female adults in the United States believe that the Constitution does
make it clear that we have equal rights,” and “96% of Americans believe
that we should have equal rights” (ERA Campaign).
Others who are aware that the ERA has not passed .....
Congress believe
that we are “pretty much” getting equal rights and the amendment is not
necessary.
Unfortunately,
“pretty much” is not close enough.
Most of these responses have been from men who state, “What more do
women want?” The answer is
fairly simple,
- Women do not want to be put up on a pedestal;
- They do not
want to be protected to a point where they are excluded,
- They want the right
to fight for their country and die for it if they so chose.
- They do not want to be looked up on as something different as in a
different species.
- They want to
be respected as much as a man expects,
- Looked upon as a man wants to be
looked upon -
- As a human, as an equal, with equal rights guaranteed by law.
Arrington
11
Works
Cited
ERA
Campaign Network. Equal
Rights Amendment. 16 Feb.
2004. 18 Feb. 2004.
Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission of the United States.
Highlights of Equal
Equal
Rights Amendment Organization. Equal
Rights Amendment. 5 Nov.
2003. 4 Feb.
2004.
Harrell,
Margaret C., Beckett, Megan K., Chien, Chiaying Sandy, Sollinger, Jerry M.
The
Status of Gender Integration in the Military.
Santa Monica: Rand.
2002.
Kimura,
Doreen. “Sex Differences in
the Brain.” Scientific
American.COM 13 May
Lopiano,
Donna. Sport in Society.
Growing Up With Gender Discrimination in Sports.
Ed.
Richard E. Lapchick. Thousand
Oaks: Sage Publications, 1996.
Maloney,
Carolyn B, Congresswoman. Equal
Rights Amendment. 20 Nov.
2003. 4 Feb.
NOW.
National Organization For Women.
Who Needs An Equal Rights Amendment?
Thornton,
Jim. “Why the Female Brain is
Like a Swiss Army Knife.” USA
Weekend. 3
United
States Constitution. 13 Oct.
1999
United
States Presidential Commission. The
Presidential Commission on the Assignment
of
Women in the Armed Forces.
Washington: GPO,
1992.
