This post is a background post on my proposed research project (which I have yet to decide what/which to do).
Why women?
To me this is a very pertinent question because most importantly I am a woman! Women account for roughly 50% of the people in the entire world. (Why roughly? There are people that identify themselves as women but might not necessarily possess a female body and we should respect and be inclusive to them as well.) You would think that being the other half of the human population, women would get 50% of the attention. Not true! Sometimes, all I hear is about how women are devalued, tortured, raped, slaved, and demoralized in general. There aren't enough celebratory news about women and all her accomplishments.
Secondly, as a woman in science I personally experience this imbalance between men and women. There are more male science professors that lectured my science classes than female professors. Although, I must note that I am working in almost all women research lab! My friend and I wonder why this is so and we realized this unspoken "norm" that women would eventually be heavily involved in family and somehow family and science/medicine don't mix well. Therefore, despite higher ratio of female acceptance into higher education, somehow the people holding the position of power are usually men!? I personally refuse to believe that family and medicine don't integrate well because if you are truly passionate about both you will make it work!
Thirdly, I grew up learning and being exposed to girl power, which gave me this unwavering and unquestionable idea that I can accomplish my goals and my sex should not dictate my future! I think, as a generation in the "developed" world, we grew up learning about women's rights and inequality and how to achieve gender equality. But, the reality is that gender inequality still perpetuate in this world. We all hear jokes about women but we grow accustomed and become insensitive to remarks that devalue us. I am guilty of that. But the good thing is to realize where and when the boundary has been crossed and appropriately stop gender bullying.
It came as a great surprise that Beyonce released this new song Run the World (Girls) that speaks about girl power! I am still trying to get used to the song, but her message in the lyrics speak for itself!
With all these being said, it will be interesting to find out what British history/culture and women think about themselves (women) and how they have changed through the years either for the better or worse.
This is a quick background on why I am interested in studying women for my research project, hope this will help start some conversation among your friends and hopefully my project, ha :)
I like your point, women definitely are used to the jokes being made to our expense but we don't take offense. Like in certain music that degrades women, we often hear them referred to as "hoes" and as a possession, but what we fail to realize is that there is no difference between what these people call "hoes" and women (especially the B word and how common it is, we often call each other these words unfailingly). We assume that they are only talking about "certain" types of women, perhaps that dress or act a certain way, but these are just stereotypes. It would be interesting to see British society's view on women and gender politics and perhaps even gender violence (which has been on my mind lately, have you seen the red cardboard cut outs that were at the Red Square a while ago? Very shocking!) Well anyways, this is just a side note. Great Post!
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