Weekly Reflections

Throughout this week I made several observations that relate to my gender issue topic. The first observation related to how fascinating it is for people to find out that a woman is doing a man’s job. This was illustrated through my friend’s essay topic. If a woman is doing a job that normally a man does that is seen as something news worthy and because of this we cannot say that women are seen as equals to men. Secondly, I focused on an issue that has always bothered me. I think that women are still judged no matter what they choose. If a woman decides to stay at home and become a stay-at-home-mom than she’s judged because she’s not using the opportunities that are given to her. However, if a woman does take those opportunities and decides to have a career than she is judged because she is not focusing on her family and so she’s either a bad mother or a bad wife, or both. Regardless of what path she chooses a woman will always be judged for her actions and there will always be some way to explain that the way that she chooses to live her life is wrong in the eyes of society. My next post was a positive one for a change. It focused on the movie “The Blind Side” and how the main female role was one of a successful, balanced woman. Sandra Bullock’s character is not only a supporting mother and wife that shows up to all of her kid’s school functions, but also a successful career woman. This was a refreshing movie to watch because she had it all. This was one movie where the woman did not have to choose between family and work but could find a way to have both. Sadly, the positive posts end there because the next one was a shocking one that focused on the health care system and how women can be put at a disadvantage if they have C-sections, when sometimes, they are quite necessary. This is unfair to a woman because a man will never have this problem. Lastly, I focused on a commercial that showed a woman who relied on a man to make her situation better while all she did was sat and said how “her burden is too heavy.” Meanwhile, the man complained but quickly got over it and found a solution to a problem while she continued crying about it. What my observations have showed me thus far is that women are still seen as the weaker sex and as much as we try to say that we’re all equal that is clearly not the case because for the most part the media still shows women to be the victims and if they’re not victims than they are selfish and they don’t care about their families.