Alysha Guzman
English 1A
Knapp
Dear women of
the internet
For much of written history women
have been branded the weaker and less valued gender. Though much of that has
changed in the last century most women around the world are still see as second
to men. In places such as the United States the inequality against women is
much less accepted and while there are still many inequalities towards women it
is much more difficult for the average person to publicly hold the opinion that
women are second to men and not have public backlash. In places such as India
and China however discrimination is very public and generally widely accepted
and movements towards greater gender equality have not been so accepted. But
around the world the movement for women’s rights is still growing and that
movement has grown faster and gone further than ever with a new tool, the
internet. With help of the online world women can see information that would
have never otherwise been available to them, they can do more, the can learn more,
and above all else women can spread their thoughts and ideas like never before
and that is how the internet is empowering women.
When people tend to think of the
internet they tend to think of people wasting time facebook or buying things on
Amazon. They don’t seem like grand and wonderful things anymore since a great
deal of people have become accustomed to the internet. It has become part of modern
life and while most American people will admit that difficult to go a day
without using the internet, people tend to forget how powerful the online world
can be. I for one honestly use the internet more for fun than for actual work,
though I am capable of using my time online to better myself I’ll generally do
something entertaining like watching a movie.
It can be had to realize that for most our cultures history the
traditional gender roles of women haven’t changed much. Women in most cultures have
been expected to take care of everything domestic including her family, her
home, and any chore her society or husband required her to do. Most women in a patriarchal
society had very little access to basic knowledge to the world outside of their
communities. If a women wanted access to knowledge of any kind her only sources
where her local religious leaders, her social group and her husband. In the
United Sates the women’s rights movement has made it much easier for women to
get an education and thus move towards a career. Still many women who were
house wives didn’t have the same opportunities; but with the help of the internet
women, like stay at home moms, who would have otherwise had limited time to
socialize outside their home can now socialize and shop in the comfort of their
own homes.
While these changes seem like
small benefits to the lives of women it can be noticed that how places such as
India have been greatly affected by the internet making tremendance differences
in the lives of ordinary women. In an article written by BBC news the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) has helped fund internet cafes and kiosks, a small
open-fronted hut shop, employing women. By employing women to open these shops the
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) encourages education among women, giving
jobs to women with diplomas. Because of the internet it now possible for women to
find people on the internet that they would have otherwise had a great
difficulty talking to such as friends and family and in some cases even
doctors. According to the BBC article “women over 60 queue up to be linked via
video-conferencing technology to an eye specialist thousands of miles away.”
Many of these women have a difficult time leaving their villages with the only
mode of transportation a neighbor’s car or bike and in some cases their only
choice to see a doctor outside of their village is to walk. In these rural
parts of the world the internet is often the only way women can interact with
the outside world. Because of the internet they can get more information about
their health faster than ever.
Violence and abuse towards women
is a worldwide issue. It as a problem that can only be helped by giving victims
support, resources, and educating the general public.; however it is also
important to view all the factors that allows abuse and violence towards women.
“40-70% of all female murder victims are killed by an intimate partner” (Prevalence
of Domestic Violence).Violence is an age old problem that has existed long
before the internet ever existed however as we enter this new technological age
originations and individuals who have been trying to fix this problem are
finding a new ways to use the online world to help change the lives of abuse
victims. The Pixel Project and Hollaback are examples of organizations using
the internet as a new tactic to stop the violence against women. Using blogs
and forms to communicate with a wide audience around the world the Pixel
Project is working in several countries to change the way the public views
violence of women. Their mission is to include as many people as they can to
work towards their goal of making social and cultural changes that discourage
people from not speaking up and taking action against abuse. In an article by Paromita
Pain a writer for The Wall Street Journal, she speaks of how the internet helps
women fight back against attackers by allowing them to share their stories and
even post pictures of their attackers.
Though the new age of technology
and innovation has been helping women around the world nevertheless women
continue to be deeply affected by old gender roles and expectations. In the
west it was once the norm to for women to marry young and to try to gain or
maintain social statues with marriage. But now our society seems to value
marriages that are formed when both the bride and groom feel ready. Many of the
women in China however are being pressured to marry they reach a certain age
due to old cultural traditions. Sarah Keenlyside, a documentary director and
producer found that due to the recent success of well educated women many
Chinese men feel intimidated of marrying an independent woman. Keenlyside
states that “China’s women and their new-found confidence has incited a
backlash from men, the government and even their own families. The popular
Chinese label shengnu (leftover women), regularly perpetuated in
state-controlled media and on internet message boards, refers to women who are
smart, successful and moneyed but still not married by the age of 28.” Keenlyside
also points out that the idea of being single is not well received by much of
China’s mass media however the young women of China are speaking out by telling
their country that unlike their female relatives before them they do not men to
take care of them. Chinese women also realize that many curtain laws in their
country favorer men and view marriage as a big risk. Usually when people buy
homes in China a house belongs to the person who took out the loan for the mortgage
no matter who invested more in the house. Because it is traditional for Chinese
parents to help their son with a mortgage women can often lose their homes in a
divorce. Such things are motivating Chinese women towards buying their own
things for financial security, understanding that marriage can be short lived. Recently
a young woman names Long Si Yu and some of her friends made a music video and
put it online with the message of they don’t need the money and cars of men because
they have their own. The video was met with some back lash with many men
posting one line statements such as “I say women in the old days were better.”
Never the less many Chinese women are not deterred from continuing to have
careers even if it means waiting later in life for a relationship.
There are times when the internet
is a necessary work tool that innovated the economy and there are other times
when the internet is just a place to goof off and waste time. There is no doubt
that the internet has solved the problem of cheap communication and has opened
up a door to new possibilities but will never solve all of humanities problems.
It is nothing more than a new tool created by a person for others to use in a
thousand new ways. Even though this instant availability of information does
not seem like much more than a fun toy for many of us we have to remember that
the internet has changed the lives of millions and will continue to do so. But
it is much more important to realize that the internet is giving us each an
opportunity to better our lives and those of the unfortunate and
improvised. It as an opportunity with
risk and hurtles but it’s one that women need to continue to share and explore.