Imaginary Piece
To whom it may concern,
My name is Emma Parkes and I am a member of the Women’s United
Nations. I am writing to express my disgust at the treatment of women in
society.
On 18th December 1979, the UN developed a Convention on
the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women that was signed
and ratified by 186 countries. I find it extremely encouraging and significant
that 186 countries have not only signed this convention but also ratified it,
however I am dumbfounded that there are still 39 countries in the world that
are yet to do this. In the convention it states that “…the full and complete
development of a country, the welfare of the world and the cause of peace
require the maximum participation of women on equal terms with men in all
fields”. I completely agree with this, and believe that if gender equality was
to occur everywhere in the world and women were able to be who they want, it
would significantly aid the development of a country, particularly second and
third world countries; and the world could be one where all women have the
opportunity to determine who they will be without ever being treated as second
class citizens.
The poor treatment of women in second and third world countries, I
believe, is a result of many things, including a lack of education and
awareness and also systems such as India’s caste system. This type of culture
makes various groups within society feel different from each other in a way
that discriminates and vilifies those deemed to be lesser. For centuries women
have been discriminated against and victims of violence and abuse and, although
in today’s world much has been done eliminate this, it is still prevalent. If a
young boy has grown up in an environment where he has seen his father and
grandfather treat their wives, sisters and daughters as though they are
inferior, how do you think he is going to behave? He will feel as though he is
superior to females and perpetuate the circumstances where women are ostracised
from the mainstream and determined to be nothing more than slaves. For these
men it is the opposite experience to the women. Feeling the same as the
powerful male role models in their lives, they are happy to step in to the
privileged shoes of inheritance that are theirs.
India’s caste system plays a big part in discrimination. It is a
hierarchy consisting of five levels: Brahmin, the priests; Kshatriya, the
public servants such as police and soldiers; Vaisha, the merchants and
businessmen; Shudra, the skilled and unskilled workers; and at the very bottom
of the scale, the Harjian, the ‘untouchables’. This system actually prevents
people from moving up to a higher level and so they are stuck a merchant, or a
farmer or even an untouchable. Different levels rarely intermarry, which brings
me to another issue – arranged marriages. How can a woman be expected to wed a
man she barely knows? Her parents may feel that selecting an appropriate
partner for her is best, in case she chose someone of a different caste level
but do they really know who is right? The number of women, many at very young
ages, who are married off to abusive men is unbelievable. Women are constantly
being told that they are no good for anything besides cooking, cleaning and
reproducing and when it is all they hear, they begin to believe it and accept
the label and limit themselves to nothing but these tasks. They do not get an
education, a decent job and many do not have social lives outside of their
family. It is as if they have no identity. It is decided who they are by other
around them, including ‘family’ who they are not even connected to by choice
and do not relate to.
The poor treatment of women is not only prevalent in countries
like India. The limit on the number of children that is law in China is also
discriminating to women. It is in our nature to want children and telling a
woman that she must have an abortion simply because she already has one child
is wrong. How can a government tell a woman that she is not allowed to have any
more children? Due to this one-child policy, many female babies are being
murdered because families prefer to have males. How can this be okay? How can
we sit back and allow a mother to murder her own daughter simply because she
only wants a boy. It is cruel and inhumane.
Issues relating to women are not limited to just second and third
world countries. Although women in first world countries may experience
slightly better conditions, they are still faced with discrimination. Women are
repeatedly shown images of models and told that that is how they should look.
They are looked at differently if they are wearing clothes aren’t ‘in’ or their
hair is a ‘different’ colour or perhaps they simply weigh a bit more. This is
damaging to women and in their fight to ‘fit in’ they conform to these
stereotypes and have no individuality about themselves. We are even exposing
our young daughters to this kind of exploitation, you only have to walk down
the toy aisle in any store and you are bombarded with dolls whose unrealistic
proportions and inappropriate outfits send the completely wrong ideas to girls
about how they should look and what they should wear.
Women around the world are still facing discrimination at school,
in the workplace and even in their homes. They are being restricted to certain
careers – if they are even allowed a career; they face lower wages and judgement
from males. They are constantly told that they are the inferior sex and are
treated as though they are second class citizens. How do you think this all
impacts a woman? It depresses her, angers her and frustrates her. She is
restricted and limited. How can she be herself and do the things she wants to
do; be the things she wants to be? She can’t. Which is why we need to improve
awareness, educate people and make changes within society to remove the stigma
that comes with being a female so that we can be ourselves, have whatever
career we want, and simply put, to have our own identity that is decided by us.
Regards,
Emma Parkes.
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