Influenced perspective on Gender

1/26/2020

Who or what has influenced your views on gender over the years? Describe the influences and/or influencers.

Being born and raised in a traditional Asian household has influenced my views on gender over the years. My parents had also been a big influence on my perspective on gender as well. I grew up in a very disciplined and patriarchal family. Since I was little, I had to help around the house often with no questions asked. My parents especially my dad made it clear that it was the woman’s duty to carry out the chores. And thus, I grew up despite doing chores because I would have to do them myself meanwhile my brothers were left off the hook. Even something as simple as washing the dishes, my brothers didn’t wash them, I did. Over the past few years, my mom has also been telling me that I need to be more considerate for my brother because he works graveyard shifts and comes home at random times. I must not be loud and wake him up; I must walk and talk quietly and close the microwave door gently. There are many more that my mom would tell me to be considerate of on a daily basis and I would complain to her asking her why is it that they aren’t considerate towards me when I rest? Why are they so loud when the walk and talk? Why do they barge into my room when I sleep and bother me? Her response to me was that my brother has a job and he is tired. However, things still persisted after I got a job too. I would find myself jealous of these consistent and unfair treatment at home.

Due to the fact that they are males, they are treated with better care and aren’t asked to help much around the house because they are the ones who are the breadwinners. They are the ones to go out and make the money while I’m considered the less dominate one and need to learn and start accomplishing the task of a housewife. My accomplishments aren’t also praised or talked about at home compared to my brothers which often makes me feel so discouraged and difficult to move forward when there is no support in almost anything I do.

Explore global and national campaigns that promote girls' and women's health and development. Describe 1-2 global campaigns that are championing education for girls and women.

Two campaigns that I have found are Malala Fund and Care Women Deserve. Malala Fund was set up by the young education activist, Malala Yousafzai and was the youngest individual receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala Fund works on a global scale that is trying to break the barriers that are preventing girls around the world from going to school (Malala Fund, n.d.). Her campaign and fund has reached and helped many countries around the world such as Afghanistan, Brazil, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the Syria region. The other campaign that I found is regarding women’s health called Care Women Deserve. Care Women Deserve is a national campaign that promote girls’ health and development. Care Women Deserve is new campaign that aims to educate people about the vital preventative services available to women with no out-of-pocket costs (Hifron, n.d.).

References:
Hifron. “Women’s Preventive Health Services — Covered without Extra Costs to You.” Care Women Deserve, carewomendeserve.org/.

“Malala Fund: Working for a World Where All Girls Can Learn and Lead.” Malala Fund | Working for a World Where All Girls Can Learn and Lead, malala.org/.

Written By: Liya Chang

4 Comments

Selena Sorn

1/27/2020 11:30:39 am

Hi Liya,
Growing up in an Asian household, I can somewhat relate to your experience. I have a younger brother and he would always get away with not having to do household chores. When there is something that needs to be done, my parents would always call for me or my sister. Never would they ask my brother for help. In addition, they would treat him more nicely than they would with my sister and I. I would get annoyed because of the unfair treatment, but I just grew to accept it because I knew that I couldn't do anything about it. If I were to speak up, there would be arguments. The view that men are breadwinners need to change because women can also be breadwinners.

Dolma S

1/27/2020 04:14:53 pm

Hi Liya,

I also relate to your experience and had a similar experience growing up in an Asian household. I was raised mostly by my traditional and conservative grandparents since my grandma was part of the generation where the men were the breadwinners and the women were the ones who did the chores at home. Those values were enforced upon me growing up and she still tries to do it.

At such a young age, I also realized how unfair the treatment was between my brother and me. I used to accept it without questioning since every female in my household were mostly doing chores and helping during gatherings while the male will just be doing nothing.

Jennyna Golveo

1/29/2020 03:41:58 pm

Hi Liya,
I can personally relate to this because I come from an Asian household. Looking back at things now, I see where the role of patriarchy is played in my home. I was never the type to say no to responsibilities and orders made by my dad. Everything that I wanted to do had to be approved by my dad and he had trouble saying yes. My brother was older so he never had to worry about my dad saying no to doing certain things. I never found that treatment fair and I still don't but thankfully being older has changed my dad's attitude a lot more.

Raiye Abunie

1/30/2020 02:25:30 pm

Hello Liya,

I grew up in a household with two other younger brothers, I being the only woman aside from my mother. I was raised in Oakland, California but much like your family I had to attend to the needs of my younger brothers. Responsibilities also appeared the same as I visited my families home country, Ethiopia. Women would attend and take care of their families and the household chores. How society has shifted the gender responsibilities now, to me, is very interesting. Women and men both attend to the household duties and chores, women and men both attend to bringing income from work in some households and in others we just see the men attending to this need. I feel as though it's very much a societal and cultural view point when we take a look at gender roles and how these are distributed/divided.

Influenced perspective on Gender

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