Male Privilege

Today's class was a great learning experience. I got to hear experiences from actual women on how they have been oppressed just because of their gender. We have talked about main male privilege in class, such as more pay and leading jobs, but actually hearing this from the oppressed group opens my eyes to my own privilege. Just like in the documentary Color of Fear, the racially blind white man had to actually listen to a black man talk about how he has been oppressed because of his privilege. What story really touched me was Mrs. Baker's story. Although she had worked at St. Benedict's for many years and was very close to many of the administrators, because she was a women she could not get her request granted; even though her request was heavily beneficial to the school. Tuesday's conversation about the productive and reproductive function in society showed the institutional bias toward men. The productive functions are loved in this society. In this they love having things getting built and trying to make money. While the reproductive functions are to give life and nurture the baby. This is bias because if a women is pregnant then she is thought of as less than and incapable to work which messes up the productive functions because it slows things down. The bias is when a boss might look for a replacement after a women has to leave to give birth and take care of the baby. Society thinks that having a baby is disability and they hinder and prejudge that they can't work. It is funny how women are thought as the cooker of the family, but when you go to a restaurant the staff is mainly males. America has a system in place where the don't want to give women power. Like what Ms. Sweeney said, what is so threatening of a women that the people running the system has to consistently keep them down. We also discussed how women are paid 77% of what men get paid, for the same job. It is so cruel to blatantly give women less pay, only cause their women. That should not be a reason to cut pay like that, it is good that women are speaking up about this horrible standard. In conclusion, I really enjoyed our talks this whole week which discussed a lot on gender privilege. Privilege given to the males, not females. I especially liked, Mrs. Baker and her assertiveness in the class. Last but not least, this blog helped my reflect on the week we have had and the talks we have discussed on.