Talking about gender disparity is always an uncomfortable topic. However, as I mentioned in my last post, to enable growth and change to happen we must step out of our comfort zones to discuss all of the problems that are not so fun to talk about.
Women have always faced a great deal of inequality since the beginning of time. Even now, it is crazy to think that only a little over a hundred years ago were rights even granted to women so that they can be able to vote.
I've always been interested in suffrage because the data never fails to blow my mind. In my head, suffrage is what made women cross the line from being considered objects to actually being thought of as living, breathing human beings (at least in the eyes of the government). I was curious as to when this right was granted in Canada and I was surprised to find out that Manitoba was the first place in which women could vote after the Legislative Assembly granted this right in 1916.
I also want to note that South America is even worse when it comes to women's rights. In high school, I was shocked to find out that my country (Ecuador) was actually the first country in South America to make it legal for women to vote. But this only happened in 1929, a whole 13 years later after Manitoba.
In any case, what I'm trying to get at here is that women can only be people as long as the state considers us people. And as much as I hate to get political, there is just no way to talk about women's rights without involving all of the governments everywhere in the world.
Having had also lived in the US for some years I know how hard some states have it when it comes to gender inequality. To this day there are so many politicians out there trying to make it impossible for women to own rights to their own bodies.
This is part of the reason why I always valued Canada more in some ways.
Even though it is not perfect here, I've always felt some sort of relief deep down inside me that I cannot seem to explain but ever since living here I have felt more respected, not only as a woman but also as a person.
By this point, it should be obvious that I'm highly passionate about women's rights and I could literally never stop writing or talking about my feelings about them (and on certain politicians). However, the point that I wish to make with this post is that as much as I feel more respected and safe in this beautiful country, I can recognize that there is still a lot of work to be done so that women can finally feel like equals in every single aspect of their lives.
So, be our allies. I make fun of the "patriarchy" but I want to make it clear that I do not dislike/hate men. I like men, and I'm fully aware that we need them in our society.
Some of them just need some help (or a lot) to recognize that they need us just as much.
- The image shows a pirate saying "Well yes, but actually no."
When it comes to the visual rhetoric analysis:
1. The modality is a screenshot of an animated short.
2. The verisimilitude is low because it is a highly decorated cartoon character modeled after a pirate.
3. The claim it makes about the world is how the patriarchy is to be blamed for most of the problems regarding gender inequality (which I believe mostly to be true, and so should you).
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