I liked how Garza in “The Power of Identity Politics” discussed “interlocking oppressions” in her explanation of identity politics. Her explaining the power imbalance between White Americans and everyone else expanded my understanding. Garza gave and analogy of white people being the control/standard in America that everyone else is judged based on. Because of this and white superiority, people of color, specifically women, face  “interlocking oppressions” like racism, sexism, capitalism, and heterosexism combined. This is where identity politics come into play, when fighting for freedom for women, the movement was only for the freedom of white women, not all women. There is the social/political issue of inequality and opression for women but white women are the only ones who are sympathized for and recive the benefits of the movement. Identity politics has to do with opressed groups like women of color being excluded from gaining the rights and freedoms they were fighting for along side white people. Being considered less-than in America causes their role in a movement to be overlooked or bashed as if they are undeserving of gaining rights and freedoms nonmatter the effort. In order to understand identity politics, you need to understand “interlocking oppressions” and the social/political hierarchy of white America and Garza’s article provided a great explanation of that.

In the remaining weeks I would love to further explore the impacts race has associated with gender. My aunt is a social worker and she just recently went back to school, one of her classes are discussing race’s impact on poverty. She was reading a study that compared the rate of poverty based on age, race, and gender. It was interesting to hear that there is a higher poverty rate for people of color, especially women. It’s sad that this information isn’t very surprising. I would want to explore this more and what could be, or is being done to address these statistics.

I understand a liberated woman to be free from societal expectations and judgment. A woman who does not have to stay within gender roles that take away her freedom of speech and choice. To me, liberation means freedom. The freedom to express yourself and opinions, to make decisions for yourself, and to live your life the way you want to. Not under any guidelines dependent on a man or society. Women have been kept under the power of someone else that declared ownership of her like a father or husband. A liberated woman isn’t under anyone’s power and has full control over her own life.

Liberated woman encourage others to follow and support them. They are important for women’s liberation because they are leading the movement by example. Society has restricted women for years, keeping them in a position dependent on men. The idea of breaking away from gender norms could be scary. The patriarchy made the idea of independence seem unachievable and scary for a lot of women which is why they would be hesitant toward liberation. Liberated women lead by example, showing fearful or hesitant women that they are capable of supporting themselves and their families and continue to thrive independently.

It takes personal action to create political change. If women didn’t make the personal decision to strive for liberation, the liberated woman would not exist. I like to think of it like it only taking a drop of water to cause a dam to overflow. It only takes one person’s action to begin a movement.

These pieces show that “the personal is political” because women’s shared personal struggles are rooted in political issues. Gender inequality and the patriarchy are political issues that effect women’s personal lives. The societal opression of women plays an important role in the power imbalance between men and women. Liberation being something women have to fight for shows how politics are related to their personal experiences. If that weren’t the case, gender roles, gender inequality, and opression would not be prevalent issues in our society. Women wouldn’t need liberation if they were never opressed by a male dominated political system. “The personal is political” express how women’s personal issues are often the result of political issues and how both are so intertwined with one another.

Suffrage, labor rights, and the equal rights amendment are all related to fighting for equality and justice. The videos this week focused on labor rights. In the past there were no labor rights, people worked in poor conditions for very little pay and employers did nothing to ensure worker’s safety or well-being. Employers befitted from mistreating and underpaying their workers. The video about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is a good representation of the need for labor rights. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire caused many worker deaths and served as a breaking point. The corruption and neglectfulness of employers caused these deaths; if there had been safety precautions in place, the workers could have escaped the fire or the fire could have been prevented all together. This week’s reading focused on suffrage and the equal rights amendment. Women and other oppressed groups had to fight to the right to vote and to have equal rights. Even to this day, the fight for equal rights is ongoing. Women had to fight to have a voice in political matters. Bing politically involved is important for women because they have been oppressed by the patriarchal political system. The equal rights amendment would protect women’s rights and ensure they could not be denied based on sex. Each of these subjects are, at its core, oppressed and underprivileged people fighting for their deserved rights in this hierarchical society.  

Labor rights are also issues of gender justice because women are denied jobs and/or equal respect and pay in the workplace. Women could be just as or even more qualified for a job than a man but would be denied because of their sex. Or if given the job, she would be paid less than her male coworkers. Women are often seen as less than, needed to be supported by a man, and/or not as capable as men. This hinders women’s success and chance for opportunity. Which is why labor rights and the ERA are so necessary to protect women. 

These historical issues are enacted in today’s society by having labor rights and unions that set standard working conditions and protect worker’s rights. The same goes for suffrage and the equal rights amendment. Women are gaining more say in politics and as the reading explained, we are closer to the ERA passing and being approved to be in the constitution. However, while progress has been made, there is still more to be done. The ERA has not been ratified after decades of effort and protest, there is still corrupt corporations that abuse workers, and there is still not class and gender equality. These are issues still being protested and fought against in today’s society and it is unknown what amount of suffering or activism will make the necessary changes.  

All of the discussions and material we’ve reviewed so far has really changed my perspective on many things. And opened my eyes to many things as well, like trans rights and activism. Not being part of the lgbtq community made me overlook certain issues. As we discussed in this class, most people don’t think about certain issues unless they experience it themselves. The weekly readings, videos, and discussions made me aware of so many social issues that I’ve never even thought of or considered because they weren’t specifically targeted toward myself. This is so amazing because after being made aware, I can be more considerate and conscious about it in the future. And hearing my classmates perspective and personal experience help to reinforce the materials we’ve gone over. Week six was impactful for me as well. I knew activism was hard work but seeing and reading about the behind the scenes efforts highlighted how hard it really is. Learning about all of these social issues and how intertwined they are in society reflects the hard work that needs to be done to create change.

After doing tis week’s reading and watching the film Knock Down The House I would define activism as putting in effort to stand up and make a difference. Advocating for improvement, striving for social and/or political change. To be an activist you have to be fearless. There are people with apposing views that will fight against you. Social and political topics can be especially polarizing. People often reject change or controversial opinions. Which is why activism calls for a lot of work, it is often said that you need to “fight” for change.

The main experiences I think are ways I’ve engaged in activism are two protests I joined during high school. A couple of catholic high schools in the Bronx planned to come together to protest gun violence. All the students in my school, including myself, were eager to join the protest but my school ended up not allowing us to join. So we just did a few laps around the school with our posters. Later, the student from my high school planned to do a Black Lives Matter protest. Again, the school stopped us from going through with it, this time sending out emails to the students saying there would be repercussions if we try to go through with the protest. This brought up many issues amongst us students. We were frustrated with this being the second protest the school had stopped, but this time it felt more personal/malicious. My high school has a racist history and we continued to experience racism at that current time. We knew the school didn’t support the BLM movement so we decided to do a sit in at dismissal with all of us students sitting in the parking lot. The school locked its doors behind us, not even allowing girls to go back inside to get their coats. Although we were punished and unsupported by the school, it felt so rewarding to make that statement.

I really enjoyed being apart of protests. So to engage in activism around gender justice, I could join protests in my area. Today (March 8) is International Women’s Day and there are many days like this that are celebrated in the city which I could take part in as well. There are also many laws regarding women’s health care, education, and rights that are being fought for currently. With me turning 18 soon, I can vote for the first time and make an impactful difference with my vote. While advocating for the people around me to vote as well!