When we say the term that our history repeats, the same events are likely to occur, but in different periods. Any movement, whether it be for suffrage, labor right, or equal rights amendment, people are fighting to make a change. The point of the Suffrage movement was to give women the right to vote in a time when women were seen as nothing other than mere objects of work. But, they were definitely overworked, which is seen in the fight for labor rights in hopes of better pay and working conditions. An example is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that occurred on March 25th, 1911, and claimed the lives of 146 workers. Most of the women working in the factory were young immigrant women, which can connect to the current time when we fight for equal rights for those with immigration status. The historical issues all repeat themselves because, as women, we are still fighting for equal rights, we are fighting for immigrants who are mistreated in detention centers, etc. The labor rights issues back in the early 20th century resulted from the lack of gender justice against women. Women were seen as working objects, and just like children overworked, the women were treated the same. They were given low wages, long hours, and uncomfortable working conditions, which resulted in many dangerous scenarios. Another example of a labor rights issue was the case of the Radium Girls, which happened a few years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Both of these cases ended up with either the workers being paid off or, in general, losing the case overall due to the power imbalance their bosses had over them. To this day, we see a lack of justice, as those with higher power abuse their power over the workers, and no one ever takes the workers seriously until it is too late. Most times, they can’t fight back due to the lack of resources, and they have to endure the mistreatment.

One hundred years later, we see how the events of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory strike again, but in different locations around the world. The majority of these well-known large businesses have overworked laborers in terrible conditions that are detrimental to their health and safety. They are put in an environment that leaves them compact and trapped with no other way to get out but the path where the danger passes through. In modern times, the laborers are hidden behind the media, but most are fighting to give those workers better pay and better conditions.

I do remember learning about Women’s Suffrage, in both high school and in middle school. In middle school I remember having to make a project, it was a lot different compared to high school because they didn’t talk about all the explicit details. When we got to high school, it was very painful to watch the way these women were treated. I hope to learn more about Women’s Suffrage and in more detail what it was like. In high school, we were possibly limited, but we did get to see the physical impacts they had when they were being forced to eat, or hit. I hope to learn more about them in the upcoming history aspect, and probably learn about ways other countries have experimented. It is known that in many other countries, women aren’t allowed to do much, so I am proud of the small progress we’ve made over the years.

I would define activism as facing a problem and fighting it with action. There are many forms of activism. It depends on how you want to execute it. The film I watched was Girl Connected, and it was about five separate girls from different parts of the world. Each girl was tackling a problem they felt affected by in their country. One was child marriage, fighting disability/learning self-defense, having a right to an education, being freely creative, lowering teen pregnancy rates. Today, there is a lot of activism, as people are fighting to get themselves and others heard. We stand alongside Ukraine, fighting for the black and lgbtq+ community in America and anywhere else in the world. As women, we are fighting every day for our voices to be heard. The most popular form of Women’s activism is the Women’s Suffrage of the 1920s. This was when women got together and fought against oppression, yet still, others wanted to force the opposite upon them.

The way I’ve engaged in activism was when I went to the march against climate change in 2019. I can’t always fight on the frontlines or be physical about it, but I fight along the sidelines and spread the word about what’s going on and how we can stop it. I found the film very inspiring because it shows how often we are fighting for ourselves and women in general. I am afraid to go outside because of how predators portray me, and I want to hide in a cocoon. One of the girls that stood out to me was Latifa, from Bangladesh. She was fighting hard to stop child marriages. Children should have a right to be children and study, but most of them get married off at the ages of 9-12. A 9-year-old doesn’t have the total capacity to make decisions the way an adult can, especially when bearing children and stabilizing the house, as they are expected to do while the husband is working. Latifa herself was saved from a child marriage. Since her mother was forced into marriage when she was a child, she didn’t want her daughter going through the same. To back away from it, they had to have a small court case to deem it fit and prove she would continue her studies. Her goal was to help save all those young girls forced against their will. I think these young girls are a great inspiration in gender justice.

It is essential to recognize the difference between systematic and individualistic views. Most people who follow patriarchy follow it because of the idea that it has been a long-time system, and most people are afraid to break it. Usually, when people get offended when insulting patriarchy, it’s because most times, they feel the need to stand by that system. Other times, it just hurts their manhood, to be honest. Most times, the ones following the patriarchal system are a cultural/structural and institutional level of oppression. Most of them feel the need to follow that system because it was born into and is most of what they know. In Allan Johnson’s “What Is This Thing Called Patriarchy?” He wrote, “We need to see and deal with the social roots that generate and nurture the social problems that are reflected in and manifested through the behavior of individuals.” I chose this quote because the system partly shapes the individual’s identity. Those that stand by patriarchy are also oppressed within the existing system. People are raised under certain beliefs at a personal level and want to follow those beliefs. Most times, it’s within their conscious, but other times it’s not. Most people do things unconsciously and don’t even realize it. This happens to a lot of people. Sometimes they are born into a system and assume what’s wrong is right and vice versa. Interpersonal is how we react to things, our language, and our behavior—following a patriarchal system can choose how to act when in a given situation. For example, “The path of least resistance in such a situation is to go along and not make any trouble…, and unless he is willing to deal with the greater resistance that would follow, that is the choice he is most likely to make,” (Johnson 31). This quote shows the way people think when a situation is presented to them. The man sees a young girl being sexually assaulted by another at a party from the selection above. He has different ways to react and how he can not react. Most times, most people would just stick to the less problematic option hoping someone would step up instead of them. Hopefully, he makes the right choice and helps her out because that would be “structurally” correct in society. If we want change, we need to be physical about it. It’s come to that point in time.

When I saw this video, it answered a lot of ways of how I’m not privileged, but in some ways, I am privileged but based on basic necessities. It was sad to see how the group was separated into different privilege sections. The way I experience privilege is that I am grateful I have a great family, and I am safe inside of my own home, but as soon as I step outside, I’m in danger and no longer in that comfort zone. As a poor Latina woman in the US, I live in oppression. I never had enough money for anything; I had to drop out of school for a semester because I didn’t have money to pay for it. When I saw this video, I related a lot to the woman who stayed back. Constantly, I live in fear for my safety, whether for my skin color or the fact that I am a woman. My current definition of privilege has something someone else cannot have. Most people work for “that” privilege, while others have it directly from birth. With oppression, it’s simple to find out who would quickly be oppressed compared to those that are not. I am grateful to have a caring family every day and thankful that they made a tremendous sacrifice to have me in a better country and under a roof. My goal is to grow and make a better life for my relatives and future. I don’t want my children to grow in the same conditions I grew up in. It’s definitely the stem of my depression and anxiety. In the text by Marilyn Frye, they stated that women would be oppressed just for being women, while men won’t be oppressed just for being men. Many factors play into oppression, and I simply have most of it. My brothers, being men growing up in the US, do face oppression, not because they’re men, but they are dark Latin men, and one of them is also gay. So yes, according to these videos and readings, I consider myself unprivileged and oppressed. The privilege I have is something every human should have as basic necessities; a roof over their head, a bed to sleep in, a family, food/water, and a safe home environment; and every day, I am grateful to God and my family for having that. But every day we learn something new, I didn’t know much about these things till I read/watched it.