The liberated woman is a woman who is self-aware and doesn’t follow the rules society has put in place when it comes to her freedom. A liberated woman fights for her own equal rights and those of other women as well. They fight sexism and the stereotypes society has created and fight to eliminate the expectations placed on women inside and outside their homes. In The Politics of Housework, by Pat Mainardi, it is stated that liberated women are very different from Women’s Liberation. “The first signals all kinds of goodies, to warm the hearts (not to mention other parts) of the most radical men…On the other hand is Women’s Liberation-and housework” (pg.1). In a household where both the man and woman have careers to manage, the woman is still expected to be the one to maintain the house. And do all the housework, how is that fair? Men are known to have a passive resistance when it comes to chores and cleaning, and they believe women are born to do that kind of work.

“The personal is political” is a common belief among feminists that their personal experiences result from gender inequality. In The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm by Anne Koedt, she states, “men have chosen to define women only in terms of how they benefited men’s lives. Sexually, a woman was not seen as an individual wanting to share equally in the sexual act, any more than she was seen as a person with independent desires when she did anything else in society.” (pg.8-9). It’s so infuriating that women were fooled into believing that there was something wrong with their bodies. All in favor of men. A woman’s body being treated like a man’s property is terrible enough. Still, it’s extremely damaging for women to blame themselves for a literal fake problem and think there is something medically wrong with their bodies. Imagine the mental and emotional torture that must have been brought upon these women. Mainardi writes, “Women’s liberation isn’t really a political movement.” MEANING: The revolution is coming too close to home. ALSO MEANING: I am only interested in
how I am oppressed, not how I oppress others. Therefore the war, the draft, and the university are political. Women’s liberation is not.” (pg. 3). The fact that women do not have equal rights in politics and other ways outside of their home plays a factor in their rights at home. A liberal woman will only accept the respect and rights she deserves, but the way the man treats her reflects gender inequality. Which is a reason many men believe cleaning and housework are only meant for women, even if they claim that women deserve the same rights they have.

In Patriarchy, The System, Allan Johnson writes, “patriarchy is, by definition, a system of inequality organized around culturally created gender categories, we cannot avoid being involved in it. All men and all women are therefore involved in this oppressive system, and none of us can control whether we participate, only how” (pg.14). It is essential to recognize patriarchy as a system rather than an individual because we cannot simply blame it on a single person if it’s overall a collective mindset. As individuals, we participate in the system but have the power to decide what choices we make in order to dismantle it. Patriarchy is a part of our everyday lives, whether conscious or not.
The different levels of oppression in which patriarchy may work are personal. Interpersonal, institutional, and structural/cultural. From a personal level, a man may be distrustful of women, may find their success threatening, and may view them as objects rather than people. On an interpersonal level, a man could be physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive towards women and feel that they are allowed to act that way because they are superior. An example of the institutional level of oppression, women are often viewed as weak and spoken over. It is more common for a man to be promoted and run a business or company than a woman because women are seen as incapable. An example of structural/ cultural oppression in which patriarchy may work is that we are taught that women are delicate and need a man’s help for many things. The very false idea that a woman wouldn’t be able to do certain things without a man. Overall the different levels indicate that men have power over women, and we are born into this long-standing system where most of us participate unconsciously.
Audre Lorde’s “There is no Hierarchy of Oppressions” states, “Within the lesbian community I am Black, and within the Black community I am a lesbian…I cannot afford the luxury of fighting one form of oppression only”. These lines helped me understand why there isn’t hierarchy when it comes to oppression. Any attack that a person receives affects all oppressed parts of that person. One isn’t greater than the other because they all influence one another in a way. Allan Johnson also wrote some words that helped me understand it on a deeper level. “…by participating in patriarchy we are of patriarchy and it is of us. Both exist through the other, and neither exists without the other” (pg.14).

In the book “Beyond the Gender Binary”, Alok defines nonbinary people as people who are neither exclusively men nor women, and gender non-conforming people are people who visibly defy society’s understanding of what a man or woman should look like. In the video” Inside the Book: Alok Vaid-Menon,” Alok explains that moving beyond the gender binary isn’t the same as requiring everyone to identify as non-binary, which is what a lot of people who are defensively against it seem not to understand. There is a sense of confusion surrounding the subject because people still perceive gender neutrality as “erasing their right to be a woman or a man.” Alok states that “Manhood and womanhood should not be defined in opposition, and that actually man is so much more tremendous than just not woman and woman is so much more expansive than just not man.” And I think that there shouldn’t only be two options when it comes to our gender; there are multiple. We as people should have the right to identify as we please, and being filtered into only two categories just doesn’t work. That doesn’t mean those two categories are erased, and people are allowed to identify as men or women, the same way people are allowed to identify as non-binary. There is a quote that Alok spoke that really stood out to me, “The mentality that if I live in a world where other people are suffering then I too am suffering. If not everyone is free, I’m not free”. This is exactly what equality for all comes down to. Wanting everyone to be free and equal doesn’t matter who they are; they deserve to be treated as an equal.

For those who identify as cisgender, like me, gender is still fluid and complex. When I was a kid, I loved playing with dolls that were considered “girl toys”, but I loved playing with all of my brother’s sports equipment and video games just as much. Oddly, sports are categorized as a manly thing to enjoy. As I got older, I became so confused because it felt like as a girl, I could only be a “girly girl” or a “tomboy.” I went out of my way to avoid pink and sparkles for a very long period of my life because I felt like I was being forced to like those things by society. As an adult, I realized I’m allowed to enjoy whatever I want, and the same goes for everyone else regardless of how they identify. I’ve come a long way when it comes to accepting myself, and I usually feel most comfortable in clothing and accessories designed for women. Still, there are days when I only feel like wearing clothing from the men’s department. I wish more people would be more accepting because tolerance is not enough, and non-binary persons deserve to feel safe. It is their right to be themselves and identify as they please. There shouldn’t be a debate whether that is okay or not.

On March 25th, 1911, the triangle shirtwaist factory fire took the lives of 146 people, 125 of them being young women. The factory owners didn’t care about their workers and kept an unsafe environment for them. They could have prevented the deaths of all those innocent people. The fire was a key reason for the growth of the labor unions, particularly the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. New York also passed the Sullivan Hoey fire prevention law in response to the fire, where it was a requirement to install sprinkler systems in all factories. On December 13th, 2010, another fire very similar to the triangle shirtwaist fire happened in Bangladesh. Just shy of the 100th anniversary of the first fire, the one in Bangladesh resulted in 29 deaths and over 100 injured workers. Just like the first fire, the building owners didn’t care about their workers and failed to protect them. Workers’ rights are human rights that have to do with labor relations between workers and their employers. It also has to do with their pay, benefits, and of course safe working conditions. 

A majority of the victims of the fires were young women, and that is not surprising because most of the employees at the garment factory jobs are, in fact, women. The second video titled “Triangle Returns” states that the workers in Bangladesh were being paid 1/10th of what wages were in the U.S a century ago, “we’re racing to the bottom.” Labor rights, suffrage, and the equal rights amendment are related because of the lack of rights women had and the lack of inequality we face to this day. Women have always had to fight and speak at a louder volume for them to be heard. The right to vote, a safe and fair work environment, and equal legal rights should not be determined by a person’s sex or gender. In the reading about the Equal Rights Amendment written by Tara Law for TIME Magazine, Jessica Neuwirth states, “It was an intentional exclusion of women from the constitution, because they were basically not considered full citizens who should have the right to vote,” Neuwirth says. “Once they got the vote, they wanted to get all the other rights that they should have. “(pg. 3). Women deserve equality in the legal systems of the entirety of the U.S, no more being treated like second-class citizens.

After reading “How to Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret and watching Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution directed by James Lebrecht and Nicole Newnham, I’d define the word activism as taking action to achieve a political or social goal. To as a community fight to support or resist a cause. In the reading, some parts focus on the power of the youth when it comes to activism. These young people are bringing topics such as authoritarianism, climate justice, gun control, and transgender rights into their classrooms, exposing them to the importance of those topics and educating them on what actions can be taken. “…it is creating a cohort of citizens who will be active participants in democracy” (15). The film I watched focuses on the disability rights movement and how the bond that the young people at Camp Jened shared helped launch said movement across the nation. The film does an incredible job of educating the audience on a topic that is not talked about enough. It also does a great job of focusing on Judy Heumann, an American disability rights activist. As a group, they were able to share their thoughts on how they’ve been wronged and how their rights were stripped from them because of their disabilities. In the reading, Syfret states, “activism is best enjoyed with friends. A support network will help you refine your values, educate yourself and others, celebrate victories and offer encouragement when things get tough” (41). That is precisely how the campers at Camp Jened were able to lift the movement from the ground by building a solid community that shared not just the fact they were disabled in common but their views on seeking justice and defending their human rights. They weren’t going to take no as an answer because they weren’t asking to be treated fairly. They were demanding it.

I’ve personally engaged in activism by attending Black Lives Matter protests and educating myself on anti-racism. I helped my community out by donating supplies that would be handed out to those marching. I try my best to attend the women’s march every year to honor ALL women. I can realistically engage in activism around gender justice by doing my best to learn all that I can throughout this course. Since the start of the semester, I’ve already been involved in more conversations on the topic with the people I surround myself with. This is an essential course for me because I want to know more and do more. One last quote that stood out to me from the reading was, “Talk to them about why this cause matters to you; make it personal. It’s easier for people to connect with an issue when they see how it impacts those they care about. It also might encourage them to think about how it touches their own lives” (42). Communication has so much power, and these conversations need to be had; they are vital to all movements.