The major issues behind the movement towards the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), were primarily women’s suffrage and labor rights. These are two topics that women fought for their right in for decades. With all the inequality we are looking at in this course and through the readings touches a little bit on different injustices, because they can’t help but connect. If there is someone who wants to be at the top, they most likely are pushing the majority to the bottom, metaphorically speaking.

More specifically, when women came up against these issues, they connected within themselves. If a women wants to make changes in how the system is run, wether it be decisions about her own work, life, and body, or other decisions as a member of society, she has to have a say in who is running the government offices. Therefor, she needs the right to vote. Additionally, if a woman wants to then fight for the labor conditions where she works, or labor rights in general, she needs access to the persuasion of the law.

ERA would give all the changes some land to stand on, because before they are just a fight away of being lost or won, and that is too risky when time and time again has shown that people’s lives end up on the line, not only literally but figuratively. People dye in fires, they die from abuse, and they also live a lot better if they can take part n the culture around them, contributing to it as well as having a say about their rights in it.

The Labor laws are also a gender issue because of the different types of jobs given to people. In the films we watched. Although they have been extended into many different variations and developments, they were originally born from the devastation of the  Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

I see labor issues all the time, not just from women’s to men’s salaries, but the protection of women and children. Like we learned about in the final movie, sweat shops, fast fashion, coming down on the women who have to also bring their children with them.

When looking back on the waves of feminism, although it seems a little confusing at times, I can also see why it has been in waves and hasn’t been linear. As we’ve been learning, there are so many layers to oppression and when you’re underneath them all it seems impossible to sort through to find out what is the root cause.

I can see how initially Feminism got traction through identifiable goals like legal rights the suffrage movement. Kind of like the low hanging fruit, not to say these were at all easy, just much more obvious than the nuances that came later.

In fact I was shocked to find out how hard it has been to make these changes. In the article, Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment. Here’s What to Know About the History of the ERA by Tara Law for TIME Magazine, Law reveals that although the fight for the vote and equal rights act began a century ago, there are still loose ends. And, it wasn’t until 1965 when there was full voting rights for African Americans.

This goes to show that although movements that can change can start with just one person and grow into something that inspires for centuries to come, it has to start and it might be a long road ahead.

The second and third wave seem to touch more on the abstract than the concrete. Sexism, cultural inequalities, gender norms, and the role of women in society. Oppression runs deep and it can take a lot of time and constant change to chip away at what has held it together. I assume this is why the second wave was criticized by the third wave, and so on. It’s a long process to understand how to deal with issues that are so deeply woven into fabric of life.

I see activism as taking part in a group or movement that is supporting the freedom of or fighting for the rights to freedom of any group of society that is oppressed, disadvantaged, underprivileged, etc. I like the word activism because it says to be active in something, helping create movement and action. I would say before reading this article I would’ve thought you could only be an activist if you were a part of a movement, doing something to help on a larger scale, organizing event or marches, etc. I have always felt like I don’t do enough, I could and should do more, do better. I noticed that this way of thinking doesn’t ever propel me into lasting change, I can see it is limited in it’s all or nothing perspective. After this reading I feel more confident about doing what I can and that being ok and enough. From sharing ideas, learning, staying open and curious, listening and receiving feedback, getting a mentor, and all the tips on how to be a better learner are extremely valuable tools for navigating finding a place in the world to be of service.

I watched United in Anger, the history of ACT UP. I chose this film because I want to learn more about the AIDS epidemic as I don’t feel very educated about what happened, I have only heard snippets of stories and history over time. Living in NYC I feel it is such a presence here, so many people I come across experienced that time in a very real way, living through it and losing many friends. I didn’t know that the ACT UP movement was fighting for drugs to be released faster from the FDA. It really shows how complex different situations can be, given what we are currently seeing with people not wanting the COVID vaccines because they see that the FDA released them too fast. Every situation is very different and with the AIDS Epidemic they were fighting for their right to be considered in the decisions about the drugs, whether they could take them or not.

ACT UP, like a lot of movements, end up intersecting other issues which can bring light to complexity that multiple people deal with. In this case, one of those examples was the women’s movement that happened alongside and at times along with the ACT UP movement. In the film they show women fighting for similar causes, rights of their own bodies and to be a part of decisions made about birth control rights. These two issues intersecting at this time in history as well as having crossover cases. Women were being told by religious figures to not use protection during intercourse which was very dangerous given the rate AIDS was spreading.

As mentioned in this film, the power of people coming together and pressuring institutions and systems that be is incredible and can be monumentally successful. I could really see this from being in NYC for the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. Not only can you see how when people come together it can really make change on a bigger level, but being there also makes change on a personal level. Seeing and feeling the power of that movement at that time changed me forever. I think activism is impactful and I think it’s important for everyone to take part in being an activist in some way, because when you around change you learn to see people and see the truth, which then leads to real impactful change. I would like to find ways to be an activist in my life on a daily basis instead of just for the big things, I am happy to read this article and look forward to going back and reading all the suggestion pages.

In the article Patriarchy, The System by Allan Johnson, he explains that we are stuck in a mind set that our social structures begin and end with the individual. Meaning that, we are all responsible for ourselves and how we act, including as it relates to patriarchy. However, he goes on to explain that this is not what causes oppression and a society of privilege. The system is already set up to oppress, and just by being in it we are set up to keep it going.

The reason it is important to see that patriarchy as a system and not an individual identity is because real change can only come from first understanding the system and how we take part in it, then taking the path of resistance to go in a direction that will not continue to support this system.

One way patriarchy exists in cultural structures is how men are expected to become leaders and women are encouraged to try as an act of strength and independence. This already sets up an uneven playing ground. The women will have to try much harder to make it into leading positions. As a result of the attention that these changes attract they usually are made to be such a big deal. This is a good example of why the path of least resistance, having men in power, continues to be taken. There are not many people who are willing to endure the challenge of going against the grain. Staying in the manufactured roles assigned to genders creates a culture that is based around those roles.

This plays out through the individuals, beliefs about themselves and others, and the decision they make. As well as interpersonally, women will have an expectation of themselves from the patriarchal rules, these rules will seem to benefit them if they take part. They will likely have something in common with other women, they will find a partner that will reinforce that they’re doing a good job. I don’t think any of this is necessarily better than freedom, but if all that’s known is to do something new and unknown, or to do something tried and true that gives you attention and gold stars, no matter how uncomfortable it can also be, it would be insane to choose differently. So the system is almost tied into our core needs and beliefs as human beings.

I know I experience a lot of privilege and I agree with some of the people in this video that you don’t really know what to do with that information once you’ve been made aware of it. I have definitely learned to start by appreciating it working to change my frame of thinking about myself and others in relation to this unearned privileges. There are some reasons I would’ve taken steps back in the exercise, from disabilities and circumstances from time and place. However, I am a heterosexual white female from a middle class family and I can also see that my unearned privileges took care of those things in life that were hindrances to my success. I.e. Health care, supportive family, a safe home to go to, people to fall back on that could support me, etc.

I relate to the general oppressive examples give in the Frye reading. However, I found them very extreme examples, black/ white thinking. it might be that my circumstances of time and place, the way my parents raised me, the political climate I grew up in, and the people I got to be surrounded by made it so the consequences that she spoke of were very rare and for the most part there has always been a way out. Or at least, the cage is a lot more broad and roomie than she makes it out to be, or that other people experience it as. By no means do I mean to say that people don’t experience it that way, in my life I would not say that has been my biggest challenge, the oppression of being a woman. I honestly think the biggest way I experience oppression is probably in such a macro scale I am not even aware of it on a day to day.

I found the part about oppressor being oppressed very interesting. If the oppressor is the one ultimately benefiting than they are not being oppressed. I think this answers a lot to my own response about how I experience oppression in my life. I know I could come up with answers to that questions, but I ultimately know that my privileges outweigh my disadvantages. I am not caught between a rock and a hard place, there has always been a solution for me, and I don’t know that those solutions would’ve been there for anyone/ everyone.

There were a few things that I will hold onto from the readings that have helped me understand oppression. I found the birdcage analogy in Oppression by Marilyn Frye very helpful for thinking about both white privilege and oppression of women. As well as the definition given that, “the experience of oppressed people is living within barriers that are not accidental and are not avoidable. Every direction is blocked or booby trapped.”