In the Fall 2008 semester I enrolled in a course titled Gender and War. The course is offered through the Human Relations department and taught by Dr. Zeamari Deacon. I credit this course for teaching me more about the atrocities and mistreatment of human beings in modern day war crimes. One organization I came across in this course is Women for Women International. This NGO provides women from around the world with opportunities to heal emotionally, physically, and spiritually from war. In addition, Women for Women offers women with the tools they need to become independent citizens within their own communities.
Funding is provided by sponsorship programs where sponsors are able to learn about the progress a recipient receives due to the generous donations of people who believe in the cause. A microcredit system provides women with simplicities such as food, water, clothing and medicine. These women who are victims war are also given an opportunity to receive counseling, creating a lifelong process of emotional healing. Eventually, woman are able to develop job skills and through the microcredit system are able to establish a business of their own. The microcredit system has a successful repayment rate that sustains in the high 90 percentile.
What I like most about their approach is that they don’t simply ask for funds from their sponsors. Women for Women International establishes a line of communication between sponser and recipient. This way, sponsors are able to read and stay updated about the progress their recipient makes over time. Sponsoring allows people from all around the world to help another woman and her family have a chance in life that may not have been available in any other fashion.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Eternal Feminine
The Eternal Feminine is a play written by Rosario Castellanos (originally written in Spanish) addresses some of the many issues women in Mexico encounter daily. Feminism is a trend expanding globally, and one must also be mindful about how women’s liberation affects a culture rich in gender tradition. The exploration into women’s issues centered around the dreams of a young woman named Lupita. But how the device that promoted her dreams came into play demonstrated that men feared women’s minds and women were not yet ready to challenge the obscured fears. Castallanos also tries to teach the viewer/readers about the many social obligations and challenges in a Mexican woman’s life that often lead to strong feelings of anxiety. I found the first scene in the beauty boutique analogues to Bells Hooks chapter six in Feminism is for Everybody: Beauty Within and Without, concern with women’s obsession with beauty. This scene also demonstrated how men in this culture feared women on an intellectual level by attempting to relive women of the thought process.
The first scene focuses on three individuals who are not exactly strangers, and are not exactly friends. A salesman is introducing a new product to the boutique’s owner, and the hairdresser has positioned herself in the middle of the transaction. The salesman indicates that an hour under a hair dryer is “monstrous” and ask how frequently within a week women have their hair done. The own reply’s “the sloppy ones, once; the run of the mill, twice; the pampered ones, daily”. This sets an image of how frequently women should have their hair done before they are labeled “sloppy” or “pampered”. Hooks begins her chapter describing how women’s value “rest solely on appearance” (p. 31). The sales pitch indicates that these women are torturing themselves for beauty and his product will ease the pain. The company the salesperson is working for has figured out a way to cash in on the one to seven hours a week women are spending under the hair dryer. As Hooks explains that as long as women remain a slave to their beauty ritual the beauty industry is going to find a way to capitalize on them. The concern was not for the women’s well being or even for the condition of their hair. The salesman said that women’s minds needed to be preoccupied for the hour they sit under the dryer so they don’t begin to think. The owner and the hairdresser never indicated that this distraction from thinking was insulting. The owner and the hairdresser, who appeared to be the most skeptical in the beginning, allowed the salesman to continue with his sales pitch.
Bell Hooks may have believed that feminism was for everyone, it obviously had not yet reached this suburban Mexican town. The women were buying into products that prevented them from thinking while they were trying to reach their full beauty potential. It is a relief to me that this dream maker device is imaginary because many women throughout the world would easily subject themselves to an opportunity to stop thinking.
The first scene focuses on three individuals who are not exactly strangers, and are not exactly friends. A salesman is introducing a new product to the boutique’s owner, and the hairdresser has positioned herself in the middle of the transaction. The salesman indicates that an hour under a hair dryer is “monstrous” and ask how frequently within a week women have their hair done. The own reply’s “the sloppy ones, once; the run of the mill, twice; the pampered ones, daily”. This sets an image of how frequently women should have their hair done before they are labeled “sloppy” or “pampered”. Hooks begins her chapter describing how women’s value “rest solely on appearance” (p. 31). The sales pitch indicates that these women are torturing themselves for beauty and his product will ease the pain. The company the salesperson is working for has figured out a way to cash in on the one to seven hours a week women are spending under the hair dryer. As Hooks explains that as long as women remain a slave to their beauty ritual the beauty industry is going to find a way to capitalize on them. The concern was not for the women’s well being or even for the condition of their hair. The salesman said that women’s minds needed to be preoccupied for the hour they sit under the dryer so they don’t begin to think. The owner and the hairdresser never indicated that this distraction from thinking was insulting. The owner and the hairdresser, who appeared to be the most skeptical in the beginning, allowed the salesman to continue with his sales pitch.
Bell Hooks may have believed that feminism was for everyone, it obviously had not yet reached this suburban Mexican town. The women were buying into products that prevented them from thinking while they were trying to reach their full beauty potential. It is a relief to me that this dream maker device is imaginary because many women throughout the world would easily subject themselves to an opportunity to stop thinking.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Blog 9
Women for Women International
http://www.womenforwomen.org/about-women-for-women/victims-to-survivors.php
Women for Women international is a non-profit organization that reaches into international boundaries to help women suffering from the effects of war. Afghanistan, Bosnia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, and Nigeria are just a few of the countries where Women for Women International have been able to help women who have lost their home, food supply, family support, and suffered from many other loses caused by war. Beginning with something as simple as a food and clothing source, and advancing toward job training and microlending programs, women are supplied the “bootstraps” they need to help pick of the shattered pieces of their lives.
Sponsoring a women is one way to contribute funds to this organization. One of the benefits of becoming a sponsor with Women for Women is being able to communicate directly with the person receiving your funds. Generally, the recipient will write a letter of gratitude and will follow throughout the process letting you know how she is progressing. Many women who are able to become independent entrepreneurs eventually become leaders in their community. All of which starts with a small contribution of about $30.
The reason why Women for Women International focuses on primarily women is because women are often left out of the post war benefits governments offer to soldiers and supporters. Women are often left with children and no job skills or a male family member to provide for them. Women for Women International help communities grow and governments acknowledge the intelligent and business savvy sills that women of their own country posses when given the proper education and skills to do so.
Response to readings...
Western perceptions of foreign women is a growing concern since globalization offers women more opportunities to learn about cultures outside their own. Americans have a strong since of right and wrong, often confusing different with wrong. Cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness is one way to help eliminate stereotypes and biases.
http://www.womenforwomen.org/about-women-for-women/victims-to-survivors.php
Women for Women international is a non-profit organization that reaches into international boundaries to help women suffering from the effects of war. Afghanistan, Bosnia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, and Nigeria are just a few of the countries where Women for Women International have been able to help women who have lost their home, food supply, family support, and suffered from many other loses caused by war. Beginning with something as simple as a food and clothing source, and advancing toward job training and microlending programs, women are supplied the “bootstraps” they need to help pick of the shattered pieces of their lives.
Sponsoring a women is one way to contribute funds to this organization. One of the benefits of becoming a sponsor with Women for Women is being able to communicate directly with the person receiving your funds. Generally, the recipient will write a letter of gratitude and will follow throughout the process letting you know how she is progressing. Many women who are able to become independent entrepreneurs eventually become leaders in their community. All of which starts with a small contribution of about $30.
The reason why Women for Women International focuses on primarily women is because women are often left out of the post war benefits governments offer to soldiers and supporters. Women are often left with children and no job skills or a male family member to provide for them. Women for Women International help communities grow and governments acknowledge the intelligent and business savvy sills that women of their own country posses when given the proper education and skills to do so.
Response to readings...
Western perceptions of foreign women is a growing concern since globalization offers women more opportunities to learn about cultures outside their own. Americans have a strong since of right and wrong, often confusing different with wrong. Cultural sensitivity and cultural awareness is one way to help eliminate stereotypes and biases.
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