What is equality and how does one determine it? I think it is a matter of personal opinion and personal situation that determines equality. The very first sentence of chapter two says “Women are as different as they are alike,” and I feel that this statement can be used to explain this. Some people have the opinion that gender equality already exists and we no longer need to work towards this goal. I think that some people have this opinion because of the situations that they have experienced. For example, one person could have a mother that is CEO of a successful company and to that person equality exists. On the other hand, one could have a mother that is a secretary or housewife and to that person, they might feel that the need for gender equality is still present. I feel that the statement at the beginning of chapter two exemplifies my opinion. Equality for one woman or feminist might not be the same for another.
Another reason that a person might have this belief is discussed in chapter 2 as well; this topic is that of hierarchy and privilege. Chapter two discusses how certain groups are ranked higher than other. For example, literate is placed above non-literate and male over female. Depending on which groups society assigns to you could depend on how you determine the equality. A white, wealthy woman would experience more privilege than a black, working class woman; this therefore has an influence on how these women are affected by equality.
Personally, I feel that gender equality for me exists, but for women as a whole we still need to work towards this goal. I say this because I have never really experienced discrimination because I am a female and I can not recall anyone that I know of who has. For example, I was discussing some of these issues with my boyfriend and he said that he views me as is equal and values my opinions more so than his guy friends. This is not the only situation that makes me feel as though I, as a female, am considered an equal to males. Since my summer job has started, I have been placed in charge of basically training all of the new servers that have come down to the pool bar to work for the summer. I was placed in charged because I along with another male employee have been at the pool bar the longest. I feel that the fact that I was chosen over the male employee shows that gender equality does exist. In the unpack your knapsack activity, I am a white, middle class, young heterosexual female. This could be part of the reason why I have not experienced any gender discrimination. I have not really been placed in too many situations where the need for gender discrimination exists, because of my statuses. These statuses could be a large part of why I feel that equality exists for me. I have also mentioned before that I have an, I guess you could say “old-fashioned” mindset when it comes to the roles of women and men. For myself, in the future I would be happy to be a stay at home mother while my husband brings in the majority of the money. I do not think that a woman’s place is in the home, I just feel that in the future it will be for me. This I also feel is a reason why I have not experienced inequality, because I do not see it that way. I can not think of a situation in which I have been discriminated against, but there could be a few that I have overlooked because of this mindset.
On the other hand however, I know that there are many females who do not have the privilege of experiencing gender equality. I know that there are women who are struggling to break the glass ceiling that exists between them and their male co-workers. I know that there are women who get passed over for promotion after promotion because they are female. For some women, they are not even placed in this position because they are in a situation where they can not even break into the professional world; instead they are working a low paying job just to make ends meet. This is why I feel that as a whole gender, equality is still and issue that needs to be worked towards.