fKeithlyn has 13 post(s)

Much like Angela Davis, Silvia Frederic takes us on a journey of capitalization, imperialism and land privatization. Silvia illustrates that women suffer the most from land privatization that occurred because of capitalization. Due to this economical destruction, women’s moral status within society was reduced. In contrast to this statistic, we can incorporate Silvia studies within society. We still observe these patterns of the past being integrated into the present. For instance, women are still the domestic workers in the home while the husband ventures out to work in order to provide for the family. This continues to be a norm in South America, the Caribbean and eastern countries like India. Due to this imbalance women are highly dependent on their husband’s salary in order to take care of the home and family. This position makes the husband superior/ bread winner in the home. Consequently, he makes all important decisions with regards to the household affairs and is also responsible for setting and enforcing rules.
Conversely, Silvia portrays this ideology of the past by establishing how social structures affect the lives of women and why this problem continues to surface. She points out that land privatization caused this problem. During the 15th century, Europe was once controlled by a feudal system. With this system, peasants were given land for their cooperation during war. Within the peasant society they lived comfortably and happy. They had their own governor/chiefs who made the decision as to when to harvest the crops, which location was best for cultivation due to the untimely and harsh weather. In addition, because civilians did their own work, they established their own resting days. It was also a system of self-reliance hence they profited from their hard labor. After the decline of the feudal system, many women lost their jobs as breeders or industrial workers. Their jobs became redundant. Additionally, during this time finding jobs for women was a difficult task. It was quite evident that men were readily hired to do laborious jobs as opposed to women. Nevertheless, this depression subjugated women to become prostitutes, robbers or borrow as a means of survival. Another event that escalated during land privatization is that many women fought back to keep their land from expropriation. Many removed hedges and levelled the ditches but were later imprisoned for their actions. During these times women felt the brunt of the depression simply because they were vulnerable. They lived through the abuse from men and sometimes became vagabonds or nomadic. Many women were pregnant and couldn’t partake in migration while carrying their children.
Similarly, land privatization also affected women through broken family ties, communal cultivation and cultural aspect. Many were left alone to fend for themselves. During this era man left the women while they went out to fend themselves. Consequently, capitalization increased, there was a surge in unemployment among women. Providing that they didn’t have any sources of income, many became homeless and lived in shelters. The economic issue forced women to become domestic workers and totally dependent on their husband’s meager salary. Many suffered abuse from their husbands and couldn’t escape the ill treatment because of the lack of employment. Also, if they resisted the treatment they were forced to face the street. Their only source of income came with tragic conditions. Finally, land privatization affected women lives because many were deemed as witches over a simple misunderstanding. Thus, many women were prosecuted and hang. This stigma further downgraded the rank of women within society along with creating misogamy. We can relate to the authors ideology because there is still impoverishment and inequality among women today.

In Women, Race & Class, Davis expands on the white man’s dominance in all aspects of society during the slavery era. Men made every decision in the household. Women were mostly illiterate and hence incompetent in the male-governed society. Their roles primarily consisted of cooking and cleaning, childbearing and attending to their husbands’ every need.                                                                                                                      Davis highlights the significance of the women’s conference from which ironically women were excluded. Although slavery had not been abolished during the period in which the conference took place, former male slaves who had earned their freedom were also in attendance. The men did not care to hear the opinions of their spouses or the opinions of any women for that matter. Davis uses this conference to demonstrate the low state of intellect that women inhabited during that period; one so low that even a former slave, who was not allowed an education during his enslavement, was allowed attendance into women’s meeting that a woman was not.

The “freedom” that existed for women in the north was almost laughable. Women could not engage in men’s conversations and could not give advice to their husbands. Female factory workers were paid less than their male counterparts. They had little to no control over the wages they received and when and how that money would be paid to them. At times wages could be taken before they could even see them. The lack of education among women vastly decreased the amount of jobs available to them, they mostly worked industry jobs and were met with deep sexism when they tried to venture into other fields. Most women were forced to be homemakers which further solidified their position in the lowest economic strata in society.

Even though the white women in the north experienced sexism and in the south, black women experienced sexism and racism, both groups of women were slaves to their husbands and to the system that very determinately kept them tethered to their masters. Davis clearly shows that in a white male dominated society, race, color and gender would continue to manifest themselves and be used as a force to keep down those marked as “inferior”.

Although great strides have been made with the Feminist movement and with sexism along with other types of discrimination being illegal in most establishments, there are still great forms of inequality in the modern era. For one, we still live in a patriarchal society. Women who work just as hard as men still receive significantly less pay. Women who work hard to reach position of authority, are disrespected by their male subordinates and often we hear insults and slurs that used primarily to describe women, by men who do not respect them despite their authority. A woman’s sexuality, much like in the era Davis describes, is still used as a way to shame her or worse yet as a means to certify the manhood of any particular man. Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton’s failure to succeed President Barack Obama can be contrasted with the women’s conference and the attendance of the former male slave yet the exclusion of the women. Some countries still do not allow their female citizens access to quality education. Instead, they are trained to be wives and mothers. Many of these women become slaves to their husbands.

Women are far stronger than society makes them look. Davis uses Sojourner Truth’s story to express the interdependent of the two genders. Sojourner is quoted as saying, “‘I am faster than a man. I bred and raised 13 children, which a man cannot do.’”She did not appear weak or vulnerable despite her womanhood which society attempted to force her to believe was the source of such feelings. She did not need a man to provide for her and she did not need a man to rescue her. There were many things that women could do that a man cannot. Neither a person’s gender not their race could give him or her authority over another. Sojourner Truth’s spirit of strength, perseverance and determination to prove that womanhood did not make one weak nor did it signal subordination, is the strength that I believe Davis wants all women to embody

Hi my name is Keithlyn. I am from Brooklyn, New York. I am a transfer student from BMCC. I attended Hunter College to earn my degree as a clinical biochemist. I long for this profession so that I can help find the cure for cancer. Growing up in the Caribbean you were told which family members, neighbors and friends died from this disease. In addition, my mom even confess her tragic story of losing  her best friend; this motivated me to pursue my profession so that I can help bring closure and comfort to my mom. I know she will be happy and proud of me to know we have finally found the cure to this growing epidemic. Nevertheless, we will save millions from the growing pain and heartache.