Feminism

Introduction A major problem that persist in today’s classroom is the fact that there are too little gender education. The important role of women, as well as men, should be addressed in the curriculum. I just think the role of men is overemphasised and the role of women is underemphasised. If we look at the learning area of history, for instance, you will notice that there is not many heroic women figures we learn about, but only great historic men figures. What about women' What about feminism' In today’s classroom there is most certainly still an underlying atmosphere of gender discrimination against women – there is a general assumption that men are stronger, better and more clever than women. This is an atmosphere experienced in classrooms all over the world, if we will admit it or not. There should be more education on the struggles and victories of all women around the world, but particularly with an emphasis on heroines in South Africa on Afrikaner women organizations who fought for women rights, for example Frances Baard. Feminism can be incorporated into learning areas such as history, civic/politics/ government and literature subjects. We are so privileged to have a women’s day on the 9th August, but how many students actually know what it’s all about' And what about apartheid' Where was the women rights' Apartheid did discriminate against black people, yes, but women rights is not even mentioned. Talk about discrimination. African women was oppressed in the worse sense of the word. (If apartheid wasn’t enough). Feminism will help students analyze the intersectionality of oppression and the different root of oppression. It will help students understand the roles in society. We need to show students that women have an equally important role in society, and by doing that, we can work on diminishing future discrimination against women and prevent an atmosphere of superiority towards women. Feminism can build put the emphasis a bit more on women, and in doing so, work towards building a democratic society. Content What is feminism' Feminism is a group of philosophies rather than one philosophy, but all with the focus on sexual stereotyping and creating a bigger place for women in the world. In more detail, feminism rejects the assumption that women are inferior to men. It lobbies for the recognition and acknowledgement of the worth of women in society. Feminist theory states that women have equal rights to men, that should also be respected and not violated. Feminist believe that women have valuable talents and strengths; and they are equally capable of doing anything men can do. The different types of feminism includes African feminism, British and American feminism, European feminism and Islamic feminism. Feminism is the philosophy that firstly claims that women are people in their own right. Secondly that women should reject men’s definition of what makes a women valuable. Thirdly, Women should not make defensive claims to “equality with men”. If anything women are superior to men. Feminism further claims that a women’s happiness does not depend on having a romantic or marital relationship with a man. Women create their own happiness. Also that it is important for women to do philosophy, because philosophy, of all academic disciplines, attempts to define and understand “reality”. To date, virtually all philosophical work has been done by men and, as a result, people’s understanding of “reality” is necessarily seriously distorted. Feminism lastly claims that only women have the right to pronounce on abortion because men do not get pregnant and bear children. Some feminist are pro-choice, others pro-life. Feminism claims that women have been, and are, denied basic human rights and that men have shown themselves to be unworthy leaders of the human race by repeatedly indulging in acts of war, violence and abusive power relationships. If we ignore feminism, then it is likely that we will live in a state of barbarity rather than civilisation. This is because women, rather than men, bring stability, harmony and higher forms of culture to human society. You may ask how we can use feminism to integrate gender education into the curriculum. If you look at the main ideas of feminism the solution will become quite clear. The main ideas of feminism in terms of education is to eliminate male domination and put a focus on women oppression and women rights. We can use feminism in the classroom to state what the social roles of women and men ought to be in society. We can use feminism to erase sexual stereotyping. Feminism can be used to encourage and empower , not only women around the world, but more specifically South African women, who will be the leaders of tomorrow. Feminism will help to include women as an equally important part in society. Feminism can improve female education and should involve policies and programs with measurable results. The government need to make an extra effort to ensure gender education with an emphasis on female figures. Conclusion In stating any problem and solution in the classroom there is always advantages and disadvantages involved. The advantages of feminism is that it encourages women as well as men to re-examine their value systems. Students become more aware of the problem. It gives women enormous psychological and moral power. Women no longer feel less important. Feminism gives women courage. Feminism brings alternative ideas to social problems. Feminism will slowly start to eliminate gender discrimination in future generations. Feminism will improve the involvement of female students in classroom activities and higher their contributions towards the classroom. This might result in women becoming more educated in general. The disadvantages, however, should not be ignored. Feminism tends to discriminates too much against men and thus creates feelings of chaos between male and female students. A result of this is that it dismiss the power and affection that is created by romantic love between men and women. It eventually limits dialogue and understanding between men and women. It tends to portray all men as naturally predatory, which I think is one of the main disadvantages. Feminism encourages women to refuse to work alongside men – this may be self-defeating in terms of social chance. Feminism also tends to idealise women. Bibliography * Higgs P & Smith J. Rethinking the world. Cape Town. Juta * Theoretical frameworks in education. Study guide. Unisa * www.prb.org/.../EmpoweringWomenDevelopingSocietyFemaleEducationinth * www.sagsa.co.za * www.WorldBank.com