Aboriginal Women and Lesbians - Essay Example

?Questions Aboriginal women and lesbians: Aboriginal women, along with their children, and lesbians have been victims of racism, sexism and domestic abuse in the contemporary Canadian society. This essay compares and contrasts the sufferings of the two groups of women in contemporary Canada, and their resistance against discrimination. Aboriginal women are not given much protection by the law. The number of aboriginal women in prisons is higher than that of men, which shows discrimination against them. When Europeans arrived, aboriginal women were even deprived of their right to vote. European economic and cultural development proved to be catastrophic for them, since they were enjoying equal rights as men before the Europeans arrived. Their children were sent to residential schools at very early ages, to return after many years or never to return. Likewise, lesbians have been facing discrimination in Canada since a long time ago. They have been treated as psychologically ill persons, and are often subjected to electroshock therapies. They have not been allowed to get admitted to armed forces, and have been facing sexism at workplaces and public places. They have also been victims of anti-lesbian violence and discriminatory Canadian laws. For example, before 1969, lesbianism was considered as a crime in Canada, and was offensive enough to lead to imprisonment. Aboriginal resisted the deprivation of their right to vote, enter into business contracts, and own property. They struggled hard in the twentieth century to make themselves recognized as legal citizens of Canada. Due to their struggles, only some decades ago, law recognized them as legal persons and lifted precincts upon their right to vote, enter into contracts, and own property. They fought for their equitable position at the constitutional table. Similarly, today Canada has many national laws that protect the rights of lesbians, and imposes fines and punishments on those who do or provoke anti-lesbian hatred at workplaces or public places. For example, the Canadian Human Rights Act was designed after lesbians raised their voices against discrimination against them. This law “forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation by federally-regulated employers, landlords and services” (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, 1999, para.6). To conclude, aboriginal women and lesbians have been raising their voices against the marginalization that they have to face due to hatred of the society. Many laws have passed, and many associations are working, to protect their rights, but still their suffering has not completely ended, and they are considered as mentally ill and inferior persons of the society. 2. Feminism has seen four waves since feminists, and women themselves, have started raising their voices against gender discrimination they suffer from at homes and at workplaces (Rebick, 2005). This essay tends to focus on the thesis statement that the third and fourth waves of feminism differ from the first and second waves in terms of activism and understanding relations among women, by giving a brief introduction of the four waves. The first wave of feminism arose in the nineteenth century when an organized feminist movement started in Britain in the 1850s. Although many feminists, like Mary Wollstonecraft, had already debated on the topic of female social inequality, yet there was a need for an organized movement. First wave feminists promoted their idea of giving equal rights to women in education, employment, and decisions about marriage. However, they focused only on the problems they had experienced, and not on the problems of working women. Second wave arose in the late twentieth century when feminist activities increased. Women started to contend against discrimination, in which they were given second class status. This wave focused mainly on working class of women, which was obvious from the 1968 strike of working women at the Ford car plant, protesting for equal pay. Women also started understanding their social, political, personal, sexual and reproductive rights, under the slogan “the personal is political.” In contrast to the previous waves, the third wave of feminism revolved around personal empowerment. The third wave arose in the 1990s, focusing less on activism and more on individualism. It emphasized the fact that women had unique identities. This wave mainly included young feminists, belonging to Generation X demographic (born roughly between 1966 and 1976) or Generation Y (born roughly between 1977 and1997). This wave differed from the second wave in that the second wave focused more on activism, like sex discrimination law and abortion rights, while the third wave revolved more around individual empowerment rather than on activism and social change. From the 1990s onwards, a fourth wave came in that connected women more to spirituality than to the natural world. Women started focusing on their customary identity as nurturers. They started a coalition to get control over behavior of males through public policy while exercising the threat of state-sponsored violence. Hence, the third and fourth waves differ from the first and third ones in that the former two waves focused on activist goals of the feminist movements, with the first wave focusing on vote and property rights and the second wave focusing on working women, while the latter two waves focused more on personal empowerment of females, stressing their identities and wish to control men. 3. The most important thing that I have learned from this course, and which I want to share with those who have not taken this course, is that women have been subject to domestic violence for ages, and the need of hour is to break the cycle of violence. This essay elaborates on this social issue to give the reader an idea about the severity of the problem. Feminist theories and feminists characterize women as slaves in their houses doing work for their families without getting paid and thus, their houses become a sort of prison for them (Weir & Faulkner, 2004, p.122; Rebick, 2005). We can define domestic abuse as the abuse in which one spouse makes the other one undergo physical or mental exploitation so that he can prove his power and supremacy. The victim is, most of the time, the woman. The abusive husband maltreats the wife to satisfy his pride, and also acts loving at times to keep the victim stay in the relationship because the latter may think that the husband has improved although it does not happen, and hatred and rebellion develop within the wife. Domestic violence is a social crime because it leads to severe mental problems and psychological breakdowns due to which the victimized woman is often considered as an abnormal person. This is the reason why women are often the killers in homicides. When husbands physically or mentally abuse their wives, the latter develop such mental problems and anxiety disorders that lead them to kill their husbands and get rid of the abuse once and for all. However, local authorities hold the responsibility to take proactive measures so as to stop domestic violence. According to Johanne Enright and Justin Bates (2008, para.3), the barristers in Meritz Chambers and Arden Chambers respectively, “All local authorities are empowered to use s.153A Housing Act 1996 to prevent domestic violence in the context of their housing management functions.” The need of the hour is to take steps to break the cycle of domestic violence once and for good. The Criminal Code states that assault or a physical offence is a crime. People should volunteer to participate in domestic violence shelter programs. They must also take information about anti-violence policies from their congressional representatives. In short, domestic violence is one of the biggest social problems of the contemporary society, and breaking the cycle of domestic violence is an important need of today. This can only be done if women are able to recognize the abuse, and are willing to take a stand against the abuser. References Enright, J., & Bates, J. (2008). Domestic violence: Local authority duties and responsibilities. Family Law Week. Retrieved Apr 16, 2012, from http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed25246 Rebick, J. (2005). Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution. USA: Penguin Canada. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. (1999). Fact sheet: Worldwide antidiscrimination laws and policies based on sexual orientation. The Body. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from http://www.thebody.com/content/art2432.html Weir, S., & Faulkner, C. (2004). Voices of a New Generation: A Feminist Anthology (1st edn.). USA: Prentice Hall PTR. Read More