Month: October 2017

1. Women are saving us by redefining and re-programing a future that defies and blurs the accepted polarities, a commonplace that we take for granted in our tradition and culture (hook: hidden figures – film) the shift is not completed 

2. A paradigm shift occurs when the spark of feminism has fired its potential since the number of women who receive education has drastically climbed. In the past women who work in the field of science and technology was really low. (topic is too broad)
– The only way to achieve gender equality is to overturn the oppressive tradition that has been running for centuries. （vision narrowed, make claim smaller）
– Timeline of women’s education in the field of science and technology
3. STEM Education Statistics (higher number)
– Definition of STEM: an academic disciplines of science technology, engineering and mathematics
– K-12 Education
Female students’ achievement in mathematics and science is on par with their male peers and female students participate in high level mathematics and science courses at similar rates as their male peers, with the exception of computer science and engineering (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2016).
–  Higher Education
The rates of science and engineering course taking for girls/women shift at the undergraduate level and gender disparities begin to emerge, especially for minority women (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2016).
4. STEM Workforce (lower rate)
– Women remain underrepresented in the science and engineering workforce, although to a lesser degree than in the past, with the greatest disparities occurring in engineering, computer science, and the physical sciences (NSF, Science & Engineering Indicators, 2016).
– Women make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce, but only 29% of the science and engineering workforce.
– However, even the percentage is comparably low, but it is at a constant increasing rate.
5.Causes: (Inbalence)

Leadership pipeline, social and cultural commonplace to stay at home

a. Overall spread of the ideal of feminism

           b.Gender Wage Gap Exists, but the overall percentage holds the line in the United States.
– In the past: 19 century, 20 century (statistics)
– Right now: 21 century (statistics)
– Specific wage percentage in the field of science and technology (increasing rate)
– Higher percentage results in incentives to encourage some countries to allow girls to receive education (Cuba, Pakistan, and some regions in India)

c. more education received by people (Example of Pakistan)- more mentors for women

so they know it is equally important for girls to receive education.

d. lower rate of women being housewives. (women leadership pipeline, )

When men are working outside, women are typically housewives before. But now it has definitely changed.

e. more acceptance from co-workers

doing calculations behind the scene, less pay.

women=computers?

policy paper= no solutions

research on where we got

 

 

 

Our enemy is thoughtlessness.

My favorite Ted-talk is called Philosophy in prison by Damon Horowitz, who is a professor that teaches the convicts in prisons philosophy. He is one of my favorite presenters on Ted-talk because he explores humanity in a way that is so familiar with the process to grasp the beating hearts hidden within people’s bodies. By introducing the audience about his student, Tony, who was sentenced for murder and incarcerated within prison, he eventually demonstrates the ideal of philosophy that reveals the fundamental mechanism of how philosophy works.

 

When we think about philosophy, actually most of us, always make it so hard to interpret the term itself. Why do we fear philosophy? Why do we fear this term? Why does the term philosophy make you feel it is something so sophisticated and difficult to understand? Where does this misconception come from? Simply because you have never learned or explored within the kingdom of philosophy. We build the boundaries around us, so we are not able to see all the possibilities in the world. But this boundary is semi-permeable. We still have sensors. We know facts, we know the mainstream, we know how to live with smart brains. Undoubtedly, Horowitz, is the man who stands at the edge of the boundaries we create for ourselves, and he implements a gun that shoots directly at the target- the heart of the audience. He knows how to break down the boundaries of humanity.

 

We all know that the issue of teenage violence is what threatens and damages our community. And this is a commonplace we all choose to accept and agree to be able to see. We know such an issue. Horowitz uses this topic of little Tony to make us develop a sensor to sense this fact, and later on we start wanting to hear what is Tony’s story. We open our heart to listen to him because we do care about what happens to Toni. How can a four minutes talk introduce the whole ideal of philosophy? How does Tony’s story relate to philosophy? All these wondering are drawn upon his magic. Gun control is also a serious issue now appearing in our society. Horowitz has mastered how to grasp the audience’s attention.

 

Immediately followed by the story of Tony, he starts connecting Tony’s life of thinking with the insight of philosophy. The philosophy is the beginning to wonder. One part of our humanity is that we tend to follow others blindly without ever doubting or questioning everything in life. We never take anything into consideration if it is not directly connected to us. However, we neglect the fact that everything is connected to us somehow. What is philosophy then? Horowitz says, Let’s do this! 

 

Within a few of the most significant ideals from influential philosophers, Horowitz demonstrates what philosophy is. His words are powerful, his style is both serious and numerous, and most importantly, he knows how to persuade the audience within 4 minutes to introduce them with something they might have developed fear before. The story of a boy incarcerated because of murder is linked to our ethical understanding about the standard in the society. The story of a boy realizing his problem to his identity that will be stamped with criminal drastically links our pathos to his future. The story of how this boy named Tony reveals the fundamental truth of what is wrong and what is going on is a direct reflection of the logos of philosophy: this is what philosophy simply does- we examine, we explicate, we think.

 

Yes, our enemy is thoughtlessness. Yes, we are here to think. Yes, Tony is in prison but his mind is free.

 

I believe that nothing could stop me to pursue the cognition of feminism.

The topic of feminism has generally become a commonplace we all in the society, or perhaps mostly have accepted and agreed with. This commonplace, however, has transformed and shaped its ideal commonly being accepted by people through three different perspectives. The first time of the enlightenment of feminism was introduced during the time of chivalry. The code of chivalry has indicated that the men should take care of the weak and injured, with the disability to do something that they can easily do. And thus, women have commonly become the objects of the development of chivalry. This ideology, however, is not based on feminism but based on the ideal that the women are weak so they should be taken care of by the men. No one back to the history had believed that women should have the same social and economic status as men. They simply do not deserve it. No one respects women, genuinely. They only respect women based on the ideology of chivalry that they should take care of women and show respect to them because they are women, or the women of men. The second time of the spark of feminism was when the majority of women had come to the realization that they should be independent, and even the men in this male-dominated society had agreed that women should have the same status because everyone is born equal. Yet this ideology has never been common accepted by the society even nowadays. These women wanted to be independent because the society has demanded them to do so. They still live upon other people’s expectations. They haven’t figured out the real mechanism behind it. They still blindly follow the mainstream of the society that require revaluation of these major issues that concern the public. The third time, the last time of the fire of feminism occurred when the literatures have revealed the fundamental truth of the reason that locks women inside the house and behind the window: themselves.

Here is this common tragedy of humanity: we tend to follow others blindly and thus we have generated this blind ignorance to believe what we are inside of. We believe the society we are part of, but we ignore the fact that we are never the people who build the society. We are living in a society that has been designed and created by the people who have always been the supremacy of the society. This is a generational cycle we are all part of.

I want examine this topic by researching on the literatures from the beginning of feminism and the latter ones. There will be clear distinctions between the oder ones and the newer ones since ideologies have shifted and shaped over time. But there will be one thing that will be true as always: the more we change, the more we will see what will remain unchanged. I will research on what has been changed but at the meantime reveal what has never be changed in this topic of the transition of feminism. My argument in regard to this topic is that even though the ideal of feminism has been evaluated by the society, what has been changed about the ideal is actually the actions conducted by women themselves. What is changing is not simply the ideal but the applications of women’s own behaviors as well as reasonings toward their own dreams and lives.