Cde reflective journal two

Reflective Journal (II)

Reflect on the changing role of women in society. Draw on examples from China, the United States and Singapore in your reflections.

The role of women has changed. At least for the better. Women have gone from being considered the property of husbands or the absolute property of slave-owners to individuals with the full range of legal rights and responsibilities. For centuries before the early 1900's, there was a prominent male domination in almost every part of the world. With the advent of industrialization and technological development, the lifestyles of human beings started to change. In this process, women slowly started to move outside home. Women pursued education in equal terms with males and with this women literacy rate improved tremendously. Subsequently, women slowly started to participate in all walks of life. Gone are the days when women sat at home, managing the house and looking after the children. Today women have been given bigger role to play in the society.

The change in the role of women in the aspects of economy can be described with one word. Astonishing! Women-owned businesses are highly increasing in the economies in almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potentials of women have gradually surfaced throughout the years. From two decades ago till present, women have launched entrepreneurial careers in record numbers. The emergence and growth of women-owned businesses have contributed strongly to the US economy. Statistics have shown, as of 2004, there were an estimated 10.6 million privately held firms, accounting for nearly half of all privately held firms in the country. Furthermore, women-owned firms employ 19.1 million people and generate $2.5trillion in sales. Thus, we can see from these that the economy is no longer solely the males’ job to maintain; women are now surpassing their counterparts and can now share the burden with them, no longer dependent on men who were once the ‘sole breadwinners’.

The change in role of women in the aspects of social can be said as ‘unimaginable’. No women in the past would ever imagine there will be such equality between men and women. Take China for example. China has a long history of preference towards men; generations of Chinese women were once forced to bind their feet, where at that time, ‘beauty’ of deformed small feet is appreciated so much. Women once had to abide to all commandments given by her husband and act as a subordinate in order to maintain the so called ‘social hierarchy’. In the present era, women are no longer restricted by the rules and regulations posed by men. They have their freedom, they can make their own choice. Women in the modern China now possess so much more economical affluence as compared to the past where money was mostly in the ‘good’ hands of the men. Also, the fact that women nowadays are dressed in the way they are fond of, evidently tells us that men are no longer in control, women now have their power. In the social sphere, women are no longer treated as slaves, now they are highly respected; women are no longer under control, now they are the authorities.

In Singapore, women can be seen as more unique compared to the women in America and China. Singapore was established under the influence of western and eastern ideology. Immigrants from all over the world flocked to Singapore in the founding years, bringing the word ‘multi’ to a brand new level. Since then, our dear nation has been well-known to be multi-racial, multi- religious, multi-ethnic, and multi-language and so on. The point I am trying to put forth is that women in Singapore are treated equally, but in other sense, not that equal after all. The western ideals being liberal would mean that women have their freedom of choice. However, contrastingly, the east’s concept is that men should always be in full control when it comes to decision makings. On the streets, we see women fashionably dressed and participating in all kinds of hip-and-trendy functions. At home, they are still restricted by Chinese Confucianism ideas that they should assume simultaneous roles as her son’s mother, her husband’s wife and her father’s daughter. They should be, at all times, ready to serve the men in the family. Also, upon independence, there was a great need to utilise human resources and thus Singapore incorporated women into the workforce. To ensure discipline from the society, Singapore placed great emphasis on Confucian ethnics and traditional gender roles – men were classified as the breadwinner and the women as the caregivers. This was greatly emphasised in a speech that the current Senior Minister Goh made in 1980 which declares that women play a more valuable role at home than in the workforce. Therefore, I do feel that Singapore society has a long way to go before the role of women change.

In conclusion, I feel that on the surface, it may seem that sex equality has been achieved – women now have the right to choose, freedom to do whatever they want and opportunities to assume critical roles in business and politics, but on the inside, there is still many restrictions made that bounded women and there is still presence of loopholes and discrimination. I do agree that women roles have made leap and bounds, but the fact that women and men cannot be compared as both genders have different physical and emotional attributes, suggests that this topic of gender equality is subjective.