A girl should be two things: who and what she wants – Coco Chanel
If you think back 100 years, could you have ever imagined that women can stand out from the crowds of men to express their talents? Take some celebrities, for instance, Oprah Winfrey, a famous talk show host, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor and Yin Wen Tsai, current Taiwanese president. The famous female representatives mentioned above are from North America, Europe, and Asia. Undoubtedly, the gender equality around most of the world has obviously developed. I’m glad especially the place I live in, Taiwan, is a country which pays lots of attention to women’s right. Firstly, according to our Executive Report last year, we come on top in Asia for gender equality and rank as the 8th around the world. To be honest, I would prefer to say gender equality rather than “Feminist Right” here. It’s because some people will consider it exclusively emphasizes girls or women, but actually, it’s a social way to look into the inequality and injustice. If you would like to have a basic concept about the feminist right, the Feminist Theory in Sociology would be a good start.
We have been taught the concept of gender equality since our childhood in school, and this topic has always caused a fight between my male friends and me. However, after graduation, I understand how important it is. It does not just impact our lives, but deeply influences our future. The followings are the improvements of gender equality that I have observed from the aspects of family and work these years.
Daughters are as precious as sons. Being born in the Asian culture, people value sons over daughters according to the traditional concept. It is easy to notice it in a family structure 20 or 30 years ago. There would usually be 4 or 5 daughters and only 1 son in a family, so you might understand how important a boy was to a family back then. Currently, this ideal only prevails in the older generations. Take my case for an instance. I could only get a reward from my grandparents if I got first place in an exam. However, my brother could receive a reward without this pain. Don’t be surprised, I believe it happened in several families in Asia. Fortunately, my parents understand this situation and they still teach us in a proper way and we seldom feel inequality from them. For them, a daughter is as important as a son. Besides, people even think daughters are more considerate than sons in the current Asian society.
When the woman is a manager. How do you feel about having a female boss? Luckily, I have experienced to have male and female managers in my companies. Their styles to manage a team are quite different. People will consider a female manager is to be bossy and they tend to prefer to have a male one. From my experience, it’s quite true that the male manager gains the applause easily, but it doesn’t mean I agree that the male manager is better than the female one. Since I believe a good manager should be evaluated by their ability, interpersonal skill, and empathy, instead of their genders. Thus, from my experience, when the woman is a manager, she is able to engage more with the employees or her jobs. They can still obtain respect and achieve accomplishment just like men.
Every March is not just a month to celebrate the existence of women, but also to acknowledge the contributions and achievements that women have accomplished. As one of the members, I was used to hate being a woman. Due to the different physical and social aspects, our society taught us that we should behave like a “lady,” we shouldn’t play or walk around alone outside because it’s dangerous for women. Every time when I heard these comments, I would like to question the definition of “lady” and the “danger” for women. Being a lady is to meet the social standard, but the social standard for a “lady” might become a chain for women, as not all of the women agree with the so-called “lady.” Furthermore, being a woman doesn’t mean the danger, it is the environment that puts the woman under inferior circumstances. After several years passed, and thanks to the current development of women’s rights and lots of role models to follow, I am proud to be a woman now.
Moreover, it is also important that as girls we should take our perspectives for ourselves seriously. We keep trying our best to act well with our characters and roles at different stages in life. Being a good daughter, girlfriend and wife or even the female manager are always our responsibilities or lessons. It will be easy for us to forget what kind of life we prefer. Thus, only if we know who we are and what we want for life, we can truly be ourselves and enjoy our rights.
