Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Blog #9........
Personally, I plan to leave my children in some sort of home day care facility. I have worked in both private and public child care facilities and can defiantly tell a difference between the two. Since turning sixteen, I have worked in 4 public day cares and 2 private home day cares. The atmosphere of the two environments is completely opposite. Home day cares are not licensed to carry as many children as public day cares therefore, I feel as if my children will be better tended to as opposed to being in a facility that although may be appropriately staffed for their amount of children there are more children to tend to and therefor less time for each worker with each child. Within day care facilities the meal program is regulated by the government. Cooks must keep meal logs and the meals are required to provide the recommended amount of each food group as is decided by the government. By law, milk must be served with breakfast and lunch, children must be given a fruit and a bread every breakfast. The same rules apply to home day care facilities but the children to staff ratio is much smaller. In public child care facilities the child to staff ratio of 2 year old to 5 year old are 8 :1 which means that I can have 8 children ranging from diapers, to potty training, to being potty trained all at the same time. Its very difficult to balance changing ones diaper and still control the rest of the kids in your classroom. After working in a private home facility I truly enjoy it more. It is much less stressful and therefore much more enjoyable for the children as well as the staff members.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
blog 8.....single mothers
With the allowed budget of $1048 a month I began searching for housing. I couldn't find anything in my price range that had enough bedrooms for myself and my 3 children. I found a two bedroom apt on the west side of Moore for $409 a month. But this price doesn't include utilities and its in a neighborhood that isn't considered "safe".This means that the 2 older children would share a room and the baby would sleep with me. After subtracting rent, my budget was $639. I then added utilities which brought my budget to $330. I allowed $200 for food which left me with $130 for childcare, gas, car payment,medical expenses, insurance for both yourself/kids and your car, clothing, school supplies, phone, cable, and personal items such as shampoo and tampons. It is almost impossible to live in this area on this specific budget. The cheapest childcare i could find was $400!! Threes no way that I could even attempt to pay for that! Needless to say I would be in serious debt. Trying to raise a family on this budget is nearly impossible. There would be no money left over for any type of fun activity's family's do. I would imagine that home life would be boring and stressful. With this budget there is little to no varitey in food. the grocery budget I created contained a lot of ramen noodles, Sandwhiches (not PB&J wich it cheaper than meat because I am allergic to nuts) cereal, and mac and cheese. I imagine that the childrens friends would never want to come over to their house and that the mother would be extremely stressed.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
PriviLedges
Privilege is a very complicated thing. Some people believe privilege has everything to do with their life and some do not. Personally I believe that discrimmination and being non privileged will make you stronger if you make yourself overcome it and do not let it get you down. Everyone has been discriminated aginst in some way or another throughout their lifetime. It's just something that everyone eventually has to deal with . Though it is sad and unfourtnate, it happends. All women have been called some sort of hurtful name due to their gender and most minorities have had derrogratory statments made twords their race. It's a sad fact, but its true fact.
1. I am privileged to attend the University of Oklahoma. Many people are not afforded the luxery of a college education.
2. I have an amazing family. My family believes, encourages, and supports me through every phase of my life.
3. I have never experienced poverty. Although I am not wealthy, I am not poor and I have always had everything that I needed.
4. I am surrounded by people who love and support me.
5. I am intelligent. Intellect may very well be my favorite privilege.
6. I grew up in a small town that was successful in teaching me morals and kindness.
7. My boyfriend survived a terrible car crash. The privilege of living is amazing.
8. I am healthy. If I need medical attention I have the luxery of going to the doctor.
9. My mother is in my opinion the strongest most caring woman in the world. She can get me through anything.
10. I have the use of my legs. I have a friend that recently lost feeling in his legs after a car crash and I see daily how difficult it is for him to live.
11.I have the luxery of buying items I want not only need
12. I have a wonderful job, I take care of children and I love it!
13. My brother is my best friend, and he would do anything for me.
14. I own my car. i worked very hard to save up the money but I did it and it feels great!
15. My roomate is the best! Im so lucky to have been allowed the privilege of a great roomie instead of a creep.
16. I have been encouraged my entire life. I have always been told I was beautiful and that If I set my mind to it I could achieve any thing!
17.I have never gone to bed hungry because there was not enough food. If I was hungry it was on my own accord.
18. I have never been watched closely in a store because the store owner feared I might steal something simply because of my color.
19. I have never had my vehicle searched simply because of my color.
20. My entire family saves money all year so that at the end we can all take a vacation and spend quality time together!!!!!!
1. I am privileged to attend the University of Oklahoma. Many people are not afforded the luxery of a college education.
2. I have an amazing family. My family believes, encourages, and supports me through every phase of my life.
3. I have never experienced poverty. Although I am not wealthy, I am not poor and I have always had everything that I needed.
4. I am surrounded by people who love and support me.
5. I am intelligent. Intellect may very well be my favorite privilege.
6. I grew up in a small town that was successful in teaching me morals and kindness.
7. My boyfriend survived a terrible car crash. The privilege of living is amazing.
8. I am healthy. If I need medical attention I have the luxery of going to the doctor.
9. My mother is in my opinion the strongest most caring woman in the world. She can get me through anything.
10. I have the use of my legs. I have a friend that recently lost feeling in his legs after a car crash and I see daily how difficult it is for him to live.
11.I have the luxery of buying items I want not only need
12. I have a wonderful job, I take care of children and I love it!
13. My brother is my best friend, and he would do anything for me.
14. I own my car. i worked very hard to save up the money but I did it and it feels great!
15. My roomate is the best! Im so lucky to have been allowed the privilege of a great roomie instead of a creep.
16. I have been encouraged my entire life. I have always been told I was beautiful and that If I set my mind to it I could achieve any thing!
17.I have never gone to bed hungry because there was not enough food. If I was hungry it was on my own accord.
18. I have never been watched closely in a store because the store owner feared I might steal something simply because of my color.
19. I have never had my vehicle searched simply because of my color.
20. My entire family saves money all year so that at the end we can all take a vacation and spend quality time together!!!!!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Gender and Advertising blog # 7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw9i7vIWxgc
I've attached the link to the commercial that I chose. This is a Viva Paper towel commercial. The images in this commercial are geared directly towards gender. The female of the household is always the star of these types of commercials. In this specific video, the woman is home rearing her child. I find this very stereotypical. The majority of the time it is the female that is expected to stay home with the children. Household cleaning commercials rarely ever feature a man raising the children and cleaning up after everyone. While reviewing advertisements for this assignment I couldn't help but notice a pattern. Almost every single advertisement features a woman doing all of the cleaning and household duties. I personally think think that this is sexist. Why can the men never be doing the cleaning or the laundry? It is advertisements like these that are continuing to encourage gender inequality. These types of commercials assign labels to certain members of the household simply by following traditional mindsets that women belong in the home and not in the workplace.The F.I.F.E reading strongly ties into how the media represents women. Bell Hooks said that to achieve success you must first love yourself. I as a young girl struggled with loving myself for me and not what everyone else wanted me to be. I completely understand why our young girls feel pressured to be this stereotypical type of women. From very young ages children are pressured by society to conform to the gender roles that society has created. I mean walk into your local Walmart store and look around the toy isle. The boys and girls toy sections are clearly separated. Young girls are encouraged to play with dolls instead of cars. In order for gender equality to be achieved women have to stop allowing themselves to be objectified
I've attached the link to the commercial that I chose. This is a Viva Paper towel commercial. The images in this commercial are geared directly towards gender. The female of the household is always the star of these types of commercials. In this specific video, the woman is home rearing her child. I find this very stereotypical. The majority of the time it is the female that is expected to stay home with the children. Household cleaning commercials rarely ever feature a man raising the children and cleaning up after everyone. While reviewing advertisements for this assignment I couldn't help but notice a pattern. Almost every single advertisement features a woman doing all of the cleaning and household duties. I personally think think that this is sexist. Why can the men never be doing the cleaning or the laundry? It is advertisements like these that are continuing to encourage gender inequality. These types of commercials assign labels to certain members of the household simply by following traditional mindsets that women belong in the home and not in the workplace.The F.I.F.E reading strongly ties into how the media represents women. Bell Hooks said that to achieve success you must first love yourself. I as a young girl struggled with loving myself for me and not what everyone else wanted me to be. I completely understand why our young girls feel pressured to be this stereotypical type of women. From very young ages children are pressured by society to conform to the gender roles that society has created. I mean walk into your local Walmart store and look around the toy isle. The boys and girls toy sections are clearly separated. Young girls are encouraged to play with dolls instead of cars. In order for gender equality to be achieved women have to stop allowing themselves to be objectified
Monday, September 21, 2009
Paper #1.... Gender Roles
Throughout my life I have been trained to be the traditional American woman. I was raised in a very small town and my family is deeply rooted in the church. The religion I practice is known as Church of Christ. I was born into this specific faith and my mother had me in the church almost every time the doors were open. I was taught to cook, clean, and take care of children. Since the age of fourteen I have helped to run the church nursery and my first job was tending to children at a local day care. I love children so I thoroughly enjoyed my job but I never realized that I was being trained to live a specific lifestyle. My mother was also brought up in the church and raised very similar to the way I was but my mother always encouraged me to go after my dreams and pursue a career as well as poses the qualities that she believes makes a household functional (i.e. cooking and cleaning).
The first time I realized that men and women are not completely considered equal was when I entered High School. As a freshman, my mother encouraged me to participate in extracurricular activities. I had been a cheerleader throughout my Junior High career so I tried out for a position on the High School squad. I participated in the drama club, FFA, 4-H, SWAT, and various other activities. All of these activities were great but my high school was home to a prestigious Mock Trial team. Our Mock Trial team was one of the very few respected extracurricular activities at our school and I really wanted to be a part of it. I spoke with the teacher coach, who was also my English teacher and an old family friend who had been to several of the debates I participated in. She encouraged me to audition for the team. Because she had attended some of my debates, she had noticed that I seemed to possess the ability to think quickly and she urged me to audition for an attorney roll on the team. Prior to my auditioning there had only been three females make the team as an attorney. I practiced very hard and studied the exclusions and exceptions laws for days.
Finally the day came for attorney auditions and I entered the waiting room. To my surprise I was the only female auditioning for the spot. Almost immediately the boys began to ridicule me. They tried to convince me to just leave and save myself the embarrassment because the role of lead attorney always went to a seasoned male. Questions about why the role always went to men were swirling around my brain. I didn’t understand why they believed that because they were boys, they could play the part of attorney better than I. At one point I was so upset at the fact that everyone around me was discouraging me I exited the room to call my mother. After several minutes of crying she reminded me that I had worked very hard for this and if I it be god’s will, and I deserved it , I would get what I wanted , I just had to pull myself together and show the judges exactly how capable I was. Their doubts fueled my desire to obtain the role and although it was very hard, I stayed to audition. When I entered the audition room I noticed there was only one female on the panel of judges. All three judges were flabbergasted that I, a female, was auditioning for this specific part. “Wouldn’t a pretty little girl like you be better suited for a witness role” they said, “Why don’t you audition a role that better suits your personality” they said. Again I was astounded at their disbelief. I looked to the female judge for maybe a look of encouragement or something, but she was just as appalled by my audition choice as the men were.
It was then when I realized that women were still not considered equal to men. Although I was discouraged, I was raised to never quit anything I start so I auditioned for the part. As I sat and waited on the judges to deliberate, I wanted to just leave. I was embarrassed to even be there. The boys in the room continued to taunt me even after my audition and encouraged me to leave before the results were announced in order to save myself from public humiliation. But their attitudes made me so angry I couldn’t leave yet, I had to hear the results. The judges entered the room and announced the first two attorneys. Those roles went to two very intelligent and capable men. The role of lead attorney was the only spot on the team that hadn’t been filled and the odds were not in my favor. There was three other men and myself all up for the position and when the judges announced that I had gotten the part all of my competitors jaws dropped and even though I had proven myself capable of holding my own, my competitors were angry with me rather than happy for me. I as the lead attorney, and two male co-council members led the team to the state championships where we took the state title. I remained on the team as an attorney throughout my high school career. But it wasn’t until we had won several matches and was almost to the state level that my co- council began to respect my ideas. The members of my co- council didn’t appreciate the fact that a girl was lead attorney and therefore telling them how to play their parts.
In conclusion, I believe that women are just as capable as men in any field available and I find it terribly upsetting when young girls are discouraged from doing things because some people feel that a man would better suit that particular job. I hope that because of my personal accomplishments more women will audition for roles within the Mock Trial team that are usually taken by men.
The first time I realized that men and women are not completely considered equal was when I entered High School. As a freshman, my mother encouraged me to participate in extracurricular activities. I had been a cheerleader throughout my Junior High career so I tried out for a position on the High School squad. I participated in the drama club, FFA, 4-H, SWAT, and various other activities. All of these activities were great but my high school was home to a prestigious Mock Trial team. Our Mock Trial team was one of the very few respected extracurricular activities at our school and I really wanted to be a part of it. I spoke with the teacher coach, who was also my English teacher and an old family friend who had been to several of the debates I participated in. She encouraged me to audition for the team. Because she had attended some of my debates, she had noticed that I seemed to possess the ability to think quickly and she urged me to audition for an attorney roll on the team. Prior to my auditioning there had only been three females make the team as an attorney. I practiced very hard and studied the exclusions and exceptions laws for days.
Finally the day came for attorney auditions and I entered the waiting room. To my surprise I was the only female auditioning for the spot. Almost immediately the boys began to ridicule me. They tried to convince me to just leave and save myself the embarrassment because the role of lead attorney always went to a seasoned male. Questions about why the role always went to men were swirling around my brain. I didn’t understand why they believed that because they were boys, they could play the part of attorney better than I. At one point I was so upset at the fact that everyone around me was discouraging me I exited the room to call my mother. After several minutes of crying she reminded me that I had worked very hard for this and if I it be god’s will, and I deserved it , I would get what I wanted , I just had to pull myself together and show the judges exactly how capable I was. Their doubts fueled my desire to obtain the role and although it was very hard, I stayed to audition. When I entered the audition room I noticed there was only one female on the panel of judges. All three judges were flabbergasted that I, a female, was auditioning for this specific part. “Wouldn’t a pretty little girl like you be better suited for a witness role” they said, “Why don’t you audition a role that better suits your personality” they said. Again I was astounded at their disbelief. I looked to the female judge for maybe a look of encouragement or something, but she was just as appalled by my audition choice as the men were.
It was then when I realized that women were still not considered equal to men. Although I was discouraged, I was raised to never quit anything I start so I auditioned for the part. As I sat and waited on the judges to deliberate, I wanted to just leave. I was embarrassed to even be there. The boys in the room continued to taunt me even after my audition and encouraged me to leave before the results were announced in order to save myself from public humiliation. But their attitudes made me so angry I couldn’t leave yet, I had to hear the results. The judges entered the room and announced the first two attorneys. Those roles went to two very intelligent and capable men. The role of lead attorney was the only spot on the team that hadn’t been filled and the odds were not in my favor. There was three other men and myself all up for the position and when the judges announced that I had gotten the part all of my competitors jaws dropped and even though I had proven myself capable of holding my own, my competitors were angry with me rather than happy for me. I as the lead attorney, and two male co-council members led the team to the state championships where we took the state title. I remained on the team as an attorney throughout my high school career. But it wasn’t until we had won several matches and was almost to the state level that my co- council began to respect my ideas. The members of my co- council didn’t appreciate the fact that a girl was lead attorney and therefore telling them how to play their parts.
In conclusion, I believe that women are just as capable as men in any field available and I find it terribly upsetting when young girls are discouraged from doing things because some people feel that a man would better suit that particular job. I hope that because of my personal accomplishments more women will audition for roles within the Mock Trial team that are usually taken by men.
Gender roles Blog 4
As I scanned through all the course options that the women studies program offers at the University of Oklahoma I began to realize that there are courses offered in several of the core areas and many of the courses are considered cross courses. This is fantastic news to me because I have really enjoyed my women's studies class. To be honest, I took the class because it appeared to be the most interesting out of the options that were given to me. But in reality I am so glad that I chose this class because already it has opened my eyes. I am a Sociology major here at OU and I plan to enter Law school. Gender will play a huge part in my career choice. Still today men all across this nation are more highly respected than women in several fields. I feel that simply because of my gender I will have to work harder to gain the respect of many judges and fellow attorneys throughout my lifetime. Even at this stage in my life I have been ridiculed for aspiring to be an attorney. I tried out for my High Schools Mock Trial team my freshman year and when the judges saw that i was auditioning for an attorney place they repeatedly asked me "are you sure", "wouldn't a pretty girl such as yourself be more suited for a witness roll?" None the less, I auditioned and got the part. I and two other male attorneys led our team on to win the state championships that year. I continued to remain on the team throughout my high school career. But as i write this blog my mind cant help but think why, simply because I'm a female, did anyone doubt my abilities? All throughout history women have been doubted and under minded simply because of their gender. Margaret Brent lived in a society where women had no rights and because of her abilities she is widely considered to be the first female attorney in America. She won each of the 124 court cases she was involved in. She is also considered on of the first feminists. Margaret Brent helped to establish women in a field that was dominated by males. I like Margaret Brent, want to do something different. I don't want to conform to the traditional lifestyle that women are "supposed" to live. Yes I would like children and a white picket fence someday, but before I would like to assert myself as a woman, help prove that men and women are equal, that women are just as capable of functioning effectively in a predominately male profession, and that women deserve all of the opportunities that men are afforded.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Blog 3..... Guys get all the glory and girls get named....
the movie was very inspiring to me. Prior to enrolling in this class I had been taught very little about women's suffrage. I mean yes we do learn about it in our high school history classes but the subject was very lightly touched on. I cant help but wonder if the reason behind students not being properly taught about women's suffrage has anything to do with American school systems basic curriculum. Is it not required to study women's suffrage just a little more in depth? Or is it not as important as some of the other historic events? I was aware that women had little to no rights but the movie helped me to visualize just how awful women's lives really were. The women fighting for simple things such as the right to vote were spit on , beaten, and imprisoned for their beliefs. Simply because they were women!! My mind is having problems fathoming how someone could actually believe that they are better than someone else based on their gender. I have grown up in a time where women are better recognized as capable human beings and I have been afforded many more opportunities than the women of the past.Being a feminist in those days was dangerous in my mind. People ridiculed feminists. Even in today's society the word feminist scares some people. I personally think this stems from a lack of education on the subject. I have learned that by being a feminist, I'm not so man hating, hairy, bitchy woman. I by being a feminist simply want equal opportunities for men and women.
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