Contemporary Connections

I think it is kind of obvious how this issue connects to our world.  My issue is of female empowerment, and how it is lacking in Uncle Tom's Cabin.  Throughout the book, women are not to own their own property and are treated and referred to as little girls.  I think the is prevalent in our society even now.  And isn't that sad?

It seems that even though we've been fighting this power struggle to become equal to our male counterparts, we still are at odds.  We are still being paid less, offered less jobs, and just in general are not seen to be as good as a male.  I see this day after day when I go to work as a cashier.  I see that when we must help a customer lift something, the customer will be astonished to see me, a woman, coming to help.  Often, I will be told straight to my face that the customer will go find a man to answer their fishing question.  (And they don't know that I come from a long line of fishermen/women from Two Rivers!)

I think people have to learn to treat women as women, and that's what the story has taught me the most.  One of the most degrading things you can call a woman is a "girl".  I believe that becoming a woman starts when she has received her first period.  After that point, she should always be called a woman, and be treated like any other woman.  But I see that women are still be treated as weaklings, like I stated in my job as a cashier, above.  And I see that if we, as women, decide to act strong, we are seen as bitchy, overconfident, or just trying to act like a man.  Is it possible to just give a woman respect?  To see a woman up the corporate ladder still seems to be an astonishing and scary accomplishment.  It seems that our society is still too afraid to recognize that women want to have the same respect as men, and not have pretty pink bows on their items and blue ribbons on their male counterpart's items.

This book really opens our eyes to see that we are not thinking equality, our society is still trying to put everyone in their own brackets.  Right off the bat, when someone is born, they must be placed in the male or female category and placed accordingly with either blue or pink.  When is it going to be okay for men to wear pink without their shirts saying "Real men wear pink," and when will it be okay for a woman to wear blue and not be called a tomboy? 

The power control of the book and of our society coincides with one another, showing that our society has some growing up to do.  If we still have the same issues as hundreds of years ago, we have a problem.