Selena-fear

The fear of women’s position

Because of my masters, I have always been concerned with the issue of gender and sexuality, and I really appreciate that I have the chance to learn and know more about it. Unfortunately, not every woman is as lucky as me. I heard that in some countries, women don’t have the opportunity to educate themselves about their rights, or think about gender equality. What I said is not just about education, sometimes woman have no human rights, too. Women are claimed to be the secondary gender and the property of their male counterparts.

     Looking back on my life, I don’t have to worry too much about that since our government requires everything to be fair for both female and male in my country, and so on in other modern countries. However, sometimes I still confuse women’s positions and their future even though things are already different if we compare them to traditional society in Chinese culture. Nowadays, women can find a job, and might have the same salary as man; moreover, babies can also use their mother’s last name not just their father’s. In addition, more and more men would like to share the responsibility in the family such as housework and taking care of children and the elderly. Doesn’t it sound perfect?

     Nevertheless, something is still hidden under the peaceful surface in modern society. There are several various discrimination of woman there. Of course it might not be as serious as some cases which happened in other male-lead societies, but people are still judged by gender and sexuality. For example, you can’t be a perfect wife and mother if you can’t do very well in both work and family. The other case is, if you can’t have a son, your in-laws might suggest your husband divorces you and marries another woman, because Chinese culture prefers having male members in the family. People still believe that there are some limitations for women; when born, women are claimed to be bad in science and logic, that’s why people believe that women are useless in rational society.

     Frankly, the worst thing for me is, sometimes not only are men chauvinistic, but women are as well. They, as some men do, try to limit and regulate women as they were in the past-- sometimes they ask more than men. It sounds ridiculous but it’s true. It’s an absolute tragedy.

     It’s seems to me that women are hard to have their own position if people keep discriminating against gender. Basically, while they have many challenges in work and family, they are hardly rewarded. Where should women go? Personally, as a modern woman, I’m afraid of being limited by society and culture. To be honest, I don’t want someone to tell me what I can and can’t do based on my gender. If I can’t avoid being judged, I wish I could be judged in something I can change.

The fear of water shortage

     As a resource, water is vital in the world; people need water in various ways everyday. However, it seems to me that most people have not appreciated about the present that we receive from nature. It is weird since the treatment of an important resource looks like rubbish to people.

     Why do people still waste water even though they already know that water might be exhausted in the recent year? In my case, I had had an aware experience about the poverty of water before I came to Vancouver. Several years ago, I have been to Southwestern China once. When we went to the washroom in countryside, I found there was no water for cleaning. It’s impossible to happen in Taiwan; I thought it might be a special case, but unfortunately, we faced the problem again and again in China. In that time, I realized that water was not always plenty in everywhere and, suddenly, I was extremely shock though I already knew the fact for a long time. Being in that situation, I felt guilty because sometimes I wasted water, too. 

     Therefore, I do really worry about the water shortage issue now. I saw a lot of research and newspaper which discuss about the water pollution and shortage. In addition, some information shows that many countries have not had enough water in both livelihood and the development of economic and country. At the same time, people in those powerful countries have tons of water and they don’t really care about resource wasting.

     It’s high time we saved water. It’s the responsibility that we can’t avoid to bear for all human who living in the earth. Considering the justice and ethics, we must do something to save water. Otherwise, we will lose the beautiful world and made more and more people stay in a poor and sad situation