When I began travelling back and forth from Fort Wayne, IN to Kalamazoo, MI for work a few months ago, I decided to download some audio books and listen to them as I drive. The driving only lasted for about a month but I am now hooked on my audio books! Even though there are so many genres available, I decided to listen to the classics...those books I have always wanted to read (or finish reading) but have never found the time to do. I started with Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, The Beautiful & the Damned, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and, well, the list has gone on! I was so amazed by some of these books. For instance, I am also addicted to a podcast called Stuff You Missed in History Class and in an episode a few years ago, the co-hosts were talking about how Mark Twain actually prided himself on writing in a more casual tone than people were used to because he wanted to appeal to the general public, those who weren't normally reading books in that time. Well, let me tell you...I absolutely loved A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court! It was fantastic...and so entertaining! I had to remind myself that this book was written in the 1800's because of the familiarity in the language. The same goes for The Prince and the Pauper, another highly recommended Mark Twain book I caught.
But, I mean, basically every book I have listened to over the past four months has been addicting...to the point that I will drive the long way home from work each day just to hear a bit more or even take a little drive with no destination in mind so I can get a couple more chapters in. One common theme of almost every book that I have listened to is that they take place in 18th century England. Of course, not all of them. Some take place in the 6th century (Connecticut Yankee), some take place in the U.S. during the late 18th and early 19th centuries (Beautiful & the Damned, The Awakening), and then there's The Arabian Nights, which takes place across a span of centuries and places.
So, what is my point? Well, I began to hear a common theme in these books and the sex of the author did not really seem to do much to change the theme. It becomes extremely obvious to me that these books are over 100 years old when they begin making comments about how women are too fragile and stupid to really be intellectual or about how a woman who is kissed on the cheek by a man, not of her own accord but because he just plants one on her, has to hide this detail from everyone for fear of becoming the downfall of her family reputation. I mean, the list goes on. There are some books that are not as obvious but clearly not because they are trying to hide it. Oh, no! That's the point here. This was just how it was. As a matter of fact, in the book I just finished, A Room with a View, the female protagonist is going through this almost transformation throughout the book. She just wants women to be treated equally. And at one point, it is said (by the man who is viewed as the sympathizer) that equality among the sexes is something that all should want to see but that none are ever likely to see. I mean, wow! And to think that not too many decades later, 1918 in England and 1920 in America, women would be granted the right to vote.
I read these books, or rather, I listen to these books and it takes a while for me to wrap my head around the massive changes that have happened in the campaign on women's rights. I mean, as I sit here writing this, I have a full time job away from my home, I am wearing pants on my legs, I drive myself around to where I need to go, and I live all by myself! Could you imagine?! Well, honestly, I am not some crazy feminist demanding that women be treated equal in every aspect of life. Yes, I think we should be treated as equal humans, for sure. I am just as intelligent as my male counterpart (or more so, lol). I am just as capable of success and he is just as capable of failure. But when I think about how far we have come in such a short span of time compared to how long humanity has been on this rock, my head spins. It's about time!
And this is where my story takes a turn. Because as I listen to these books and I shake my head in disbelief at their barbarian view of womanhood, my mind flitters off to another place. Actually, many other places. Many other places around this globe TODAY where women are still viewed as second-rate citizens. I am not trying to write a controversial, political post here. I am just trying to open eyes, if nothing else. António Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, said just last year, in 2020: "I see one overwhelming injustice across the globe; an abuse that is crying out for attention. That is gender inequality and discrimination against women and girls". (Check out the full article here: Twenty-first Century Must Be Century of Women’s Equality, Secretary-General Says)
Honestly, look at the news. What was one of the biggest stories of last year...besides the whole COVID thing and the presidential election? The manhunt for human traffickers. Who do the majority of traffickers sell? Girls. Why? Because they are viewed as weaker and they are viewed as disposable. They are viewed as objects to satisfy a mans sexual desire and nothing more.
In China, when the government implemented a one-child-only law in 1978, families began taking measures into their own hands when daughters were born instead of sons. According to Wikipedia (see here), "early in the 1980s, senior officials became increasingly concerned with reports of abandonment and female infanticide by parents desperate for a son". I am the firstborn. And I am a daughter. I was born in 1977, just one year before this law took effect. Not only that, but I have a younger sister born in 1980. We are not talking about something that happened "way back in the olden days". We are talking about something that happened within our lifetime, and the lifetime of our children. That law was changed slightly to allow a second child for rural families if the first was a girl but it was in effect until 2015!!! Yes, you read that correctly. 2015 - six years ago!
Come on, fellow humans! What is wrong with this planet? Of course, with this post, I am only scratching the surface because I don't even go into the views on foreigners or blacks that have been expressed in these books. So, if you've made it this far in reading, let me just add that saying that my friends know me so well for, "all that to say..." while I am so grateful for all of the liberties I experience today as a woman, especially compared to what was experienced just a little more than 100 years ago, I also want to challenge humanity to do better - there is still so far to go for so many women and girls around the globe!
Photo Credit: girls-equality - Plan International Canada (plancanada.ca)
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