Gender and Conflict

I am really excited for this class. I look forward to possible discussions and already feel like the readings are helping me better understand the idea of gender. The first reading that we had on gender and race was a little hard to read at first simply because of the language. There were words that I hadn't heard before and words that I don't often use. However, the article had a lot of very interesting points and the second time through it made a lot of sense. I like the use of relationality to talk about gender and race. The author says that in our society, one category is given a higher position or almost a kind of "transparency" which makes that category the "good" one while anything else is "bad". I think many people would argue that women are not thought of as "bad" because of their gender but I agree with the author. We may not use the word "bad" but women must struggle to attain equality because they are casted in a lower light. For example, when we think of equality in the Senate of the US, most people talk about the changes in the percentage of women representatives and talk about certain women being impressive or unique because they are in a position of power. We don't normally say, "He is a male representative," but "He is a representative." However, in the case of a woman, gender is often emphasized to the point where it becomes redundant, "She is a female representative" rather than " She is a representative." I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. Actually, I believe that the recognition of women gaining more positions of power is important in emphasizing the necessity of equality not just in government, but in the society as a whole.