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In the course, I was introduced to prominent women in society raising awareness about the different issues we face in society. Today women are involved in a lot of advocacy activities from fighting for equality of pay to fight for environmental sustainability to fighting gender-based discrimination, among others. Learning about these women in their different roles has enabled me to better understand my unpaid work and that of my interviewee.
The course has enabled me to better understand my interviewee’s unpaid work experience as an advocate against domestic violence. Having been a victim of domestic violence herself, my interviewee set up a foundation that takes care of women that suffers from domestic violence. Even though she is an employee at a financial institution, she dedicates a lot of time towards her foundation. The foundation has a helpline where women who are suffering from domestic violence can reach out to ask for help. Other than the toll-free helpline, the foundation also has a home where women who have escaped domestic violence are taken in, receive psychological help, and receive training on how to recover their self-esteem. Additionally, the foundation creates awareness about domestic violence and advocate for better policies that protect women from domestic violence. I admire the interviewee for being able to set aside time to take care of vulnerable women in society while also maintaining her main source of income. Listening to her story and how passionate she is about her work at the foundation made me realize that as a woman, she identifies with the problems that fellow women are facing in society and that is why she is helping them through the foundation. However, the course had enabled me to better understand the work that the interviewee is doing through the foundation. It has allowed me to see that the work of the interviewee through the foundation is not just about compassion but also a political action that is done by women in the body. The course indicates that women’s body is the initial place where they are in a political conflict. Through their bodies, women face struggles such as freedom from sexual oppression and violence, the struggle for sexual and reproductive rights as well as the struggle for autonomy. Thus since women are normally ignored or silenced without getting rid of the various types of oppression realized via the body, they are engaging in political action to ensure change (Dirlik, 8). Listening to the interviewee, I have realized that just like the home is a safe place for the majority of women, it is it can also be the site where they experience a lot of oppression and violence. Therefore in political struggles, the home is crucial since it is where several power relations are negotiated, and undervalued labor is generated. The home is important in women’s political struggle as it where the majority of women obtain their key political and social identities as well as roles. Ensuring a safe place at home allows them to harness their power to deal with political struggles in other aspects of their lives. As such, through her foundation, the interviewee is engaging in a political action intended to not only protect women’s safe place, which is at home but also to advocate for the value that is generated at home. This, she achieves by letting women know that they should not allow domestic violence and enabling them to see their value as women by helping them recover their self-esteem.
Further, the course allowed me to better understand my unpaid work as an environmental activist. Following the recent news that has been making headlines regarding the impact that unsustainable practices are having on the environment, I have become an environmental protection activist. Though I am not a member of an environmental protection agency, I have taken it upon me to create awareness about environmental protection by publishing blogs on environmental protection related issues. Further, over the weekend, I organize with my friends and others with similar interests to engage in environmental protection activities such as cleaning oceans and planting trees. My decision to create awareness about environmental protection and to participate in environmental protection activities was motivated by my need to contribute my part towards protecting the environment. I believe that my action allows me to encourage others to also do their part to protect the environment in addition to reducing the harm that has already been done to the environment. The course has, however, provided me with in-depth insight into my role in environmental protection. It has shown me that women like me are leading the fight for environmental protection. According to the course, the environment is shaped by gender relations since environmental organizations, responsibilities, and rights are significantly gendered. Women are currently at the center of ecological struggle and leading environmental movement globally (Dirlik, 9). These assertions are underpinned by the work of women like Vandana Shiva and Naomi Klein, who are raising awareness regarding the environmental issues we face in our society today. Shiva, for instance, indicates that the use of economic growth as a yardstick for economic policy is a major threat to the environment. Emphasis on economic growth is encouraging unsustainable practices that are harmful to the environment (Youtube). Klein, on the other hand, associates the environmental issues we face in today’s society to the tendency to overlook the needs of the people and the environment. In her view, damages to our environment are because we gamble with precious and irreplaceable things without a backup plan (Youtube). The course stipulates that the work of the outlined women shows the important role that women are playing in the place of the environment. They are creating awareness about the causes of environmental problems while also pushing for change to ensure that the environment is protected just like I have been doing as environmental activists.
Therefore, it is pertinent to assert that the course has deepened my understanding of my interviewee’s role and my role as activists. The course has taught me that as women, we are redefining political action both in the body and in the environment.
Work Cited
Dirlik, Arif. “Women and the Politics of Place.”Harcourt & Escobar Development Vol. 45 (), pp. 7-14
Klein, Naomi. “Addicted to Risk.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhL7P7w3as
Shiva, Vandana. “Lunacy of Economic Growth.”