Aim of Women’s Education in Kenya and Bangladesh

While reading any texts it is important to understand the contexts and its significance. In the case of political texts it is important to know the political situation of that time and the specific topic which is discus and focus in that text. First I want to define word “political”: “exercising or seeking power in the governmental or public affairs of a state, municipality, etc” (Online Dictionary). Here I want to discuss about the political texts: Setting Themselves Apart: Education, Capabilities, and Sexuality Among Samburu Women in Kenya and Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh. These both texts have more or less similar objective like both are talking about women’s education and the most important thing is that we come across many facts and figure about women education and impact of their education on society, politics, on traditional norms and conventional ways of practicing education in different societies. But I want to focus on political impacts of these both texts in Kenya and Bangladesh.
My analysis will be base on capabilities and instrumentalism theories. Instrumentalism means goal of using people as human capital or man power or human are used as producers and capabilities means goal of interesting individuals well being and agency. While keeping this knowledge about instrumentalism and capabilities in mind we can observe that in Kenya education is used as capabilities of women or well being of women and in Bangladesh women education is main source of instrumentalism approach where women education is utilize as a tool for production. In Kenya education has quite large impact on traditional norms of society and help women to escalate her well being; “the [educational] boundaries mark differences in knowledge and capabilities as well as divergent views of morality, sexuality, and gender roles. The boundaries function, as Lamont suggests, creating a sense of group-ness among educated girls and women” (572). As it is clear that education in Kenya emphasis on women capabilities which is beneficial for government that if every individual will be able they not only get advantages for themselves but also the whole country will get benefits. Because when capabilities of individuals will increase they will savor their life in proper way and will able to do work effectively so, per capita income will be increase and which will enhance GDP of country. In Bangladesh “by paying girls to go to school, and perhaps even by offering a curriculum that does not challenge the status quo directly, the Bangladeshi government does, in fact, enhance girls’ capabilities… Women are empowered through schooling that enhances their ability to earn money, even if the option exercised” (140). So in Bangladesh women education is used as tool to enhance capital rather than her personal abilities but it does not means that educated women in Bangladesh have no capabilities. Educated women are capable to challenge traditional norms of society and they also get personal advantage from education but the main concern of Bangladeshi government is to educate women for the enhancement of GDP.
Finally, government should provide women education to escalate the capabilities of women which will be beneficial for both women and government. Education should not be used as tool in any society rather it should used for the betterment of the educated person, because individuals are the building blocks of to society.
Work cited:
Ihnatko, Andy. 1st Ed ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. New York : Random House, ©1997. Web. 5
Apr. 2013. .
Kuenning, Mary Arends, and Sajeda Amin. “Women’s Capabilities and Right to Education in

Bangladesh.” International Journal of Politics and Society 15.1 (2001): 140.

Lesorogol, Carolyn K. N.d. Setting Themselves Apart: Education, Capabilities, and

Sexuality Among Samburu Women in Kenya. n.p. 572.

Politics and Ordinary Woman in South Asia

In paragraph ten Sen explains differences of women to men ratio within South Asian countries and west. He also illustrates political status of women in South Asian countries. The ratio of women to men in South Asia is low in the world e.g. India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have lowest women to men ratio in the world and at the same time these countries elected women as their political leaders (Sen,2). Here a controversial question is emerging in intellectual minds that if woman is deprived of her basic right than how she can be a political leader of her country? To justify this controversy he evaluates the family background of these female political leaders of South Asia. If we study about female political leaders of South Asia we get to know that they born with a silver spoon in their mouth and usually they get power from their fathers or from their husbands. But this position is a utopia for ordinary women who even don’t know about their basic right. However if we relate east and west on the basis of sexism large number of women in politics in South Asian counties compel us to think on this situation.
In this paragraph Sen uses logical evidence to prove his argument. In South Asia women to men ratio is lowest e.g. India and Bangladesh have 0.94 and Pakistan has 0.90 which is lowest ratio of females in any biggest country (Sen,2). Further he relates political position of women in these countries where higher number of women is in politics and he explains that ordinary women in these counties are suffering from different problems. That may be a reason of low ratio of women to men.
Further, this paragraph contributes to support claims of the articles that in developing countries ratio of women to men is low despite of many women have higher political positions. He justify the reason behind it that yes, we can see many female politicians in South Asia but ordinary women in these countries have no access to their basic rights due to which female ratio is lowest in South Asia.

Work cited:
Sen, Amartya. “More than 100 Missing Women.” Nybooks Archives. Dec 20, 1990. Mar 4, 2013.

Judith in A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN

Status of women is an enigma in history and many people wrote different articles about this problem, among them Virginia Woolf is one who also put forward this problem in her essay A Room of One’s Own. In her essay she took a hypothetical situation where the legendary play write Shakespeare has a sister known as a Judith Shakespeare. Virginia selected imaginary tale because she believe “fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.” In this short story she describes Judith according to the prospective of a historian and of a poet. As historians have a stereotype about woman that she is brainless, ridiculous and contemptible to utilize mental abilities to device any beneficial thing. They compare women with cats, for instance, “cats do not go to heaven. Women cannot write the plays of Shakespeare.” Despite of being sister of Shakespeare Judith also experience same problem in her life. When she shows her fondness towards reading her parent told her, “Mind the stew and not moon with books and papers.” Though she was extraordinary genus like her brother, her parents prevented her from reading and writing because she was a woman.
Furthermore, the perception of poet about woman is totally different from historians. As poet describes woman: she is the best creation of God, her cheeks are more beautiful than blooming flowers, her voice is more melodious than a nightingale, her hair are more shiny than sun’s rays etc. Virginia also encounter with such descriptions of woman like, “she is a vessel in which all sorts of spirits and forces are coursing and flashing perpetually.” In her imagery story Virginia describes Judith according to poet’s viewpoints that “the birds that sang in the hedge were not musical than she was,” here Virginia is explaining her point like that, Judith is talented, have a melodious voice but she was not allowed to express her talent. Poet only appreciates woman’s beauty to get pleasure from her but not to encourage her to be a creative like him. The purpose of this factious story is that the fate of every ordinary woman was the same as a Judith regardless of their talent and beauty.
Works Cite: Woolf, Virginia. “A Room of One’s Own.” Fort Washington: Harvest Book. 1981. First published 1929.

Gender and Sex: Which one is Responsible for Inequality in Society?

Although sex and gender are two different terms but most of people consider them as same and interchangeable. If we critically think about these terms we will come to know that they are quite different from each other. So, to distinguishing between these both words I would like to share the origin and definition of these both terms. According to Christian the origin of ‘gender’; “the word gender comes from Middle English, which in turn came from the Latin word genus, meaning, ‘kind’, ‘type’ or ‘sort’.” So the actual meaning of gender is kind or a type but the controversial thing is that what kind? Or what type? The description of ‘kind’ is varies from culture to culture that’s why its definition is not specific. Furthermore the roots of sex also generate from “Middle English” meaning, “section or divide” (Nordquist). The word section talks about the natural sections found in the body of any individual. According to these natural sections or innate properties all creatures are divided into two different sex groups.
According to Longman Dictionary ‘sex’ means “the condition of been male and female or one of the two groups of people or animal.” Mostly people define sex in terms of human beings but it’s clear from this definition animal or even plants have also sex. Sex is entirely natural and in terms of Biology we can recognize between different sex groups while examining the morphology and anatomy of individuals. The female is distinguished as a female by examining her genital organs and same is for a man. In case of animals we also make a distinction between animals by exploring their genital organs and same is for the plants. According to Longman Dictionary ‘gender’ means “the system in some languages of dividing nouns, adjectives and pronouns into MESCULINE, FEMININE and NEUTER.” At this moment, it is clear that gender has nothing with nature rather it talks about the language or the culture. As we all know that culture is varying from place to place and according to the cultural norms the qualities of gender also varies from society to society. In each society woman and man are expected to do certain activities and from very beginning they are supposed to do those activities which are specify by society. For instance, household work, jobs, clothes even the way of talking and walking.
Consequently, we cannot deny that sex is natural but we cannot say that gender is innate proper of any individual rather it is define by the group of people to make discrimination between different sex groups. As a result gender cause inequality between the members same species in different societies.
Work citation
Christian Nordqvist. “What Is The Difference Between Sex And Gender?.” Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 5 Aug. 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2013.
“Gender” Longman Dictionary of American English. 2006
“Sex” Longman Dictionary of American English. 2006

Plato and Feminism

Longman Dictionary of American English defines “Feminism” as “the belief that women should have same rights and opportunities as a man.” According to my own understanding feminist is a person who respects human beings and considers everyone as same in their intellectual abilities rather than their physical power. These are few ideas about feminism and before declaring Plato as a feminist or as an anti-feminist; I would like to share the view points of both types of these people to make this controversial issue easier to understand. As feminist says that “a feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and humanity of women and men” (Steinam). If we see the concept of anti-feminist; according to them “feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians” (Robertson). Now if we compare these both ideas with Plato, it is very difficult to say that Plato was a feminist or an anti-feminist, because we cannot find any argument from Plato where he believe that men and women are equal. But we also did not find any argument behave of Plato where he openly rejected women’s rights. However most of people consider Plato as feminist because he discuss about Diotima in Symposium. Let me ask few questions from them and aftermaths we will decide that on the bases of this evidence can we say that Plato was feminist.
Did Diotima participate in the Agathon’s party?
Did Diotima deliver speech by her own?
Did people appreciate Diotima at the end of Socrates’ speech?
The answer of these questions is NO; in additions to this we should also keep in our mind the Plato’s theory of forms. According to this theory in universal everyone have an ideal existence and it is difficult to get that position. In Symposium Diotima was also an ideal personality she was not an ordinary woman of Athenian society. From here it is clear that on the base of this evidence we cannot say that Plato was feminist. Consequently I came with this conclusion that Plato was neither a feminist nor an anti-feminist but he was a good, responsible and intellectual person of not only his time but of all times.
Work Cited
“Feminism.” Longman Dictionary of American English. 2008.
Robertson. Pat. 8, Feb 2013
Steinem. Gloria. 8, Feb 2013

Love exists everywhere in the universe

Many people define “love” in their own way, and after reading Symposium we came to know many definitions of love. Here I will share one definition of love which I like the most. It is Exyrimahus, who says that:
Love does not occur only in human soul; it is not simply the attraction we feel towards human beauty: it is a significantly broader phenomenon. It certainty occurs within the animal kingdom, and even in the world of plants. In fact, it occurs everywhere in the universe.
Exyrimachus generalize the definition of love and he also highlighted very important point about love that it can be happen anywhere in the universe. Let’s try to understand his definition while observing our surrounding. Yes we can find many example of love where the attraction for beauty of human being is present but how can we ignore the zillions of creatures and their love for each other. To proof the love of other creatures I would like to share a story of my childhood.
Once, early in the Morning me and my father were watering the plants, it was the starting of vivid spring. Thousands of flowers were bloomed everywhere, the birds were singing melodious songs in the fresh air; the cool breeze of wind was passing by the ear; the dew drops on the green grass were seemed like a pearl; the young cheery tree was looking like a girl; I heard the heart touching song of nightingale which was sitting near. My heart beaten like a drum and my eyes were full of tear. I asked from my father; pops what a melodious voice it is.?Than my father replied me, this is the voice of true lover. I said, pops what is true love? Then he replied me, my child no one can gave you the real definition of true love, you will know the meaning of true love when you will start to observe your surrounding critically. I asked that Pops why nightingale is singing… is he knew the true love? Yes! Once the cruel hunter shot the lover of nightingale after that accident nightingale start to sing and till now he is singing for his lover. Then I realized that love is not specific to human beings but it can be occur among any living things and it can occur anywhere in the universe.

In poem introduction the poet Kamala Das has introduce not only herself, but her single voice is the voice of millions of innocent ignorant, suppress women of India. She expresses the voice of these women wonderfully which is the aim of every Indian woman, but unfortunately very few people get this chance in their life. The biggest challenge face by Indian woman is the conservative traditional norms of society which surpass her emerging emotions in the point of generation. This is the reason that most of women in such society are not able to response to the stimuli of violence and they are surviving insensitive lives. Though Indian woman is very creative she has many abilities but she become scapegoat in every single step of her life in the name of religion and traditions. And in this epic journey of her life she unable to find her own identity and most of the time she lives in the utopia of her own wishes. Sometimes, in the garden of her wishes thousands of colorful flowers with spelled aroma are start to bloom everywhere. She considers herself the queen of her own kingdom. Sometimes the ocean of fire burn her small kingdom and she start to cry while sitting in the corner of her burned palace of happiness. In the real life problems are created by the society which smashed her innocent heart into innumerable pieces and by the end of day she is asked to be brave.
In this poem she is asking from the society that why you people not let me to live my life according to my own choice, you are asking me to become like other noble people its means I have chance to do something in my life but I have no freedom of choice. In addition to these she also describe marvelously about the transition of childhood into adult and the new challenges faced by her. Like she experience love in very different way when she grown-up. Then she wants to suppress her feminine quality and she start to dress up like a man. In this time again society becomes obstacle for her and she was asked to become a good cook, a nice embroiderer, etc. In the end part of poem she describes the human behavior. She is saying that everyone in this selfish world is concern about themselves. She used a metaphor “sword in its sheath” to describe egocentricity of human beings. Such attitude of human compels other people to become self-centre and finally everyone starts to say “I” when you ask from them, who are you?