How do texts work to illuminate political issues?

According to Miss Madeline’s definition of “political: it’s related to government or public affairs, Related to ideas or strategies of a particular party or group…” Considering this definition of “political” we confront to some strategies and styles of the text in “Setting Themselves Apart…, women’s Capabilities…, and More than 100 Million Missing women, that clearly support this definition of political.
In Mary Arends-Kuenning and Sajeda Amin’s “Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladish,” I notice the strategy of compare and contrast throughout the texts. The writers have utilized this strategy to clearly state their points of view about women’s education as human capital and women capabilities. I confronted with antonyms words and phrases like: “men and women, male and female boys and girls, educated and uneducated,” in the texts. The writers have chosen these antonyms to compare and contrast the effect of education or the amount of education gaining by these two categories, male and femaile. Similarly I see the same strategy in Carolyn K. Lesorogol’s “ Setting Themselves Apart” Education, Capabilities, and Sexuality Among Samburu Women In Kenya,” and Amartya Sen’s “ More than 100 Million Missing Women.”
Also Arends-Kuenning and Amin use plural nouns to appeal to the important of women’s education. The writers uses plural nouns like: “women, children, teachers, parents, families, neighbors” to appeal the public issue of the education to readers. Similarly we can see these type of examples in Carolyn K.Lesorogol’s “ Setting Themselves Apart: Education, Capabilities, and Sexuality Among Samburu Women in Kenya” and Amartya Sen’s “ More than 100 Million Missing Women.”
By noticing these evidence I can say that the writers compare and contrast the public affairs to illuminate political issues according the definition of political as public affairs.

Work Cited
Arends, Mary, and Amin, Sanjeda.” Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 01 Sept. 2001. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.
Lesorogol, Carolyn K. “Setting Themselves Apart: Education, Capabilities, and Sexuality Among Samburu Women in Kenya.” Project MUSE – Setting Themselves Apart: Education, Capabilities, and Sexuality Among Samburu Women in Kenya. Anthropological Quarterly, Summer 2008. Web. 05 Apr. 2013.
Sen, Amartya. “More Than 100 Million Missing Women.”Nybooks Archives. Dec,20 1990. Mar 4, 2013.

Sen’s final claim-women’s education as women’s empowerment

Amartya Sen in her essay “More than 100 Million Missing Women” recounts the reasons behind the neglect of women especially in South Asia, West Asia, and China. She notifies that lack of “nutritional, medical attention, and general health care” (Sen), causing that women are more likely to live shorter that men.
She explains two terms “cultural contrast between East and West and economic development” (Sen) that people use to assume to be the factor for women neglect. That west is less sexist as a result women outnumber men. And countries with more economic advancement have less women mortality. She brings adequate and explicit statistic evidences to illuminate this point. She compares the Indian state of Punjab and Haryana which is the riches state in India but facing women deficit about 0.86, with the Southwest state of India- Karela which is poorer but the ratio of women is higher than 1.03 (Sen). Demonstrating these facts she disproves the involvement of the state’s economic in women’s deficit.
Consequently, in farther paragraph she noticeably clarify that why the state of Karela with poor economic have higher rate of women which is more than 1.03 similar to that of Europe ( 1.05), and Punjab which is the richest state in India, is facing women deficit. She also gives the statistic that the life expectancy of women at birth in Karela is also higher than men. Giving this evidence she noticeably claims that the reason behind women neglect is female literacy and education. That women in Karela with high literacy rate which is higher than in China not only higher than other parts of India, are enjoying better life than those women in Punjab and other parts of India and China. Which means women with high literacy will enjoy paid jobs that lead to social, economical empowerment of women in the family and society and will avert from being neglected in the family and society.

Work Cited
Sen, Amartya. More Than 100 Million Missing Women.” Nybooks Archives. Dec 2o, 1990. March 4, 2o13.

Neglected Women

More than 100 Million Missing women by Amartya Sen, I found it quite interesting. Because before I read the article I thought that gender inequality is common only in my homeland Afghanistan. But after I read the article I realized that women are neglected not only in Afghanistan but in most parts of the world and the reason behind this discrimination is that women are uneducated and unaware of their rights in their society.

There has always been a question in my mind. That why women are considered weak in the society? Why women are always subject to men? Why are they given less importance than men in a family and society? Because, those are men who are productive in their family and society. Those are men who are decision maker in the family and in society. Those are men who provide food, shelter and clothing for the family members. But, why not women?  Because, women are not as productive as men. Women are not as decision maker as men in the family. That’s why women are neglected. The status of women is not considered in family and society because they are considered a futile thing. And the only way to empower women is “Education” as Sen mentions in his article. When women are educated, they can work outside, they will be able financially, they can be decision maker whether inside the family or the society.  And they can be independent empowered financially and intellectually.

Work cited

Sen, Amartyan. “More Than Million Missing Women.” Nybooks Archives. Dec 20, 1990. Mar 4, 2013

Plato: Nor Feminist Neither Anti-feminist

Is Plato a feminist? Before saying whether Plato is a feminist or not we should first come to the word feminist. That what does feminist mean? According to dictionary.com it means advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. And that definition is what feminist in the modern world mean. Plato was living in a period of history (5^th century) where women were deprived from social, political, legal and economic rights. They would not have been given the right to education, work as men, and right to vote or being as a citizen of the state. They were dependent to men. Their main duty was to be as sex object for men and to be confined in household chores even they were restricted to have interaction with men in public “including shopping or bartering.” ( Plato’s Feminism: A Discussion of Women in Ancient Philosophy) Accordingly the point is here that did Plato help women to have the above rights; to be equally counted as men of that society? Some of you may say YES or some may say NO. But I say nor NO neither YES! As Plato’s philosophy was dualism he was not interested in the matter of being female or male advocate.

Since Plato was living in an area in which the right for women to be equal to men was not an important issue. No one was concerning about this matter even women themselves. This is the feminist of this world who are trying to represent him as feminist or anti feminist. When Plato suggests about the altering of women’s nature, by nature he does not mean to present women inferior. The only thing he is concern with is soul. He was concern with the concept of body and soul. He was trying to tell that soul has control on body. The suggestions by Plato about body and soul are interpreted by this world’s feminists. So he was nor antifeminist neither feminist. The only thing he was concern with was his philosophy of dualism ( soul and body).

Symposium: Alcibiades unsuccessful love for Socrates

In Symposium, Plato and his friends: Phaedrus, Agahon, Eryximachus, Pausanias, Aristoddemus, Aristophanes are gathering in Agathon’s house to celebrate Agathon’s “first victorious production” (symposium, 457). All are praising “love” from their own perspectives turn by turn. Alcibiades, one of his other friends appears at the end of the party. He does not praise love itself but he praises Socrates in a mocking way and this way he expresses his love to Socrates, which also implies love between two different sexes.

Alcibiades firs begun by referring Socrates as “impudent, contemptuous, and vile” personality. But in fact, he does not mean to malign him or dishonor him. Instead, he is expressing his affection towards Socrates in a different way. We can vividly see that he is expressing his love to him in next paragraphs of the speech. He is complaining and he is very angry at Socrates that he does not value his love.

He begins narrating his story that how amazed he was by Socrates wise and prudent personality that he fell in love with him. But he could not become successful to win Socrates love towards himself. However he tried many times to tell him about his affections but he could not succeed. After many attempts, he finally got the opportunity, to tell Socrates what he was thinking about him. This time he could say what was going on in his mind but he fail to win Socrates love. Socrates ignored his love which Alcibiades became so humiliated as he was very proud of his handsome appearance.  However, Socrates ignored his love and humiliated him but still he loves Socrates. As he says: “Sometimes, believe me, I think I would be happier if he were dead. And yet I know that if he dies I‘ll be even more miserable. I can’t live with him and I can’t live without him” (symposium, 498). This means that despite he was disregarded but still he cannot live without him.

From this we can conclude that love does not only happen between man and women but it also happen between man and man. There are no boundaries, no limitations and gender difference in love.

An Introduction to “grief”

By Kamala Das, 1965

The Poem “An Introduction” by Kamala Das is a free verse poem. It has 28 caesuras. The speaker is trying to share her sad and suffering story of her life by using imagery, connotation and a mixed tone of ashamed, angry, convincing, self-pitying and self-esteem.

The speaker starts by saying that she does know the name of politicians however, she does not exactly know the politics itself. And she names the first prime minister of India “Nehru” (3),  who is very well known to start saying that she is from India.

Next she expresses shame and self-effacing by saying that she is “very brown” (4). She is trying to say that she is not beautiful because she is brown and women with brown or dark color are not valued as much as women with white skin are valued or given importance in India.

She is very angry because she is not given the right to speak. She is restricted by people’s, friends’ and cousin’s critics. She is expressing her anger by saying “ why not leave me alone… the language I speak, becomes mine, it’s distortions, it’s queerness all mine, mine alone.” (8-13) And she is trying to convince her listener that how much her voice is important to her “as cawing important to crows and roaring important to the lions” (17-18). Her voice expresses her happiness, her sadness and her dreams like any other human beings. She also mixes  imagery and connotation together. Like the words “deaf”, “blind” (21) that gives us the image of ear (hearing) and blind the image of eye (seeing) and the word “tree” (22) for silence. By which she means that her voice is a human voice, a human that can hear, can see and can talk, can rise her voice against injustice and violence. It’s not a tree that cannot see, hear, or do anything when storm comes towards it.

By saying “my sad woman-body” (30) she is expressing self-pitying. She tells the listener her sad story that happened in her teenage. She was betrayed in love and was sexually abused by the person she loved. That’s when her life turned around. After that she forgot her femaleness, behaving and clothing like a boy.

And lastly she is expressing self-esteem. She says despite facing betrayal by her loved one and suffer in her life, she still can handle her life. she still call herself “I” as all the other human beings call themselves that “I” exist. “I” can do what “I” want.