Steps needed to be taken when reading a political text

Both the text “Women’s capabilities” and “more than 100 million missing women” is developed on three categories: the first being primarily theoretical, the second more policy-orientated, and the third focusing on methodological approaches. As discussed initially by Amartya Sen, the capability approach represents a powerful analysis of measurements of welfare based on productiveness. This approach draws on a liberal thoughtful framework highlighting the importance of the well-being of the individual in terms of what he or she is able to do and become and the kind of life he or she is able to lead. In this view, individual capabilities are supported by so-called ‘social perception’ (Sen, 6) either support or oppose capabilities. In the International Journal of Politics, AmaryArends-Kuenning and Sajeda Amin developed the capabilities framework with a particular focus on women’s capabilities in developing countries. She distinguishes between: 1) ‘basic capabilities’ generally innate from birth; 2) ‘internal capabilities’ which are developed states of the person; 3) ‘combined capabilities’ which require an appropriate political, economic and social environment. In the other article, “more than 100 million missing women,” writer AmartyaSen states that gender inequality could be overcome by three main things: education for women, better (property) rights and – most notably – productive, gainful, outside-of-the-house work for females(Sen,12). In both the article there is one common thing as in both problems related to women’s right is discussed. Structures of both the articles are also same as it is discussed in chronological order and the only difference is that in “women’s capabilities” there are many subheadings used.

In addition to this I would like to explain about the way we should read the political texts. I am going to explain the way and the strategies we used in the class to explain the way of reading political texts. In reading and analyzing each text, we assessed the content of the texts in light of the title, the table of contents, and chapter titles. We asked what content-wise expectations these aroused in a reader and whether the book’s subject matter in outline confirmed title-related expectations. We analyzed the structural design of the text’s contents, assessing whether the text gave equal treatment to each of the types of method it engaged. Finally, we analyzed the language of the text itself, looking for evidence of rhetorical argumentation. We looked for such devices as: 1. word choice; 2. sentence structure and order; 3. argument-by-adverb (“therefore,” “hence,” “however,” “of course”), rather than making arguments through the use of explicit logic; 4. the use of quotation marks around certain words or phrases, thereby calling attention to their meaning; 5. the rhythmic repetition of key words or phrases to make a point, rather than specific statement argument.

Moreover, in the article “women’s capabilities and the right to education in Bangladesh”- the writer uses the word “education”-which gives the reader a political view of the women’s right. There were also many quotation marks used in this article. For example,  the following quotation given is used to grab reader’s eye and to give the idea that it is important-“focuses on the ability of human beings to lead lives they have reason to value and to enhance the substantive choices they have”(Sen, 127). In this text, writer stresses on the word “perceived” many times to denote that many people can see this aspect of women’s education in many different ways and have different opinions. All these above techniques have the effect of directing readers’ thought processes and shaping their experience of the political text.

Works Cited

Arends-Kuenning, Mary and Amin, Sanjeda,“Women’s capability and right to education in Bangladesh.” International Journal of Politics and Society, Vol. 15, No.1, September 2001. Print

Sen, Amartya, “More Than 100 Million Missing Women.” Nybooks  Archives. Dec 20, 1990. April 7, 2013.

 

Idea for women’s justice

“More Than 100 Million Missing Women”- In this piece, Amartya Sen tried to estimate the large numbers of “missing women” in countries like India, China as well as other Asian & African countries by comparing with the numbers that could have been expected if men and women had received similar care in health, medicine, and nutrition. He arrived at a figure of more than 100 million missing women. This huge number conveys a terrible story of inequality and neglect leading to the excess mortality of women.

In the second paragraph of the article’s section 5 (page 11), he discussed about the state of Kerala in India that provides a sharp contrast with many other parts of the country in having little or no gender bias in mortality. One such evidence provided for this contrast is given in the following quote: “The life expectancy of women at birth in Kerala, which had already reached sixty-eight years by the time of the last census in 1981(and is estimated to be seventy-two years now), is considerably higher than men’s sixty-four years at that time( and sixty-seven now)”(Sen 11). This kind of hard evidence is helpful to make his claim stronger as he uses logos to persuade readers by the use of reasoning.

Even more remarkably, the female-male ratio of Kerala’s population is 1.03. This value is much the same as Europe. He compares it to the ratio of China, West Asia and India as a whole which stands lower than Kerala (0.94). Through this Sen tried to argue that it is pointless to blame the cultural differences. Moreover, from further research it is found that Kerala has a population of 30 million, so it is an example that involves a fair number of people. Then he compares the influence of women’s empowerment in Kerala, Punjab and China. It was noticed that women were able to find more gainful employment in Kerala than they found in Punjab (Sen 11). One “extraordinary” thing found was that Kerala had higher literacy rate than in China. This influence of women’s empowerment caused female ownership of property and interaction with, the outside world.

Amartya Sen tried to discuss how the status and the standing of women are strengthened by economic independence (such as gainful employment). This paragraph contributes strongly in supporting the claim as women’s gainful employment, especially in more rewarding occupation, clearly does play a role in improving the life prospects of women and girl. Moreover, there are also other factors that can be seen as adding to the voice of women in family decisions.

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

Loss of women’s talent due to unfair social practices

In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf expands on the loss of women’s talents because of unfair social practices marginalizing women. Even in the past women were not given so much importance and this can be inferred from the following line- “History scarcely mentions her.” (Woolf 26). Turning to history, she finds so little data about the everyday lives of women that she decides to reconstruct their existence imaginatively. The figure of Judith Shakespeare is generated as an example of the tragic fate a highly intelligent woman would have met with under those circumstances. Middle class women were also deprived of their rights to get educated even if they had the talent. When discussing about the middle class women she says “By no possible means could middle class women with nothing but brains and character at their command have taken part in any one of the great movements which, brought together, constitute the historian’s view of the past” (Woolf 41). For this reason Woolf further claims that no woman can produce art without enough income and the privacy necessary for creativity.

 Additionally, Woolf invented a fictional character, Judith as Shakespeare’s sister to illustrate that a woman with equal talent like Shakespeare did not get the same opportunities to develop them because of the doors that were closed to women. For example, Judith stayed at home while William went to school. Judith had to stay at home: “She was as adventurous, as imaginative, as agog to see the world as he was. But she was not sent to school” (Woolf 113). Judith writes, but she is ashamed of it. She is engaged at a fairly young age; when she begs not to have to marry, her father beats her. This shows that women were trapped by the confines of the expectation of the society. A Room of One’s Own is that every woman needs a room of her own. A room of her own would provide a woman with the time to engage in continuous writing time. During Woolf’s time, women rarely enjoyed these luxuries. They remained intangible to women, and, as a result, their art suffered. But Woolf is concerned with more than just the room itself. She uses the room as a symbol for many larger issues, such as privacy, relaxation time, and financial independence, each of which is an essential component of the inequalities between men and women.

Reading this piece of writing of Virginia Woolf, it struck me that I could so easily have been Judith Shakespeare. For this I didn’t even need to be born in Elizabethan period. Even today in my society girls are deprived of many opportunities that are given to boys.

Work Cited
Woolf, Virginia. “A Room of One’s Own.” Fort Washington: Harvest Book. 1981. First published 1929.

Rhetorical Analysis of Gender and Sex

The author of this article starts out her writing by saying: ““Talking about gender for most people is the equivalent to fish talking about water” (Lorber 54). I liked this sentence personally as I think everything we choose to do in our life has a gender component that is implanted in us which we don’t realize properly. For example, when a child is born the first question people ask is whether it is a boy or a girl. Depending on the answer people starts to make many assumptions such as what kind of clothes the child will wear and how it will interact with people. From this example we can conclude that we human beings learn from what is being taught to us. Gender is something that our society does, it doesn’t make up who we are and as we are so used to these issues that we hardly notice it.

Lorber tries to address the differences  in the term “sex” and “gender” and clears the misconception that most people have which is person’s sex determines their gender.  Even I thought that person’s sex determines gender.  According to Lorber, this is a Western belief and it is not valid. She claims that “Physiological differences such as sex, stage of development, color of skin, and size are crude markers” (Lorber 56). He also points out clearly that this differences are created by the society which can be implied from the following line, “The building blocks of gender are socially constructed statuses” (Lorber 56). Apparently, I have been mixing these two terms together without even knowing I was doing wrong.

The purpose that are brought by Judith Lorber in this article are to inform and persuade the readers about gender and sex. I think these are all meant to be positive ways for her readers to hear the truth, even when she seems to be blaming society for making false assumptions. I believe she is successful to convince her readers. I am saying this because while reading this article I felt as if it changed a lot of my views on gender and the way society acts and perceives people who carry a different gender other than the two options I had believed there were: male and female. I think it is easy for everyone to relate to this article because everyone has a gender title and everyone has been exposed to some of the day to day cultural gender issues in our world.

Work Cited
Lorber, Judith. “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender”.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Print.
19th Feb. 2013.

My interpretation of why Plato was not a Feminist

According to the oxford concise dictionary feminism means: “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of sexual equality” (521).  I found this definition really difficult so according to me feminism is the understanding of women’s rights and status in the society we live in. Some people say that feminism refers to a movement where there are groups of people and individuals engaged to take action in order to achieve equal rights. I think that the main goal of feminism is to establish equal rights for women just like for men.

Our topic of discussion is if Plato a feminist or not. My answer to this question is no. There are two main reasons for which I think Plato was not a feminist. One example of this is when Pausanias, one of the speakers in Plato’s Symposium says, “This goddess, whose descent is purely male (hence this love is for boys), is considerably older and therefore free from the lewdness of youth (Plato, 466). From the above quotation we can see that he considers spiritual love to be only for male and from this we can tell that women in were considered to be inferior to men. One question that came to my mind was why Plato does not mention about lesbian love just like men loving men? Bodily contact could also be equally avoided in lesbian love and the required restriction of desire into love for knowledge could be equally fulfilled by women.

Moreover, it’s also interesting to note Diotima’s argument takes place only within the formation of Socrates’ memory: She is one more step removed, by space and time, from the reality of Agathon’s party. The difference of the sexes is revealed in the difference between a man’s homosexual and heterosexual love. Heterosexual Eros has surely to engage in a physical relationship which has the function of reproduction. It is the expression of fertility according to Diotima-Plato. Some men are fertile in their bodies, some others in their souls. Those having fertile bodies turn to women; the others with fertile, productive souls prefer men. Male homosexual desire is the expression of spiritual pregnancy – which Plato says through Socrates-Diotima. We would expect Plato to establish a clear-cut opposition between heterosexuality as physical, and homosexuality as spiritual, desire. But he does not make the case as simple as in heterosexual love there is no possibility of acquiring knowledge because this activity is bound to the body. Thus, through both of the character it can be implied that women had only one role to play and that is physical role for which I came to a conclusion that Plato was not a feminist.

Work Cited

Pearsall, Judy. “Feminism.” The Concise Oxford Dictionary. ed.10. 1999. Print. 10 Feb 2013.

Speech of Pausanias: Pure Love Versus Impure Love

 

Plato’s symposium portrays different views about love during Plato’s time. Pausanias is the second speaker to address the crowd in Agathon’s house in symposium. I would like to focus on Pausanias’ speech about definition of love. For Pausanias love is of two types of Aphrodite; one is heavenly, the other is common Aphrodite. Heavenly Aphrodite is the daughter of Uranus and has no mother. The common Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Heavenly Aphrodite is the love that can enhance the soul of the loved one and common love is the love for body.

When Pausanias talks of common love, he means love that is linked with lustful love and thus has mostly to do with our physical attraction. He sees it as being vulgar because it is more related with love to satisfy the body and not the soul. This type of love was considered as dirty and impure, “since all they care about is completing the sexual act”-(181 b, pg.466).This is because it comes from a strong sexual attraction that is produced from only desiring the physical body rather the soul The older love associated with Aphrodite is more of a greater love for satisfaction of the soul. This is considered an older love because we usually develop this at an older age where our body is not as important, due to unproductiveness or just because people of this age is looking for deeper connection. “No action is either good or bad, honorable or shameful”-(paragraph 6, pg 465) means that what matters is not the action or love of another, but how we love and how love is being portrayed. I like his idea of what matters is how the values we assimilate in our love.

As a result, people who are motivated by Common Love are equally interested in women and boys, and the less intelligent the better: that way they can get what they want more easily. Heavenly Love is linked with the daughter of Uranus who has no mother, and so it is directly only toward males. This kind of Love is usually felt for boys of developing maturity who show signs of sense, and with whom a life-long partnership is possible.

Pausanias further denounces those who take advantage of young boys, or of women for the sake of sexual satisfaction. He suggests that this improper behavior brings a wrong name to love and sexual pleasure altogether. Pausanias notes that appropriate love takes place when the lover makes the loved one good and wise, educating him and teaching him virtue, and when the loved one pleases the lover, and is anxious to gain the wisdom his lover can share. “It follows, therefore, that giving in to your lover for virtue’s sake is honorable”-(paragraph 2, pg. 469) means sacrificing something for sake of righteousness is considered to be for noble intention and thus is called pure love.

Thoughtful reading of the poem “The looking glass”

In “The Looking Glass,” Kamala Das uses fearless imagery as she explores female sexuality in her search of love. At first I was shocked and embarrassed at my finding of such a sexually clear-cut poem. However, upon further examination, this poem is quite interesting as I can get the sense of longing and emptiness as the writer experiences the connection and then the separation from her man. “A man to love is easy but living without him afterwards may have to be faced”-this specific line suggests about the separation of a woman from her man. I felt that she uses the theme of sexual love to overcome her feelings of loneliness.

The poem is really straightforward in its diction. In truth nothing is hidden from the reader. “Gift him what makes you woman, the scent of long hair, the musk of sweat between breasts, the warm shock of menstrual blood,” are lines that one may feel shy to write but writer wrote these lines in a pleasing manner. But here writer clearly writes down about many examples of one’s sexual excitement. Kamala Das also tries to draw out the image of a lustful relationship between male and female. “Only be honest about your wants as woman”-in this line writer makes an effort to tell every woman to acknowledge about their want of sexual satisfaction. This makes the tone of the writing very passionate.

When we drop things, we are letting that thing go. Dropping towel in this poem indicates the tendency to please the woman and put his needs in front of the woman. Another literary device used is “burnished brass”. Burnished brass is a polished metal. Kamala Das compares body to a brass because when a woman receives sensuous touch from a man, her body shines like a “burnished brass”. Without the companion of the man who once stood by her and touched her body, her body turns from bright to dull.