With the Peace Jam’s Untrap Untapped Potential Chapel about women’s rights, there was a flurry of negative comments ranging from how women already have most rights to how advancing women’s rights was “a political agenda.” Because few students are involved in school organizations, we often have an idealized, false perception of the world. Although Trinity provides us with an incredible educational experience, we tend to create a viewpoint based on our private lives and not the harsh realities of the world.
“I don’t think that the general Trinity student is well-informed about oppression or news in general,” junior Nick Swerdloff said. “Earlier in the year, I recall asking other students what they thought about Syria, and their response usually tended to be along the lines of ‘What’s happening in Syria?’”
Unfortunately, because we are not as well-informed as we could be, many of us tend to disregard or even reject oppression in the world. Our typical viewpoints on women’s rights and class differences embody this myopic viewpoint.
Regarding women’s rights in America, we need to realize that women still have more rights to gain.
“The only thing I see left to advance under domestic women’s rights is the continued social stigma of women in STEM fields,” senior Ansley Miller said. “Outside of this, I don’t believe we have a major problem with male/female equality.”
Although female perception in STEM classrooms is important, women are still being discriminated against in many other places. Women still earn 77 cents for every dollar men make because of unfair maternity leave policies and perception of women in the labor force. According to the Census Bureau, women earned less than men in all 20 industries surveyed and this is often because of a false perception.
According to the New York Times, women are presumed to be less devoted to jobs than men. In the legal profession, 90% of female professions report having experienced sex discrimination, while female lawyers report making 74% less than what male lawyers earn.
As students perceive any civil rights gains as extreme progressivism and are not a part of the workforce, it is fairly difficult for us to be exposed to the oppression against women. In addition, because many women do not highlight this oppression, many of us are further distanced from these issues.
Examining class differences, we must be informed about the eroding American Dream.
“In America, I believe that most rich people (those who make over $1 million) have worked hard over the course of many years to attain their position,” Swerdloff said. “I believe that, through the free market capitalist system built by the U.S., it is possible for anyone to become ‘rich’ with a fantastic work ethic and will to succeed.”
Nowadays, as society has grown more impartial, hard work does not always mean success.
The financial situation that people are born into has a decisive impact on the wealth of individuals. As Think Progress, a well accredited think tank, explains, 33% of the people born into the 1% make $100,000 by the age of 30, while only 4% of those born into the bottom half of the income bracket made equally that much. Intuitively, thousands of low-paying and middle class workers, labor for hours and hours never to advance themselves on the social ladder.
As wealthier students tend to do better on standardized tests and get better jobs, wealth begins to be correlated with success. Also, as the Brookings Institution reports, a glass floor prevents mildly wealthy individuals from sliding into poverty. We need to accept this broken meritocracy system and attempt to strive for reform.
Unfortunately, because many students come from higher income backgrounds, we often struggle to associate with the adversities of the lower classes as easily. As most of our friends are in similar social classes, our innate advantages become harder to see.
On a brighter note, we have a realistic viewpoint of minorities and not many racial prejudices exist regardless of the small number of underrepresented minorities.
Luckily, we usually see the internal racism of society. We tend not to have a racist viewpoint towards these minorities and continue to seek more opportunities to eradicate discrimination.
“The way to eliminate hate is to stop drawing attention to our blatant differences and focus on how we are similar,” Miller said.
Because Trinity has a fairly diverse student population, we are not as inclined to adhere towards racist viewpoints. When our friends express disapproval of unfair societal policies, we understand those difficulties. In addition, the elaborate study of history where discrimination is always portrayed in the U.S. defends our perception of certain races being oppressed.
Although we have a fairly accurate portrait of minorities today, we should strive to change the way we view women’s rights and class differences. We need to break through the blue and gold box and allow some current events to shine into our limited perspective.
