Dear powerful women,
I was given an assignment to read a book and relate in some way to it. I chose to read ‘The House of Spirits. It’s a book about a family over the generations But the whole book is based around a strong father figure who takes control and belittles his wife and daughter. This book was not something I thought I would relate to at all but as I got more into the book I started to remember life when my mom and dad were still together and how my mom also went through feeling small and my dad feeling powerful because he is a man and how society titles men in a relationship is very powerful and in charge.
I am a woman who is tired of the expectations we have to live up to. I’m not the only one who feels this way. Feminism has been around for a very long time but in the past few years feminism has become a huge topic and feminist usually get a bad wrap, a lot of people think of us as angry and that we hate men. It’s troubling to think that standing up for yourself became so negative. Feminist usually go through some sort of personal experience that made them really realize that women are belittled or not treated as well as men are.
In the book the male figure in the book’s name is Esteban, and one example that happened in the book that showed how he felt the need to be powerful and belittle his wife and daughter is making his daughter marry someone out of her own will because she got pregnant. Esteban made the whole family scared of doing anything for themselves. I have seen this in my own household and I want this to be aware that feminism is not just for women’s rights its to show that there are other problems in this world that belittle women.
The Women’s March on Washington in 2017 shows just how many feminist there are, the posters covered tons of different problems in the world where women feel threatened like rape, equality, representation, and many more. This march showed just how powerful women are and even men showed up in support to show that this is a real problem. https://www.womensmarch.com/principles/
As I’m writing and researching feminism it brings up my own experiences as a little kid. Watching my mom and dad go at it, at the tiniest things, and seeing her cry because she felt she had no power over the household. My experiences at home have really made me want to push myself to not live up to those expectations of women. I wont be the women that goes home and bakes and makes dinner for the family or cleans up after everyone. I will be powerful and have a say in what I want.
We as women want a change in our world and how things go in our world. We want to be treated as equal, to feel safe, and to be able to work at jobs normally men would work at. The book ‘The House of Spirits’ has really showed me there are other topics in feminism other than the ones that are put on your newspapers or on your news channels. As a women I am ready to show that we are not weak and we can do anything we put our minds to.
