Keeping the Woman Growing
The poem, “It’s a Woman’s World” by Eavan Boland, is a short poem that contains a deep meaning in its wording. The words are simple and the poem is short but they contain deep feelings and meanings that make the poem powerful. The poem speaks about the stereotypes that men have on woman, and makes a focus on the changing roles of women through time. The fact that there is control of the poem by the woman’s emotions and personal experience, gives the man the ability to reflect on his own actions and realize his position towards women. In this essay I am going to connect myself to the poem, I am going to talk about my personal experience that is in support of the poem. I mostly agree with Boland because I have seen this happening in reality. Most women in our society have less self-confidence, and do not appreciate their actions as much as men do. Women deserve equal treatment as men because there is proof that they can work and achieve more than their expectations.
Boland talks about woman’s position in society, and the manner in, which men underestimate the capabilities of the women. I read the poem more than once, and when I fully understood the poem, I connected myself with it. When all my bias and background against the female gender cleared, I began to live the poem. By saying that I mean that, I placed my mind in the poem and found out the areas that talked about my character. Boland began her poem with “Our way of life / has hardly changed”. This is a strong way to start the poem because she says that nothing has changed. As a reader I was wondering what has not changed. This grabbed and pulled my full attention making me curious to find out more in the poem. Boland referred that women hardly changed even though technology changed. There has been a huge change between old days and today but each in different concept.
Long time ago, there was uneven treatment of woman and men in different cultures. The same uneven treatment still happens today and leaves the question as to why there is no change over time. However, there is a big change. For example, in the late 1920’s women fought for their rights in the United State of America. Many women were injured and some ended up dead, but at the end, women proved to be strong, efficient and equal. There have been changes now, because since that day August 26, 1920, things had changed though the gap between men and woman still exists (Ruthsdotter, 1998). That is why I agree and at the same time disagree with the writer. They are not equal, but there is a dramatic change. Therefore, Boland over generalized when she said nothing has changes.
Boland has high goals that she wanted to reach but at the end, she could not reach her goal because of her gender. For example, when a woman applies for a job they check her status just as men, but they think that a married woman would not make enough effort. I think that media raised the idea that stuck in men and woman’s mind through their programs. Most movies promote this stereo type. Many movies show that when a woman is at work and has a baby they could not work with full capability. However, in reality both men and woman get distracted from marriage and house responsibilities. In addition, I have personally seen discrimination at Wall Mart in were one of their employees stated that female employees are paid less wages than male employees are. This discrimination is evident today and there is nothing done to curb it yet. Overall, not approving females or giving them fewer wage is wrong as it causes discrimination between the two genders, which will eventually turn into hate.
Women always underestimate their capabilities, which as stated in the poem when Boland said, “But appearances still reassure” (45). For example, whenever both genders complete a task, females mostly want to know where they went wrong, while men state that they did an amazing and a good job. This comes even before the determination of the outcome of the performance and evaluation of the results. It proves the self-esteem that men have and the lack of confidence in woman. Although we see optimism in women during work and life, but their emotions control them most of the time and for that reason they fail to achieve some missions even if they are close to their target. This is unlike men whose emotions come last and they maintain their goals and targets. Being emotional is not wrong, but during some situations in life, they need control. Most successful women that have reached high positions today always state that their emotions comes last, and that their life at work is completely separated from home.
“Women and men are equal” is a saying that we hear everywhere, but doubtlessly untrue. The unfairness between the genders is clear and is not acceptable since both play important roles in our society and the genders complete each other. Although women lack some emotional control ability, we should not avoid the fact that she is a mother, a homemaker, and a successful employee in most cases. She tries to have perfectionism in all three roles at the same time and with no hesitation, while most men cannot do that. The big gap between men and women is still seen today in many nations including the USA, which is the country of “living the American dream”. Women’s rights should be more recognized, appreciated, and respected in all societies.
