Hola,
Well, I am finally feeling like I've actually started school here in Madrid. Though not quite at home yet. One thing I really appreciate about Colgate, at least from all I've experienced so far, is the appreciation of challenging opinions. I could be wrong, but from what I've experienced, if you can defend yourself, even if your professor totally disagrees with you, your perspective is legitimate. However, in a foreign country, speaking a foreign language, I don't feel as comfortable with this.
So, yesterday, I had an experience that left me quite frustrated. In my Spanish Film class, we watched a movie, called Solas (director Benito Zembrano). There's a lot to the movie but basically what's relevant is that the woman in the movie is in an abusive relationship (emotionally for sure but only hinted to be physically), finds herself pregnant, and decides to leave her boyfriend. After watching the movie, my professor diverged from our discussion of it as a film and started making some social commentary. He started to explain that women who are in relationships that turn abusive but still don't leave the man suffer from psychological problems, especially those who were abused as children and then end up with abusive partners. The woman in this film, however, overcame her issues of low self-esteem, for one, and left her abuser. This left me feeling a bit unsettled, so I actually stayed after class to talk a bit. During our conversation, I asked him, do you think it's some innate thing that makes them stay, or do you think it could be, perhaps, a fear of stigma or criticism, economic reasons, religious reasons...? His response was, that those types of reasons don't seem very legitimate to him anymore, since so many resources are available for domestic violence victims. There are shelters, clinics, support systems, etc. This is true. In the past few years Spain has initiated a campaign to improve the domestic violence situation here. Now, because I'm in a big city, because of size differences, and because of this new campaign, it's hard for me to compare the situations in the US versus Spain in terms of what kind of resources victims have, and how these resources are actually utilized. So, this is something I'd really love feedback on. What do you think? If all the resources are there, should that be enough? Are there other obstacles? Is it just a matter of psychology? The thing for me about this idea was that, if we look at it as a problem an individual has, doesn't that fail to recognize it as a societal trend? Do you agree?
Alright! Now, in the spirit of first wave feminism, here is some of the story of gender equality in Spain...
Spain has an interesting story, because in the 1930s, when it was a republic, women had the right to vote. In this period, as well, divorce and abortion were legalized. But, when Franco took over as dictator at the end of the decade, everything changed. Women were pretty much under the authority of males in the family. Abortion and divorce were both outlawed. And in general there was an atmosphere of sexual repression. About 40 years later, after Franco died and democracy was restored, all of these things changed again: back to political and personal freedoms, provisions for equality in the workplace, etc. One recent thing, in 2007/8 is that women must make up at least 40% of candidates in regional and municipal elections. (this gender equality bill also increased paternity leave and will give preferential treatment to businesses with more gender balance at particular levels!) This is an interesting topic for conversation, and quite coincidentally, goes along with something one of my professors said today...
Apparently, in the university I'm attending here, there is a rule--I'm not sure formal or informal, but I think formal--that says for research projects groups must always have at least one member of each gender. Now, my professor was comparing this in a kinda-stretching-it-way to affirmative action, but with respect to both, proposed to us, now wouldn't you feel offended or insulted, being a woman, if such special measures were made for you? That the principal criteria in placing you in a group, or putting you on a ballot, was your gender? Is this a subtle way of calling it "reverse discrimination"?
But anyway, something I was thinking about is this: I remember Gloria Steinem talking about the character of social change, and how it comes in waves, each one penetrating deeper and going further. And this seemed, when I read it, to me, to be consoling when I'm discouraged about the slow nature of social change. I know a major theme in the study of US feminism is the push and pull of progress. However, Spain is an interesting challenge to this idea, as its policies in terms of gender equality have been pretty all or nothing. And more than the result of a movement, the changes have been part of a large scale social and political reorganization. What does all this mean? (I'm still thinking about it!)
I think that's a lot for now.. I'll have pictures next week!
Please e-mail me with anything you have to say!
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