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High Aspirations for Women
House Wife or President?By Priti Patel - February 2008. As we look back, we can see the great strides we’ve made. We’ve come a long way. Yet, there is still that petite matter that holds us back. That small, yet still significant, element which won’t let us completely leave our past mistakes. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how it came to be, but that it still exists in this day and age. What am I talking about? Sexist attitudes. Sure, some say that they no longer exist, but the truth is that they are still prevalent in our society. Take a look at the U.S presidential elections. Hilary Clinton is running for president and, if she won, would be the first female president in all of U.S history. Despite her qualifications, what the American people focus on is her gender, which begs me to ask “Is America Ready for a Woman President?” Truthfully, many people still regard females as inferior to males, but that hasn’t stopped women from establishing a place in the business world, Hollywood, and among other academics. Why not politics? Last week, the new television show “Lipstick Jungle” aired on the NBC network. This show portrays the lives of three, successful, career women: a fashion designer, an executive for a magazine publishing company and a president of a motion picture studio. These days, that life can be a reality. Many women are apart of the work force, some even at the top of their fields. No longer does a woman have to sleep her way to the top; sheer talent and maybe a pinch of luck can make that happen for her. Your gender doesn’t or shouldn’t have an impact on your job performance. Hollywood is a place where stars are born. With revolutionaries like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, more and more women are being taken seriously in this industry. Raunchy high school movies aside, directors are not only using women for their sex appeal, but also for their acting abilities. Already in this generation, great actresses like Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Nicole Kidman, to name a few, have graced our screens.
Fresh starlets are appearing with a new found confidence, thanks to these women. While young women have felt like that they have no road that will lead them to a respected place in stardom, women like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn have showed them otherwise. Part of being an actress is having sex appeal, but more importantly is having talent. Regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, talent does not discriminate. No longer do women have to feel like they are only pretty things to be looked at. In the olden days, women were not allowed to attend schools. Nowadays, it seems as if more women are graduated from higher learning institutions than men. A large number of women have gone into fields that require higher education such as, medicine, journalism, and engineering to name a few. Women no longer have to apologize for their intelligence. Where education is a scare need in many underdeveloped countries, women, who have the option to go to school, are taking full advantage of this basic right. Women can become great writers, scientists, doctors and more. Females are educating themselves and are no longer standing in the shadows of trail blazing men. Still, in this day and age, there are people who believe women should stay in the kitchen. These pesky misogynists need to be reminded that women can be whatever they damn well please whether it is a housewife or the president of the United States. However in the end, America may not be ready for a female president, yet that hasn’t stopped women from achieving other things. Sexist attitudes haven’t stopped us before and I doubt they’ll stop us now.
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