Hello readers,

This week in ASTU, our class focused on the topic of war and violence. I realize that the protagonist in the books that we read or are currently reading are females, so I couldn’t help but to wonder the role and status of woman in our society.

Women have been seen as insignificant and unimportant for a long time. During the Second World War, woman gained recognized working at home in factories but it wasn’t until the introduction of the Universal Right to Vote in 1963 and the addition of the equality clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1985 that women are given the same right as men and are recognize as a person. Despite many years have passed and society have gotten a lot more liberal, it is still no surprise to hear on the news today that woman earn less than man working the same job and society have another standard for woman regarding how she should act. The inferior statue of women is a consequence of war time traditions from ancient times and double standards arisen as a result of that.

Women have been given as gift to the winning state or countries ever since the beginning of war history; take the relationship of China and Joseon (now Korea) as an example, young maidens were given to the Emperor to work in his palace, this tradition went on for thousands of years. Another example I would like to focus on is from the graphic novel Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco, and how women are being portrayed in the book.

Women are portrayed as weak and naïve in the book Safe Area Gorazde written by Joe Sacco which took place during the Eastern Bosnia War. In the chapter Silly Girls, the young girls were being called “silly” for wanting jeans, wanting to spent money on jeans rather than education is certainly wrong but what should one expect from a sixteen years old girl that grew up in a deprived society whom doesn’t know better? And compared to those older men, what right do they have to call them “silly” when compared to those girls, they are far more educated? In my opinion, women are just being unfairly depicted in this book, not once are women portrayed as strong or have a colorful character.

I hope you enjoy my blog post and hope you have a wonderful weekend 🙂