In the beginning, Women’s Health is not my first option that I swap from another unit. The reason is that as a female, I think I know everything about women and do not need to waste money to study this unit. However, after the first two weeks, I found that Women's Health is not only about what female looks like, what diseases women likely get and how they live, but also talks about feminism, gender equity and multi-perspectives of women's health status. This is my last semester in the bachelor of public health and as an international student, I am looking forward to knowing something in-depth such as women's health status in different countries and current challenges and barriers in improving women's health.
In the first lecture, I am really interested in the topic of Feminism. It is not saying that feminism is against men, it just advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. For myself, I definitely believe I am a feminist that I hate those men who are Machismo (those who think women belong to men). Although there are men and women are biologically different such as body shape, physical, genital and brain, we should have equal rights and opportunities in the society.
Second lecture talking about women’s body. Obviously, there are lots of misunderstanding and misconception of women’s amazing body. I am working in Women's Health Queensland Wide as my domestic placement. And I found in fact, many women do not understand their own body at all. My colleagues told me that one of the popular topic (the top one searching topic on our website) is 'Vulval Conditions'. Women do not know the difference between vagina and vulva. Many people usually use the word ‘vagina’ to refer to a woman's entire genital area instead of the more anatomically accurate ‘vulva’. However, ’vagina’ and ‘vulva’ are two distinct areas in a women’s body. Therefore, it is urgently important to use accurate evidence and an easy-understand way (such as create short videos and fact sheets) for those women with low literacy to understand themselves well.
(The vulva area are vary greatly in different women, all those vulva in the picture above are normal and healthy)
One of the biggest issues in understanding women’s body is 'weight and shape' I think. Nowadays, many women over control their weight because of the fashion and culture reason. In my country China, for example, the aesthetics can be said as ‘abnormal’ and ‘distorted’. Most of the women believe: the slimmer the more beautiful. It is undeniable that women who have 'S' body shape are good looking and more confident. But, it should be based on 'healthy' weight. In order to become slimmer, many girls in China do not eat lunch or dinner (or only drink protein instead of regular meals) which significantly endanger their health. Such as influence their psychological (they hate their body and always think they are fat and ugly even they are thin enough), physical (e.g. malnutrition, bone mass loose, menstrual irregular or even without menstruation) and mental health (anorexia etc.). This is a vicious circle.
In addition, some women choose to 'change' their body images by surgery. For example, in the competition of Miss Korea, I can't even distinguish each person just because everyone looks like same (like 'dolls' selling in the toy stores). (This is only an example, have no discrimination at all, if you feel dis-comfortable with this, feel free to talk to me). I think, our body is grace from God, everyone has their own characteristics. We do not need to care about others or follow the 'fashion'. What we need to do is keep healthy and take care of our amazing bodies. International Menstrual Hygiene Day
This short video is a little effort to put up on the serious issue have been facing in contemporary society about the stereotype of what cannot do during women's menstrual. Women have to understand our period is a normal and good physiological response that not a shame.
This is Women’s Health Queensland Wide Inc website, women can call information line to consult and talk to midwives and health professionals about their questions. http://womhealth.org.au/
Week 3 Diary – Women in popular culture, advertising and the media-implications for social inequalities and women’s health
This is a big challenge nowadays in public health. Gender inequality in contemporary society is a very common situation in whatever countries, penetrate in our daily life. In some situation, we don’t even notice that it is gender inequality. Social media in health promotion area gives health professionals a voice and a way to communicate with peers, customers and potential consumers (every single person). It is a tool helps us to spread evidence-based or academic message in a relaxed, easily understanding and conversational way. Social media in certain cases even changed our society and cultural concepts in both positive and negative way.
Women in social media and popular culture today can be summarized as several areas:
1. Body image à As I mentioned last week, the 'weight and shape' appeared in most of medias, newspapers, posters and advertising are ‘too slim to unhealthy’. Nowadays, many women over control their weight because of the fashion and culture reason. Some women have eating disorders or hate their body (a kind of mental illness I think) because of their body image is not good. Women in the popular culture and social media seems have a stereotype of ‘Sexy’ and ‘Scantily clad’.
2. Subservience à In most of relationships, female always the role of ‘good wife’, ‘caring’ and ‘emotional sensitivity’ etc. A woman with low self-esteem does not feel good about herself because she has absorbed negative messages about women from the culture or relationships.
3. Cleanliness or obsession with hygiene à In Chinese popular culture, many men still wish their wife or girlfriend are virgins. Therefore, many women go to re-virgin (a surgery that can repair women's hymen) in order to please men. It's ridiculing that even women themselves feel shame or think they are ‘dirty’ and ‘not clean any more’ if they are not virgin.
4. Unrealistic portrayals of pregnancy and motherhood
5. Institutionalising male dominance and being the victim of violent interactions as ‘glamorous’
6. Female in the televisions such as actress and singers be exposure in front of the public. Once they over the age of 35 or 40 years, they will be identified as ‘old’ and ‘ugly’. Oppositely, male actor over 40 years old are seen like more charming and handsome.
7. Being emotional, hysterical, unreliable, silly, weak willed, erratic, cunning and sexually deviant
I loved the speech of gender inequality by Emma Watson, who is a famous actress. In the speech, Watson made the important point that in order for gender equality to be achieved, harmful and destructive stereotypes of masculinity and behavioural expectations for boys and men have got to change. Yes, gender equality is not only the issue of women, but also (and can be said the most important) the change of men’s perspectives and attitude.
Week 4 Diary -- The Right Time to Have a Child: Changes in Reproductive Trends and Outcomes for Women
This week, we discussed maternal health related issues. Whatever prenatal, postnatal or during pregnancy, maternal health all related to mother's physical, mental and psychological health. I am not a mum yet, so although I may have not many experiences on how to take care of babies, how to breastfeed or what's the feeling of postnatal depression, I am interested in talking about the people's perspectives and views on abortion and maternal death because it is important for public health professionals to understand what causes these attitudes and then provide the best protection.
Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) 5 is about reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health. Yes, maternal health is still a hard problem around the world. Malaria, anaemia, HIV/AIDS and unsafe abortion all of which may complicate pregnancy or be aggravated by it. According to the World Health Organization, every eight minutes a woman dies from complications arising from unsafe abortions (Haddad & Nour, 2009). Maternal death most commonly occurred in low-income or developing countries. In 2008–2012, there were 105 maternal deaths in Australia that occurred within 42 days of the end of pregnancy.
One of the leading causes of maternal death is unsafe abortion, which is an arguable issue in contemporary society. On the one hand, abortion should be stopped in order to protect the unborn baby. On the other hand, in some circumstance, it is the individual choice and a woman's right to choose whether abortion or not. For example, if the woman was raped and gets unwanted pregnancies, it is legal for her to choose to abort. Or another possibility, if the family are too poor to afford a new baby, they are able to abort the pregnancy. For my opinion, abortion is a personal issue (at least between mother and father), the decision should be made by the women (mother) themselves but not others such as doctors or judges. Abortion should be allowed sometimes because women should have complete control over her own body. Every single life starts when the baby can survive independently.
Christian attitudes to abortion: Morality and Influence of Church Teachings
The funny thing in the view of abortion is that different religions have similar attitudes on abortion (some of the attitudes can be said as horrible). Not only traditional Christians, most religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. do not agree with abortion, contraception and homosexuality sort of issues. I am a Christian, in my church, we are not comment anything about abortion which not means we agree on the legality of abortion. However, in most of the traditional Christian church, for example, they think abortion is wrong because life starts at conception and should be protected. In the Bible, it said God started the life so only God has the right to end it. Life is holy (it is called ‘sanctity of life’) and therefore should not be interfered with. Cox et al. indicate that a majority (52%) Catholics say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Evangelical Protestants have the most conservative footprint on the issue, with nearly three-quarters (74%) saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. And nearly 59% of them say that having an abortion is morally wrong, compared to only 4% who say it is morally acceptable (Cox et al., 2013).
Fertility
This fact sheet video was created by a student in the Women’s Health Queensland Wide Inc last year. It is important and a good start for health promotion and health professionals to create and spread evidence-based videos like this to women with low-education level or poor English in a clear, easy-understanding and authoritative way. These sort of videos play an important role in making women understand basic facts about fertility, abortion, sexual behaviours, STIs and many other health topics to minimize the misleading information and gender inequality.
Cox, D., Navaro-Rivera, J. & Jones, R. P. (2013). How shifting religious identities and experiences are influencing Hispanic approaches to politics. Retrieved from: https://www.prri.org/research/hispanic-values-survey-2013/
Haddad, L. B. & Nour, N. M. (2009). "Unsafe abortion: unnecessary maternal mortality". Obstetrics and gynecology, 2(2): 122–6.
Week 5 Diary -- Changing Gender Roles in Families: Paid Work, House Work, and Child-Raising
It is an interesting topic this week. The stereotype of gender roles seems still happened since every individual was born. The core family model nowadays is 'male responsible for earning money; female responsible for taking care of the whole household'. In my personal experience, fathers were employed out of the home, and mothers tended to the household. That meant not only housekeeping but taking primary responsibility for childbearing. I was born in a very traditional family in China, it can be said a little bit ‘patriarchy’. As an only-child in my family, and as a daughter, I am not allowed to go outside after 5 p.m. Throughout my childhood, I was asked to learn lots of things like piano, singing, cooking, sewing and dancing. Once I grow up, I want to work outside but my father said you are too young to work and girl do not need to work at your age. My mother is a housewife and her responsibility is to take care of me, cooking and look after the whole households with no paid (actually I don’t know whether it is paid, my father always give my mum money as ‘pocket money’).
Now things are different. Most women work, household responsibilities must be shared. But they are not shared equally. The main conflicts in many young couples are the unequal 'family roles'. For example, the recent Chinese news reported that: 24th June, a new mum in Shanghai dropped her just 6 months new-born baby from the fifth floor and then jumped from the building as well after quarrel with her husband. The reason is that her mother-in-law blamed she 'you do not have any job, how can't you even take care of your daughter well?' after her child accidentally fell from the bed in the morning (but not injured). Yes, obviously the new mum got postnatal depression and the family environment takes the leading causes of this situation. But the most serious issues ‘behind’ this news is that women especially housewife don’t work and have no source of income. They usually get money from their husband (like ‘Alms’) and highly depends on husbands’ mood and attitude. In such a family role, a woman is not a 'wife' but a 'nanny', a 'servant' (even unpaid). It is a very common family structure that man's role was viewed as' primary breadwinner 'and the woman's role as' primary carer, which have adverse impacts on women's physical, mental especially psychological health.
I could not help but ask: Till when men can recognize their own roles, responsibilities and obligations correctly in a relationship? When can women have the 'real' gender equality and fair role in not only the family but also work place?
Women and Work
In the occupational environment, the man is still likely to be better paid than women. The gendered division of labour in contemporary society is arguable. For example, it is common to talk about fathers ‘babysitting’ their own children when their female partner goes out for an evening, while to talk of mothers babysitting their children sounds strange. Emotional labour in terms of the display of certain positive emotions is increasingly demanded in the labour force (such as expectations of a smiling welcome from those waiting at restaurant tables or warmth and compassion from a nurse) and that the jobs to which this applies tend to be filled by women.
‘In terms of domestic violence, it is not only physical violence but also psychologically and spiritual abuse. Domestic violence can occur in any relationship within households including parent-child, between partners and siblings’. Children who are subject to physical violence or sexual abuse within domestic and family settings are often afraid to speak out. They keep silent either in response to threats from the perpetrator or from a sense of loyalty and because they worry about family break-up should they be taken into care by social workers and the perpetrator sent to prison. Older people with dementia in particular, or in need of care for other reasons also at risk of violence and abuse from family carers.
Domestic violence is a really weak aspect of public health to address which urgently need researches and studies on it to identify the risk factors, and change the social perspectives on domestic violence and reduce gender inequality all around the world. Related to one of another unit ‘Understanding families and relationships’ mentioned that why domestic violence has to be highlighted because it always happened privately that it is a relationship between family members, no matter outside the home or at home. It has negative influences on victims themselves and also affects the next generation’s health and well-being. Women are especially affected by domestic violence compare to male in a family system as female are more likely lose their self-esteem and inner strength. They are so overwhelmed and shamed by the violence that they lack the strength to change their situations.
In feminist post-structural understandings of domestic violence that address the complexity and diversity of women’s experiences in violent relationships which must be understood in particular historical, social, cultural, community and spiritual contexts as constructed by those who live them.
As I mentioned in Week 3 diary, domestic violence is more likely happened during women’s pregnancy or after giving birth. Language abuse and inadvertently psychological abuse from husband or mother-in-law have adversely resulted in a postnatal mother which could cause severe mental disorders, depression and suicide ideation.
More recently, I’ve heard a ridiculous News that former hostess married with a Chinese American doctor in the United States and being abused for many years including eating expired food, only a pack of sanitary napkins for one year… It is reported that Ms. Cao hopes to come to the United States and live a happy life with her husband before they married, but what happened later was unexpected. "He is a doctor in Palmdale, Alhambra and Palmdale have the property, but he didn't give me the key to the house, to the United States for more than a year, I am now a temporary green card. In addition, I do not have an ID card (ID), no car, no American account, no money, nothing. Later, he gave me the key to the Palmdale house, but the key must be hung on the wall, anyway, I do not have a car, Palmdale so far away, I cannot go anywhere, go to the church are well-wishers pick me up." More than anything else, it is even more surprising that, according to Ms. Cao's testimony to the court, "my husband only bought me a pack of napkins for a year and $1 at the Costco."...... Don't allow me to use oil while cooking, and even control the temperature of bath water. Ms. Cao said she thought she had been abused for over a year, hoping to settle the issue through the judiciary. According to Ms. Cao said, before she played near the rescue call, all full, also called the help centre call for free legal help, all have no result.
Women as a vulnerable group in the situation of domestic violence usually have no power (because of no income, low education level, fear and helplessness) to against the offender. Emotional dependence in the case is the leading bias for Mr. Cao to seeking help because she has nothing (no evidence, no transport, no communication and no support).
One of my friends has a boyfriend who always hit her and shouted to her after drunk. Even my friend know there is something wrong with her boyfriend and they've break-up several times. But every time the man make some promise to her and swear will not be happened again, my friend always forgives him. And I ask my friend why you still can live with him after he so harms to you? And she replied that just because of love and a sense of dependence. Yes, it is the common situation in our daily life that many people believe or hope there is still love between them, however, it is just a kind of operative corollary to love.
Week 7 Women who Love Other Women: The Social Treatment of Lesbians and the Consequences for Health
This is a very interesting and popular topics nowadays, because starting in September, Australians will have the opportunity to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage via a postal survey. People have different attitudes on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry or not. It is a milestone in Australia's social, political and human rights. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People (LGBTI) is used to refer to people of diverse sexualities, relationships, genders and bodies. LGBTI people being part of a minority sexual group experience much more issues which are uniquely related to their social experience and identity.
The rainbow flag commonly known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements worldwide. The flag originally composed eight stripes in which specific meaning to each of the colours:
I have many lesbian or bisexual girlfriends, and they told me a really interesting thing is that ‘homosexuality’ is people's nature characteristics that it is hard for straight women to become lesbian because of the outer persuade or pressure. Same, if you are lesbian or have potential characteristics of lesbian, you might not become a straight woman even though others try to make you straight.
Also, different religions and cultural have different attitudes on homosexuality. For example, as a Christian, last Sunday, our pastor have a lecture for us and the topic is 'Do not vote for same-sex marriage in Australia'. Because the Bible NIV said “So God created mankind in this own image, in the image of God he creates then; male and female he creates them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1: 27-28). That means male and female were born in order to multiply descendants. However, same sex marriage breaks up the natural rules that women and women cannot have babies and even if they adopt children, it could have many problems such as mental disorders or depression for the next generation, where should be forbidden. In addition, in Romans 1: 26-27 "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their errors." In the Christian culture, we are not accepting the same sex marriage. Therefore, one of my girlfriend feels really struggle with this situation because as a Christian and also as a lesbian, she does not know how to deal with the balance between her life.
Thus, Lesbian or other homosexuality face a wide range of health issues nowadays because of these pressures (social, cultural, religions etc.), including high smoking rates, sexual transmissible diseases such as HIV/AIDS, obesity, drug abuse, alcohol drinking, unsafe sexual behaviours, depression and anxiety. For myself, I think I am neutral. Although I am a Christian, I still think that gender is a cultural expression of sex identity which can be understood as a person looking, dressing or acting as male or female. However, some people do not have a gender identity that is either exclusively male or female; and some people’s gender identity is not linked to their sex. Regardless of who you married, every person has the right to have their sex and/or gender identity recognised and respected.
Here is a fantastic story about lesbian’s love. Just want to share this because it does happened in our life.
Week 8 Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Women Across the Ages
From conception the life experiences of girls differ from those of boys. Some of these pertain to the intrinsic biological differences in female and male reproductive potential, but the more prominent differences are gender-based barriers in opportunities, responsibilities and roles throughout the society. These have consequences for all aspects of health, including mental health. Gender-based risks to mental health have been overlooked in much prior research, clinical training, health promotion, and undergraduate and postgraduate education in psychology.
As last few weeks mentioned, women as the vulnerable group face lots of challenges. Especially those young women or who has babies are more likely have mental-related diseases under the personal, interpersonal and social tensions. For example, I’m quite interested in the field of postnatal mental illness. It is a quite hard mental issue nowadays which associated to poor health behaviours such as substance abuse, smoking, alcohol drinking and also anorexia. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 10%-20% of mothers experience postnatal depression within the first year after giving birth. Postnatal depression is common and affects up to 1 in every 7 women who give birth in Australia each year. In China, the prevalence of postnatal depression is rapidly increasing recently. Lots of maternal suicide or child death were related to postnatal depression or anxiety. Biological characteristics, social guidance, community environment and family support will all impact on women's mental health.
This week lecture also let me remember a news in Australia. I can’t believe we’re still have this sort of situation in 2017. In news that a woman (Snuffalo) has taken to an online forum to share a truly sexist experience in her workplace that a male supervisor report her to HR for having her period.
A woman had her period. So, her male colleague reported her to HR, obviously
She has a hot water bottle in her desk drawer and after filling the water bottle and returning to her desk, her supervisor came over. “He talk to me about something, notices the hot water bottle, says ‘there’s no way you’re cold today, are you?’ I say ‘um, no, just for the pain relief’. He looks confused and then literally horrified and then he walks away." But within minutes a chat message from an HR administrator popped up on her computer asking if she was alright. HR administrator said she’s not well and should go home. Snuffalo replied saying she was fine, she simply had some menstrual cramps. Then, ten minutes later, she received a phone call from a HR Director asking her to find a private meeting room where they could talk. She explained to the Director what had happened and her shock at the situation being escalated. Guy is extremely uncomfortable and it’s unprofessional, said that “if you’re so unwell you need a hot water bottle you should be home”. “If you’re feeling better that’s great but if you need to, please do go home, OK bye!"
It is a really case in our daily life and significantly impact on women’s mental health. Most women menstruate and it's a perfectly normal body function. Menstruation is a normal physical process not a medical condition or medical problem. But some people always over-react on this kind of thing and usually harmful to women's mental health through verbal or physical abuse.
Week 9 Diary The fashion industry and body image: impact on women’s health
Fashion industry nowadays are really popular. To be honest, as a “normal person” can’t understanding what the so-called “fashion” is. Fashion industry involved in almost all fields of our daily life, such as clothing manufacturers, fashion shows, model agencies, magazines, TV shows, movies and even some cartoons.
I think one of the famous fashion industry around the world is the well-known “Victoria’s Secret”. Every year, the Victoria's Secret fashion show attracts hundreds of celebrities and entertainers. Dozens supermodel with their long legs, thin waists, yet surprisingly large breasts are portrayed as ethereal and consider as “perfect.” Yes, it has to be said that no matter body shape or clothing, these supermodels are visually flawless. However, for most of women in "real life", it is impossible to achieve such unrealistic body images which contribute to huge pressure and underlying cause of serious health issues. This pressure is damaging society by wreaking havoc on female self-esteem, coercing women into going on diets to change their body shape.
Moreover, the way we construct gender today can come from many different places, including societal, family or cultural norms, and in more recent times it can come from the media. Social media is becoming one of our main sources for information which plays an important role in portraying women's physical and mental health and well-being. Popular music plays a particularly important role in the way we shape our views because the lyrics together with the melody could give people a strong impression if it attempt to spread antisocial or bad messages to all of the listeners. For example, many rap and hip hop songs are about men using women and having control over them. Others portray women as being property and sex objects or simply show lack of respect for women as human beings. Some songs use derogatory names for women to show subordination or tell stories about how they beat women up to show that men are more powerful.
Social media aims in shaping popular culture by perpetuating and communicating specific ideas and beliefs such as what constitutes the ‘perfect body’. Many people especially women feel the pressure to have the ‘ideal body size’ or ‘beauty’ as a result of certain images being displayed on various mediums such as billboards advertisements and fashion magazines. In addition, actually, as people come in all different shapes and sizes, media promotions of an ‘ideal figure’ type is unrealistic, unfair and potentially harmful (some women in social media are usually edited by Photoshop, but most of audience never know this kind of "truth"). This kind of distorted and misleading information would cause women especially young girls develop a poor body image, low self-esteem and even serious mental health issues, such as depression or eating disorders. Till now, I have to say my personal experiences. I am fat and usually when I was shopping, for some clothes I really like them are only "one size", and the size is unrealistic (extremely small). Therefore, sometimes I feel down because of my body shape. And sometimes it even impacts on my daily life. But now I feels like some social media extremely rendering the concept of "women should be thin" which definitely damage their self-esteem and distort the natural balance. Here is an awesome presentation by Bailey Parnell talking about how social media hurt people’s mental health:
Week 12 – 13 Ture Relationships, Children by Choice and DV connect
Till now, 13 weeks have all completed. After the 13 weeks of study in women health, I found that I have a big passion on this unit. Not only because I am a female, but also I want to understand why women are more likely be the vulnerable group in contemporary society. Especially in some developing or poor resources countries, women's position are incredible low. Gender roles in female in many countries and families still have stereotypes that women play the role of good mothers, good wives, and take care of the whole households. Therefore, more and more issues appear such as domestic violence, perinatal mental illness and high rape incidence, which reflect how gender inequity are in a domestic setting and even the community. As the video played in today's lecture said: the key to improve domestic violence is to improve gender equality.
Recently, I chat with my friend who study master of social work about health issues among women. And she shown me a news happened in United States which makes the whole world and shocked a lot. It is about an Atlanta mom is accused of killing her 1- and 2-year-old sons by cooking them alive in an oven. I can't image that how much pressure and disappointment be accumulate for a mum would let her personally "cook" her biological children in the oven. From this News, I realize that how serious consequences will be occurred during postnatal depression. The mom lives with her children in women's refuge and with no family support which result in the sense of social isolation, helpless and depressed. Then it will cause extreme vent behaviours which not only influence women's personal health but also their partners, parents, children and communities. Many people don't understand this kind of feeling. But research were found that 10-20% of mothers experience postnatal depression within the first year after giving birth. Postnatal depression is common and affects up to 1 in every 7 women (almost 16 per cent) who give birth in Australia each year. Women would experience negative thoughts (e.g. they would think life is meaningless); low self-esteem and lack of confidence; feelings of inadequacy and guilt; difficulty sleeping or changes in sleeping patterns; anxiety, panic attacks or heart palpitations; losing interest in most activities and even recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. http://nypost.com/2017/10/16/mom-accused-of-killing-her-babies-by-cooking-them-alive-in-oven/
Todays’ lecture have three specialists also talking about the topic of true relationships, children by choice and domestic violence connect, in which I am highly interested in. As I talked about the domestic violence at the week 6. There are lot more knowledge within the topic. Related to one of mine another unit “Understanding Families and Domestic Violence” mentioned, domestic violence as a family issue refers to acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship. Domestic violence is an ongoing pattern of behaviour aimed at controlling a partner through fear, for example by using behaviour is part of a range of tactics to exercise power and control over women and their children, and can be both criminal and non-criminal. A feminist analysis of domestic violence against women indicates that we live in a world where women continue to be under-represented in leadership roles, have less economic security. Despite all of the effort which is going into promoting gender equality, there still remain systemic and structural barriers to genuine equality. In the family setting, women still bear the burden for the majority of child caring responsibilities and continue to take time out of the workforce more often than men.
There is a famous video be posted on YouTube that I think everyone has seen it. It is a speech from Yeonmi Park telling her story of life in North Korea and calls for action against such human rights violations. From this video, I think gender inequality still exist in no matter what countries, family class and cultural norms. Therefore, to build a “gender freedom” community should not only focus to address the issue of stereotype gender roles but also the values and attitudes between all populations in particular male.
Escaping from North Korea in search of freedom:
With regard to immigration, gender inequality and health risks, I remember a famous News reported few months ago. It is talking about one 26-year-old Chinese graduate student Yingying Zhang went missing at Chicago and is feared to be dead. I was shocked that more and more Chinese international student was ‘murdered’ or ‘killed’ abroad. Just because we are Chinese or overseas students? Obviously it is racism and gender discrimination. Immigration women are more likely in the vulnerable group in society. Some of them don't have family support, lack of Western cultural background, limited language advantages and lack of self-protection awareness, in which increase the risks of been murdered, raped and abused. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4669684/Man-accused-kidnapping-missing-Chinese-student-recorded.html
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Week 2 Diary -- Women's Amazing Bodies
In the beginning, Women’s Health is not my first option that I swap from another unit. The reason is that as a female, I think I know everything about women and do not need to waste money to study this unit. However, after the first two weeks, I found that Women's Health is not only about what female looks like, what diseases women likely get and how they live, but also talks about feminism, gender equity and multi-perspectives of women's health status. This is my last semester in the bachelor of public health and as an international student, I am looking forward to knowing something in-depth such as women's health status in different countries and current challenges and barriers in improving women's health.
In the first lecture, I am really interested in the topic of Feminism. It is not saying that feminism is against men, it just advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. For myself, I definitely believe I am a feminist that I hate those men who are Machismo (those who think women belong to men). Although there are men and women are biologically different such as body shape, physical, genital and brain, we should have equal rights and opportunities in the society.
Second lecture talking about women’s body. Obviously, there are lots of misunderstanding and misconception of women’s amazing body. I am working in Women's Health Queensland Wide as my domestic placement. And I found in fact, many women do not understand their own body at all. My colleagues told me that one of the popular topic (the top one searching topic on our website) is 'Vulval Conditions'. Women do not know the difference between vagina and vulva. Many people usually use the word ‘vagina’ to refer to a woman's entire genital area instead of the more anatomically accurate ‘vulva’. However, ’vagina’ and ‘vulva’ are two distinct areas in a women’s body. Therefore, it is urgently important to use accurate evidence and an easy-understand way (such as create short videos and fact sheets) for those women with low literacy to understand themselves well.
This is a very good website that contains all information about women’s labia.
http://www.labialibrary.org.au/your-labia/
(The vulva area are vary greatly in different women, all those vulva in the picture above are normal and healthy)
One of the biggest issues in understanding women’s body is 'weight and shape' I think. Nowadays, many women over control their weight because of the fashion and culture reason. In my country China, for example, the aesthetics can be said as ‘abnormal’ and ‘distorted’. Most of the women believe: the slimmer the more beautiful. It is undeniable that women who have 'S' body shape are good looking and more confident. But, it should be based on 'healthy' weight. In order to become slimmer, many girls in China do not eat lunch or dinner (or only drink protein instead of regular meals) which significantly endanger their health. Such as influence their psychological (they hate their body and always think they are fat and ugly even they are thin enough), physical (e.g. malnutrition, bone mass loose, menstrual irregular or even without menstruation) and mental health (anorexia etc.). This is a vicious circle.
In addition, some women choose to 'change' their body images by surgery. For example, in the competition of Miss Korea, I can't even distinguish each person just because everyone looks like same (like 'dolls' selling in the toy stores). (This is only an example, have no discrimination at all, if you feel dis-comfortable with this, feel free to talk to me). I think, our body is grace from God, everyone has their own characteristics. We do not need to care about others or follow the 'fashion'. What we need to do is keep healthy and take care of our amazing bodies.
International Menstrual Hygiene Day
This short video is a little effort to put up on the serious issue have been facing in contemporary society about the stereotype of what cannot do during women's menstrual. Women have to understand our period is a normal and good physiological response that not a shame.
This is Women’s Health Queensland Wide Inc website, women can call information line to consult and talk to midwives and health professionals about their questions.
http://womhealth.org.au/
Week 3 Diary – Women in popular culture, advertising and the media-implications for social inequalities and women’s health
This is a big challenge nowadays in public health. Gender inequality in contemporary society is a very common situation in whatever countries, penetrate in our daily life. In some situation, we don’t even notice that it is gender inequality. Social media in health promotion area gives health professionals a voice and a way to communicate with peers, customers and potential consumers (every single person). It is a tool helps us to spread evidence-based or academic message in a relaxed, easily understanding and conversational way. Social media in certain cases even changed our society and cultural concepts in both positive and negative way.
1. Body image à As I mentioned last week, the 'weight and shape' appeared in most of medias, newspapers, posters and advertising are ‘too slim to unhealthy’. Nowadays, many women over control their weight because of the fashion and culture reason. Some women have eating disorders or hate their body (a kind of mental illness I think) because of their body image is not good. Women in the popular culture and social media seems have a stereotype of ‘Sexy’ and ‘Scantily clad’.
2. Subservience à In most of relationships, female always the role of ‘good wife’, ‘caring’ and ‘emotional sensitivity’ etc. A woman with low self-esteem does not feel good about herself because she has absorbed negative messages about women from the culture or relationships.
3. Cleanliness or obsession with hygiene à In Chinese popular culture, many men still wish their wife or girlfriend are virgins. Therefore, many women go to re-virgin (a surgery that can repair women's hymen) in order to please men. It's ridiculing that even women themselves feel shame or think they are ‘dirty’ and ‘not clean any more’ if they are not virgin.
4. Unrealistic portrayals of pregnancy and motherhood
5. Institutionalising male dominance and being the victim of violent interactions as ‘glamorous’
6. Female in the televisions such as actress and singers be exposure in front of the public. Once they over the age of 35 or 40 years, they will be identified as ‘old’ and ‘ugly’. Oppositely, male actor over 40 years old are seen like more charming and handsome.
7. Being emotional, hysterical, unreliable, silly, weak willed, erratic, cunning and sexually deviant
I loved the speech of gender inequality by Emma Watson, who is a famous actress. In the speech, Watson made the important point that in order for gender equality to be achieved, harmful and destructive stereotypes of masculinity and behavioural expectations for boys and men have got to change. Yes, gender equality is not only the issue of women, but also (and can be said the most important) the change of men’s perspectives and attitude.
Week 4 Diary -- The Right Time to Have a Child: Changes in Reproductive Trends and Outcomes for Women
Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) 5 is about reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health. Yes, maternal health is still a hard problem around the world. Malaria, anaemia, HIV/AIDS and unsafe abortion all of which may complicate pregnancy or be aggravated by it. According to the World Health Organization, every eight minutes a woman dies from complications arising from unsafe abortions (Haddad & Nour, 2009). Maternal death most commonly occurred in low-income or developing countries. In 2008–2012, there were 105 maternal deaths in Australia that occurred within 42 days of the end of pregnancy.
One of the leading causes of maternal death is unsafe abortion, which is an arguable issue in contemporary society. On the one hand, abortion should be stopped in order to protect the unborn baby. On the other hand, in some circumstance, it is the individual choice and a woman's right to choose whether abortion or not. For example, if the woman was raped and gets unwanted pregnancies, it is legal for her to choose to abort. Or another possibility, if the family are too poor to afford a new baby, they are able to abort the pregnancy. For my opinion, abortion is a personal issue (at least between mother and father), the decision should be made by the women (mother) themselves but not others such as doctors or judges. Abortion should be allowed sometimes because women should have complete control over her own body. Every single life starts when the baby can survive independently.
Christian attitudes to abortion: Morality and Influence of Church Teachings
The funny thing in the view of abortion is that different religions have similar attitudes on abortion (some of the attitudes can be said as horrible). Not only traditional Christians, most religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. do not agree with abortion, contraception and homosexuality sort of issues. I am a Christian, in my church, we are not comment anything about abortion which not means we agree on the legality of abortion. However, in most of the traditional Christian church, for example, they think abortion is wrong because life starts at conception and should be protected. In the Bible, it said God started the life so only God has the right to end it. Life is holy (it is called ‘sanctity of life’) and therefore should not be interfered with. Cox et al. indicate that a majority (52%) Catholics say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Evangelical Protestants have the most conservative footprint on the issue, with nearly three-quarters (74%) saying abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. And nearly 59% of them say that having an abortion is morally wrong, compared to only 4% who say it is morally acceptable (Cox et al., 2013).
Fertility
This fact sheet video was created by a student in the Women’s Health Queensland Wide Inc last year. It is important and a good start for health promotion and health professionals to create and spread evidence-based videos like this to women with low-education level or poor English in a clear, easy-understanding and authoritative way. These sort of videos play an important role in making women understand basic facts about fertility, abortion, sexual behaviours, STIs and many other health topics to minimize the misleading information and gender inequality.
Women's Health Queensland Wide also have many booklets about Antenatal and Postnatal Anxiety:
Here is the link:
http://womhealth.org.au/sites/womhealth/files/public/documents/booklets/Antenatal%20and%20Postnatal%20Anxiety%20web.pdf
References
Cox, D., Navaro-Rivera, J. & Jones, R. P. (2013). How shifting religious identities and experiences are influencing Hispanic approaches to politics. Retrieved from: https://www.prri.org/research/hispanic-values-survey-2013/
Haddad, L. B. & Nour, N. M. (2009). "Unsafe abortion: unnecessary maternal mortality". Obstetrics and gynecology, 2(2): 122–6.
Week 5 Diary -- Changing Gender Roles in Families: Paid Work, House Work, and Child-Raising
It is an interesting topic this week. The stereotype of gender roles seems still happened since every individual was born. The core family model nowadays is 'male responsible for earning money; female responsible for taking care of the whole household'. In my personal experience, fathers were employed out of the home, and mothers tended to the household. That meant not only housekeeping but taking primary responsibility for childbearing. I was born in a very traditional family in China, it can be said a little bit ‘patriarchy’. As an only-child in my family, and as a daughter, I am not allowed to go outside after 5 p.m. Throughout my childhood, I was asked to learn lots of things like piano, singing, cooking, sewing and dancing. Once I grow up, I want to work outside but my father said you are too young to work and girl do not need to work at your age. My mother is a housewife and her responsibility is to take care of me, cooking and look after the whole households with no paid (actually I don’t know whether it is paid, my father always give my mum money as ‘pocket money’).
Now things are different. Most women work, household responsibilities must be shared. But they are not shared equally. The main conflicts in many young couples are the unequal 'family roles'. For example, the recent Chinese news reported that: 24th June, a new mum in Shanghai dropped her just 6 months new-born baby from the fifth floor and then jumped from the building as well after quarrel with her husband. The reason is that her mother-in-law blamed she 'you do not have any job, how can't you even take care of your daughter well?' after her child accidentally fell from the bed in the morning (but not injured). Yes, obviously the new mum got postnatal depression and the family environment takes the leading causes of this situation. But the most serious issues ‘behind’ this news is that women especially housewife don’t work and have no source of income. They usually get money from their husband (like ‘Alms’) and highly depends on husbands’ mood and attitude. In such a family role, a woman is not a 'wife' but a 'nanny', a 'servant' (even unpaid). It is a very common family structure that man's role was viewed as' primary breadwinner 'and the woman's role as' primary carer, which have adverse impacts on women's physical, mental especially psychological health.
I could not help but ask: Till when men can recognize their own roles, responsibilities and obligations correctly in a relationship? When can women have the 'real' gender equality and fair role in not only the family but also work place?
Women and Work
In the occupational environment, the man is still likely to be better paid than women. The gendered division of labour in contemporary society is arguable. For example, it is common to talk about fathers ‘babysitting’ their own children when their female partner goes out for an evening, while to talk of mothers babysitting their children sounds strange. Emotional labour in terms of the display of certain positive emotions is increasingly demanded in the labour force (such as expectations of a smiling welcome from those waiting at restaurant tables or warmth and compassion from a nurse) and that the jobs to which this applies tend to be filled by women.
A woman had her period. So, her male colleague reported her to HR, obviously.
Here is a link I've seen from online News, which indicate how gender inequality nowadays in workplaces:
https://www.msn.com/en-ph/lifestyle/smart-living/a-woman-had-her-period-so-her-male-colleague-reported-her-to-hr-obviously/ar-BBEndXQ?li=BBr8Mkn
Week 6 Women and Domestic Violence
‘In terms of domestic violence, it is not only physical violence but also psychologically and spiritual abuse. Domestic violence can occur in any relationship within households including parent-child, between partners and siblings’. Children who are subject to physical violence or sexual abuse within domestic and family settings are often afraid to speak out. They keep silent either in response to threats from the perpetrator or from a sense of loyalty and because they worry about family break-up should they be taken into care by social workers and the perpetrator sent to prison. Older people with dementia in particular, or in need of care for other reasons also at risk of violence and abuse from family carers.
Domestic violence is a really weak aspect of public health to address which urgently need researches and studies on it to identify the risk factors, and change the social perspectives on domestic violence and reduce gender inequality all around the world. Related to one of another unit ‘Understanding families and relationships’ mentioned that why domestic violence has to be highlighted because it always happened privately that it is a relationship between family members, no matter outside the home or at home. It has negative influences on victims themselves and also affects the next generation’s health and well-being. Women are especially affected by domestic violence compare to male in a family system as female are more likely lose their self-esteem and inner strength. They are so overwhelmed and shamed by the violence that they lack the strength to change their situations.
In feminist post-structural understandings of domestic violence that address the complexity and diversity of women’s experiences in violent relationships which must be understood in particular historical, social, cultural, community and spiritual contexts as constructed by those who live them.
As I mentioned in Week 3 diary, domestic violence is more likely happened during women’s pregnancy or after giving birth. Language abuse and inadvertently psychological abuse from husband or mother-in-law have adversely resulted in a postnatal mother which could cause severe mental disorders, depression and suicide ideation.
Women as a vulnerable group in the situation of domestic violence usually have no power (because of no income, low education level, fear and helplessness) to against the offender. Emotional dependence in the case is the leading bias for Mr. Cao to seeking help because she has nothing (no evidence, no transport, no communication and no support).
More information: http://www.bestchinanews.com/Domestic/16536.html
One of my friends has a boyfriend who always hit her and shouted to her after drunk. Even my friend know there is something wrong with her boyfriend and they've break-up several times. But every time the man make some promise to her and swear will not be happened again, my friend always forgives him. And I ask my friend why you still can live with him after he so harms to you? And she replied that just because of love and a sense of dependence. Yes, it is the common situation in our daily life that many people believe or hope there is still love between them, however, it is just a kind of operative corollary to love.
Week 7 Women who Love Other Women: The Social Treatment of Lesbians and the Consequences for Health
This is a very interesting and popular topics nowadays, because starting in September, Australians will have the opportunity to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage via a postal survey. People have different attitudes on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry or not. It is a milestone in Australia's social, political and human rights. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People (LGBTI) is used to refer to people of diverse sexualities, relationships, genders and bodies. LGBTI people being part of a minority sexual group experience much more issues which are uniquely related to their social experience and identity.
The rainbow flag commonly known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pride and LGBT social movements worldwide. The flag originally composed eight stripes in which specific meaning to each of the colours:
I have many lesbian or bisexual girlfriends, and they told me a really interesting thing is that ‘homosexuality’ is people's nature characteristics that it is hard for straight women to become lesbian because of the outer persuade or pressure. Same, if you are lesbian or have potential characteristics of lesbian, you might not become a straight woman even though others try to make you straight.
Also, different religions and cultural have different attitudes on homosexuality. For example, as a Christian, last Sunday, our pastor have a lecture for us and the topic is 'Do not vote for same-sex marriage in Australia'. Because the Bible NIV said “So God created mankind in this own image, in the image of God he creates then; male and female he creates them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1: 27-28). That means male and female were born in order to multiply descendants. However, same sex marriage breaks up the natural rules that women and women cannot have babies and even if they adopt children, it could have many problems such as mental disorders or depression for the next generation, where should be forbidden. In addition, in Romans 1: 26-27 "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their errors." In the Christian culture, we are not accepting the same sex marriage. Therefore, one of my girlfriend feels really struggle with this situation because as a Christian and also as a lesbian, she does not know how to deal with the balance between her life.
Thus, Lesbian or other homosexuality face a wide range of health issues nowadays because of these pressures (social, cultural, religions etc.), including high smoking rates, sexual transmissible diseases such as HIV/AIDS, obesity, drug abuse, alcohol drinking, unsafe sexual behaviours, depression and anxiety. For myself, I think I am neutral. Although I am a Christian, I still think that gender is a cultural expression of sex identity which can be understood as a person looking, dressing or acting as male or female. However, some people do not have a gender identity that is either exclusively male or female; and some people’s gender identity is not linked to their sex. Regardless of who you married, every person has the right to have their sex and/or gender identity recognised and respected.
Here is a fantastic story about lesbian’s love. Just want to share this because it does happened in our life.
Human rights and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/letstalkaboutrights/downloads/HRA_GLBTI.pdf
Week 8 Mental Health and Substance Abuse in Women Across the Ages
From conception the life experiences of girls differ from those of boys. Some of these pertain to the intrinsic biological differences in female and male reproductive potential, but the more prominent differences are gender-based barriers in opportunities, responsibilities and roles throughout the society. These have consequences for all aspects of health, including mental health. Gender-based risks to mental health have been overlooked in much prior research, clinical training, health promotion, and undergraduate and postgraduate education in psychology.
As last few weeks mentioned, women as the vulnerable group face lots of challenges. Especially those young women or who has babies are more likely have mental-related diseases under the personal, interpersonal and social tensions. For example, I’m quite interested in the field of postnatal mental illness. It is a quite hard mental issue nowadays which associated to poor health behaviours such as substance abuse, smoking, alcohol drinking and also anorexia. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 10%-20% of mothers experience postnatal depression within the first year after giving birth. Postnatal depression is common and affects up to 1 in every 7 women who give birth in Australia each year. In China, the prevalence of postnatal depression is rapidly increasing recently. Lots of maternal suicide or child death were related to postnatal depression or anxiety. Biological characteristics, social guidance, community environment and family support will all impact on women's mental health.
This week lecture also let me remember a news in Australia. I can’t believe we’re still have this sort of situation in 2017. In news that a woman (Snuffalo) has taken to an online forum to share a truly sexist experience in her workplace that a male supervisor report her to HR for having her period.
A woman had her period. So, her male colleague reported her to HR, obviously
She has a hot water bottle in her desk drawer and after filling the water bottle and returning to her desk, her supervisor came over. “He talk to me about something, notices the hot water bottle, says ‘there’s no way you’re cold today, are you?’ I say ‘um, no, just for the pain relief’. He looks confused and then literally horrified and then he walks away." But within minutes a chat message from an HR administrator popped up on her computer asking if she was alright. HR administrator said she’s not well and should go home. Snuffalo replied saying she was fine, she simply had some menstrual cramps. Then, ten minutes later, she received a phone call from a HR Director asking her to find a private meeting room where they could talk. She explained to the Director what had happened and her shock at the situation being escalated. Guy is extremely uncomfortable and it’s unprofessional, said that “if you’re so unwell you need a hot water bottle you should be home”. “If you’re feeling better that’s great but if you need to, please do go home, OK bye!"
It is a really case in our daily life and significantly impact on women’s mental health. Most women menstruate and it's a perfectly normal body function. Menstruation is a normal physical process not a medical condition or medical problem. But some people always over-react on this kind of thing and usually harmful to women's mental health through verbal or physical abuse.
https://www.msn.com/en-ph/lifestyle/smart-living/a-woman-had-her-period-so-her-male-colleague-reported-her-to-hr-obviously/ar-BBEndXQ?li=BBr8Mkn
Week 9 Diary The fashion industry and body image: impact on women’s health
Fashion industry nowadays are really popular. To be honest, as a “normal person” can’t understanding what the so-called “fashion” is. Fashion industry involved in almost all fields of our daily life, such as clothing manufacturers, fashion shows, model agencies, magazines, TV shows, movies and even some cartoons.
Moreover, the way we construct gender today can come from many different places, including societal, family or cultural norms, and in more recent times it can come from the media. Social media is becoming one of our main sources for information which plays an important role in portraying women's physical and mental health and well-being. Popular music plays a particularly important role in the way we shape our views because the lyrics together with the melody could give people a strong impression if it attempt to spread antisocial or bad messages to all of the listeners. For example, many rap and hip hop songs are about men using women and having control over them. Others portray women as being property and sex objects or simply show lack of respect for women as human beings. Some songs use derogatory names for women to show subordination or tell stories about how they beat women up to show that men are more powerful.
Social media aims in shaping popular culture by perpetuating and communicating specific ideas and beliefs such as what constitutes the ‘perfect body’. Many people especially women feel the pressure to have the ‘ideal body size’ or ‘beauty’ as a result of certain images being displayed on various mediums such as billboards advertisements and fashion magazines. In addition, actually, as people come in all different shapes and sizes, media promotions of an ‘ideal figure’ type is unrealistic, unfair and potentially harmful (some women in social media are usually edited by Photoshop, but most of audience never know this kind of "truth"). This kind of distorted and misleading information would cause women especially young girls develop a poor body image, low self-esteem and even serious mental health issues, such as depression or eating disorders. Till now, I have to say my personal experiences. I am fat and usually when I was shopping, for some clothes I really like them are only "one size", and the size is unrealistic (extremely small). Therefore, sometimes I feel down because of my body shape. And sometimes it even impacts on my daily life. But now I feels like some social media extremely rendering the concept of "women should be thin" which definitely damage their self-esteem and distort the natural balance.
Here is an awesome presentation by Bailey Parnell talking about how social media hurt people’s mental health:
Week 12 – 13 Ture Relationships, Children by Choice and DV connect
Till now, 13 weeks have all completed. After the 13 weeks of study in women health, I found that I have a big passion on this unit. Not only because I am a female, but also I want to understand why women are more likely be the vulnerable group in contemporary society. Especially in some developing or poor resources countries, women's position are incredible low. Gender roles in female in many countries and families still have stereotypes that women play the role of good mothers, good wives, and take care of the whole households. Therefore, more and more issues appear such as domestic violence, perinatal mental illness and high rape incidence, which reflect how gender inequity are in a domestic setting and even the community. As the video played in today's lecture said: the key to improve domestic violence is to improve gender equality.
Recently, I chat with my friend who study master of social work about health issues among women. And she shown me a news happened in United States which makes the whole world and shocked a lot. It is about an Atlanta mom is accused of killing her 1- and 2-year-old sons by cooking them alive in an oven. I can't image that how much pressure and disappointment be accumulate for a mum would let her personally "cook" her biological children in the oven. From this News, I realize that how serious consequences will be occurred during postnatal depression. The mom lives with her children in women's refuge and with no family support which result in the sense of social isolation, helpless and depressed. Then it will cause extreme vent behaviours which not only influence women's personal health but also their partners, parents, children and communities. Many people don't understand this kind of feeling. But research were found that 10-20% of mothers experience postnatal depression within the first year after giving birth. Postnatal depression is common and affects up to 1 in every 7 women (almost 16 per cent) who give birth in Australia each year. Women would experience negative thoughts (e.g. they would think life is meaningless); low self-esteem and lack of confidence; feelings of inadequacy and guilt; difficulty sleeping or changes in sleeping patterns; anxiety, panic attacks or heart palpitations; losing interest in most activities and even recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
http://nypost.com/2017/10/16/mom-accused-of-killing-her-babies-by-cooking-them-alive-in-oven/
Todays’ lecture have three specialists also talking about the topic of true relationships, children by choice and domestic violence connect, in which I am highly interested in. As I talked about the domestic violence at the week 6. There are lot more knowledge within the topic. Related to one of mine another unit “Understanding Families and Domestic Violence” mentioned, domestic violence as a family issue refers to acts of violence that occur between people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship. Domestic violence is an ongoing pattern of behaviour aimed at controlling a partner through fear, for example by using behaviour is part of a range of tactics to exercise power and control over women and their children, and can be both criminal and non-criminal. A feminist analysis of domestic violence against women indicates that we live in a world where women continue to be under-represented in leadership roles, have less economic security. Despite all of the effort which is going into promoting gender equality, there still remain systemic and structural barriers to genuine equality. In the family setting, women still bear the burden for the majority of child caring responsibilities and continue to take time out of the workforce more often than men.
There is a famous video be posted on YouTube that I think everyone has seen it. It is a speech from Yeonmi Park telling her story of life in North Korea and calls for action against such human rights violations. From this video, I think gender inequality still exist in no matter what countries, family class and cultural norms. Therefore, to build a “gender freedom” community should not only focus to address the issue of stereotype gender roles but also the values and attitudes between all populations in particular male.
Escaping from North Korea in search of freedom:
With regard to immigration, gender inequality and health risks, I remember a famous News reported few months ago. It is talking about one 26-year-old Chinese graduate student Yingying Zhang went missing at Chicago and is feared to be dead. I was shocked that more and more Chinese international student was ‘murdered’ or ‘killed’ abroad. Just because we are Chinese or overseas students? Obviously it is racism and gender discrimination. Immigration women are more likely in the vulnerable group in society. Some of them don't have family support, lack of Western cultural background, limited language advantages and lack of self-protection awareness, in which increase the risks of been murdered, raped and abused.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4669684/Man-accused-kidnapping-missing-Chinese-student-recorded.html