The first talk I attended was How Men Benefit From Women Equality. The speaker was a man named Michael Kimmel. He is a prominent male feminist. The talk, as told by the title, was all about why men should care about gender equality. Kimmel challenged many views certain individuals have toward gender equality. This challenge was mostly targeted at white males. Kimmel spoke about why males should pay more attention to these inequalities and ultimately, bring an end to them.
Kimmel spoke a lot about gender inequality in the work place. For example, he pointed out how even after attending gender equality seminars, men seem to only respect women for a week. After a week of treating women like equals, the men go back to their usual ways. A big point he made that really seemed to stick with the audience was about men's sense of entitlement to jobs. He discussed a segment he once saw on a TV show that was about men whose jobs were stolen by women. On the show, these men claimed that women stole their jobs. However, as Kimmel points out, who's to say that the woman wasn't more deserving. To assume the jobs were their own is not right.
Kimmel also spoke about marriage and how men should help their wives do chores around the house. Kimmel swears that it will lead to a happier marriage and more sex. He also adds that men who assist around the house tend to be healthier. Their kids also benefit from them helping with chores.
The second talk I attended was Queer Africa. The speaker was Dr. Betty Wambui. She is a feminist from Africa who specializes in different philosophies. The first thing she discusses is about gender inequality and sexual inequality in Africa. She discussed a homosexual Kenyan couple who made headline news for getting married in the United Kingdom. Wambui talked about the hate the couple received for their actions from other African countries. She described the outrage that could result from these types of situations and gave her case for a new set of laws that increase all people's rights in Africa.
Wambui also discussed more about sex and gender in Africa. She brought up a female Olympic runner from Africa who broke numerous world records. However, she was born a male. Rules revolving around this sort of thing are very unclear and caused numerous debates. Women have less rights in Africa than they do here in the United States. A lot of the problems that occur there are not being solved quick enough. Wambui hopes that more African countries can becoming more accepting of all people and help solve the gender and sex problems that occur there.
The common theme that I picked up on from attending these two events is marriage. In Kimmel's talk, he discusses how gender equality in marriage can be extremely beneficial to the couple. He talks about how important it is for a good marriage. The theme focused on how in the United States, we worry about men showing women more respect and helping out more around the house. We focus on gender equality in a way that people in Africa can only dream about. Women in some parts of Africa have zero rights. When it comes to marriage, women have to take the man's name. Also, same sex marriage is basically unheard of. There are so many issues with equality in the world, but it is good to see changes are starting to be made. Whether it is men doing more household chores here in the United States or same sex African couples starting to be able to get married, change is on the way. Hopefully, sometime soon we will have to discuss things that should be basic human rights.
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