First, I want to reflect on the interview I had with my grandma. I questioned my grandma because she is 88 years old and she was born in Kiev, Ukraine. At the time my grandma lived in Ukraine it was still a part of the Soviet Union. My grandma had my uncle and only 14 years later when she was 40, she had my mom. After my uncle’s death, my grandma and grandpa (who was paralyzed from fighting in World War two) took my mom and immigrated to America. In between Ukraine and America, they lived in Italy for 5 months. When they got to America, she was too old and unhealthy to go back to school but she babysat for a family until I was born. This was difficult for her because the family was Orthodox Jewish and only spoke English and Yiddish. My grandma did not speak those languages and there was a language barrier for years until she learned a little bit of English and little bit of Yiddish. This is how the interview went with my grandma:

Q- In the Soviet Union, was there discrimination based on gender while you were growing up?

100%! I worked for the newspaper during my entire professional carrier and the men did not take me seriously because I am a woman. I had to prove that I can type fast and efficiently (I worked as a typewriter). Also, during World War two I was still a child, so I don’t have much memory, but I remember my grandma (who took care of me during the war) struggled to find a way to make money to pay for food and other necessities.

Q- What was it like immigrating to America with a handicapped husband?

It was a struggle. Not only was it a struggle because I am a woman but also because I had to take care of my husband in the process. We had connections such as; family and friends who helped us out when we got to America. Being a woman made it difficult to find a job right away in America and this was very stressful because I had the pressure of putting food on the table for me and my family.

Q-Do you miss your old life in Ukraine?

Honestly, no I don’t. My quality of life is so much better here in America. I had the opportunity to improve my life and my families so that’s what I did. I found work and although I was discriminated against because of my gender, our Jewish religion was not something that really effected my life in America but in the Soviet Union it was a grand part of the opportunities my daughter would have had.

Q- What advice do you have for women of my generation that are currently in school or just started in their field working?

Always keep your head up and have a positive attitude. The second you start viewing your gender as a weakness is the second it becomes your weakness. Women nowadays are starting to get the rights that they deserve and have been fighting for forever, so take advantage of the power you have and never give up on yourself.

Hi everyone, hope you are safe and healthy. I have been adjusting to this lockdown slowly and at my own pace. I understand that this is a worldwide crisis and everyone has made adjustments to their lives. Thankfully, I am home with my family in a safe environment. I am focusing on schoolwork, exercise and doing activities that I never had time to do because of my busy schedule. Painting for example, is something that has been keeping me sane through this quarantine.

If society was more diverse and harmonious, feminism and anti-activism would succeed and the world was more egalitarian that would be the Utopian scenario. Females would be working in jobs that are more viewed to be “male” jobs, and maybe males would be doing jobs that are viewed to be more “female”, or maybe gender roles would not even exist. If this utopian society were to exist my days would probably be pretty different than they are now. Maybe instead of going to the gym and feeling self conscious in the weight lifting area, the men would be the ones feeling self conscious or there would be no need to feel self conscious in a place that is not meant to be divided by gender. 

I am interested in exploring issues in the portrayal of woman in media as they are related to women, gender, and sexuality studies, especially the work of Geena Davis  and her #strengthhasnogendercampaign during the past couple of years.

Back in the day, feminism meant hating men. The notion around the word “feminism” was that feminists (which were only women) try to exceed men in this world to be “superior”. To me, hating men and trying to be “superior” as a women is NOT what feminism means. The people who created this definition of feminism were mainly conservative men, who were/ are afraid to see change between genders and sexualities. The definition of feminism that I agree with is to fight for the equal rights everyone in this country is promised to have. Compared to what the notion on feminism was a decade ago, now in the year 2020 the notion has shifted a little. After so many years of fighting for rights, women are now receiving access to basic needs. Women of color, poor women, and queer women are still fighting for their own specific rights. Although there has been a great deal of improvement made when it comes to women’s rights, I still question the fact that women are left out of the movement. My question for my feminist project would be “How do we seal the divide in the feminist movement?”

To write a post these are the steps. To write a post, the first step is to click “add yourself” on the bottom of the Intro to Womens studies home page. Then there is a plus sign on the top of the page that must be clicked. After clicking, one of the options is to click “post”. Then after clicking that it bring you to a new page and there is an option to “write a paragraph”. Then you write the paragraph and click publish. That is how you write a post.