Chapters 1-5

I agree with what everyone is saying about how the media picks at women politicians and portrays women in general. But another issue that really aggravated me while reading this was seeing how much effort women are having to put forth for something where men are not putting any.



"Through exercises we would explore a wide range of company policies. Men always spoke authoritatively about these policies, but later, when the women asked the men how they knew so much verbatim, the men admitted they had been winging it with their answers; the women never did that, and only spoke when they had all the facts. As explanation, the men simply said they knew they could correct their responses later if need be. The women felt they would never get a second change if they misspoke." (Wilson 41)



I find that excerpt upsetting because it really shows how women are not taken as seriously as men are. On page 49 there is a list of things women should abide by to be respected, while men don't have to do shit (pardon my French). Although the list seems to be successful, it should not have to be that way!



Monday night, I attended at "Careers in Event Planning" seminar held by the Women's Center in McLean. My mom (a member of the Women's Center) suggested that I attend considering I just changed my major to Tourism and Event Management. Not knowing what to expect, I found a panel of three women sitting at the front of this classroom speaking about their jobs and how they started this event planning company called The Webster Group.



Their presentation was not only focusing on the event planning part, but a lot on their accomplishments as women leaders. One thing that stood out to me that they touched on was the fact that women in the work force compete against each other while men support each other. And while this may not be the situation is all cases, it is very common. I found this interesting and I read at the end of Chapter 4, "If we hold one another back instead of pushing one another forward, we will most certainly stay stuck." (Wilson 72) Although that was just one of the conclusive quotes for the chapter, I found a lot of "Ambition" inspiring.



After watching "Iron Jawed Angels" in class the other day we were asked to reflect on the movie. One student expressed how she did not realize, or rather took for granted just how hard it was for women to gain the right to vote. Also in the "Ambition" chapter, I highlighted a quote from Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's book, "The Majesty of Law," that stated, "Young women today have no concept about how hard it was for women to get the vote (in 1920) and how my generation couldn't get jobs. They just think, 'Oh, that was the Dark Ages...'" (Wilson 69) This immediately reminded me of the movie as did the rest of the "Acting 'As If'" section.



I sat down and read all 5 chapters in a row one evening because I found this book so compelling and I did not want to put it down! It's amazing how far women have come, but we still have so much farther to go!