Category Archives: 1.1 Social Justice

Racism and Patriarchy Lecture Review

Tuesday lecture on Racism and Patriarchy gave me a lot to think about.

The racism aspect of the lecture was the first hour, it involved how racism occurred from the late 18th Century. Derek told us about social construction and how people can use this is used to perpetuate inequalities. We also discussed the Critical Race Theory which gave me an insight into how people of colour live with racism around them every day. These inequalities exist in most aspects of their lives; from applying to jobs, to buying houses (as they may find it difficult to buy a home in a predominantly white area) and education. In governments the majority of people of power are white, and black people are the minority, an example of this is Barack Obama who was the 1st Black President of the USA. Despite having 43 Presidents before him. This lecture gave me a deeper insight into some of the inequalities that people of colour face on a daily basis.

We also discussed Patriarchy which is when women face inequalities in society as they were once viewed as inferior to men. Women were expected to stay at home, raise the children, cook and clean and be a good wife for their husbands. Women did not work nor were they expected to as they were seen as too fragile and incapable of doing a good job.

Why get a woman to work when a man can simply do it better? Propaganda from war time (which is only 70 years ago) strongly shows these views. Luckily women were able to prove and show their skills when the men went to war and then it became more socially acceptable for women to have jobs. This is also due to the work of the Suffragettes during the war who campaigned for women’s rights. Overtime they were allowed more freedom and social lives. Despite these massive progressions for women in society it’s clear that in today’s age women still face inequalities.

The pay gap is still a huge issue in some professions with women getting paid significantly less than men for doing the same job. Recently it came to the media’s attention that the BBC was not providing equal pay for men and woman, and had not for years. This was not in one sector of the BBC but ranged across the board from TV presenters to sport editors. These inequalities can also still be seen for women sporting professionals, only recently in Wimbledon are women winning the same prize money as the men. This is a step of progression but in 2017, there should be no reason a woman should be winning less than a man for being equally talented. More equality needs to be seen for women and Derek’s lecture gave me a deeper insight into this.

Values Session Reflection

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Tuesday’s session about equality and fairness in the classroom allowed me to experience how a child would feel whilst being at a disadvantage in the classroom. I personally was in the group that was given less materials to form the product, which in a classroom setting would give a child less opportunities to excel.
The resources we were given included:

• 1 pen
• 1 pencil
• 2 paper clips
• 2 elastic bands
• Blue tac
• A single sheet of paper

Other groups had more than enough resources and were spoilt for choice when having to come up with creative ideas for their product. This showed that a child from a potentially underprivileged background is already at a disadvantage compared to some peers. This emphasises the importance of the class teacher providing equal supplies on each table for the children.

As the tutor was discouraging my group whilst encouraging and praising others, it knocked my group’s confidence when creating our product. He ranked our product a 2/10 and called it rubbish. This made me realise how damaging this type of behaviour would be on young children and how it would badly effect their development. This knock of confidence on a young child will not only weaken their bond with their teacher, but make them less likely to ask for help when it’s needed. Not all children are supported adequately at home and with some coming from deprived areas the classroom needs to be a place where all children feel safe, included and free to be themselves.

Another thing I noticed during the task was that as my group were struggling due to being deprived of resources, the other groups were blissfully unaware. This is due to them having the support of the teacher and resources to help them. It shows how children may not notice others struggling due to them having positive experiences with the teacher and assuming that everyone was receiving the same treatment.

As society inequalities exist in every aspect of life, the task can be related to many of these. People who come from a more supportive background and not an area of deprivation, as unfair as it is, they are more likely to do excel in school exams and reach University. Often this is due to parents who push their children to always be the best version of themselves, however as not all children have this in their lives; their Classroom teacher is the next person who supports all their pupils in their education. Therefore this task really opened my eyes to how body language and positive praise is so important in the classroom, to keep encouraging children to do their best.