Women's Emancipation in the 21st Century

Name : Lola Purba
SCN : 1223420
Subject : Writing
Teacher : Ms. Jane Persad

Women’s Emancipation in The 21th Century
“…When you educate a man you educate an individual, when you educate a woman you educate a whole family…” Johnetta B, Cole wisely stated. Cole’s quotation draws an analogy that it is more important to educate women, because educating women means educating the members of family. For this purpose, women deserve education as men; likewise, women want to be treated equally as men. Thus, women’s emancipation has gained the same rights and opportunities as men to get the equal chances in life. The 21th century emphasis on women’s emancipation has caused an increase in women’s education, independency and workforce integration.
Women’s liberation has brought them to obtain equality in education. The equal opportunity in education means that women have the same prospects as men to extend education up to high degree. Mark J. Perry (2010), professor of economics and finance in the Flint Campus of the University of Michigan, writes that women earned more doctoral degrees than men, 50.4 % to 49.9 % respectively. In other words, he explains that the number of women who reached doctoral degrees is fairly higher than men; however, it shows that women have a future prospect of high degrees education. This means that, the chance for women is not only having education but also obtaining high level education is widely open. Thus, women’s equality has broadened their opportunities to get better education.
To be free from old social limitations and customs also allows women to attain independency. Women’s independency indicates that they have their own rights to choose what the best for their lives. Independency can be implemented by permitting women to take part in every chance in society. An example of independent woman in Indonesia was Raden Ajeng Kartini, the Javanese aristocrat, who was born in 1879, in a small town on the northern coast of Central Java (one of the Indonesian provinces). She was the pioneer of women’s equality in Indonesia. She fought for women’s independency and symbolized the struggle against Dutch colonial arrogance. She protested against the conventional thoughts, which women were more likely staying at home and raising children. Later on, she provided schooling for women in Java because she wanted all the women could require education, and become independent, even though women were not allowed to be self-determining. As a result, her movement has enlightened womanhood in Indonesia to be independent. Her ideas and her actions have been a source of inspiration for the emancipation movement in Indonesia.
Wide opportunity of education for women has made broad opportunity to implement the knowledge in the workplace. Women also have rights to be equal and actively involved in the workplace. For instance, in the recent days, they are trusted to have some important positions, such as presidents, parliament members, lawyers, or other jobs which are commonly dominated by men. Moreover, many organizations are seeking top-management positions, such as senior executive and decision-making roles to be taken by brilliant women. Hence, what are the benefits having more women in top-management positions? Initially, integration between work and family lead them to have good management. Secondly, the empathetic and ability-to-listen characters direct them in managing teams, mentoring and developing trust among the members. Thus, these abilities have led women to incorporate their knowledge in the place they work.
To conclude, achieving education, being independent, and integrating their knowledge in workplace are the clear proofs of women’s equality in 21st century. Emancipation era has allowed women to be well-educated, independent and well-cooperated people. In the future, there will be more women’s domination engaged in every chance in society. Isn’t it amazing to have more ‘super women’ with their brilliant ideas to make the world situation better?