Contrasting View of Women in School Setting
Being exposed in Girl Scouting during my elementary and high school years would made you think that you have to do things on your own. However, since I'm in an coed school during these days, principals and troop leaders (usually our school teachers) would make sure that we have some male figure such as janitors or any staff (also a student) from a boy scout organization to assist us whether it would be carrying heavy stuffs or collecting firewood for our campfire in the school field. During high school, I usually perceive this organization as the most lax among the three scouting or military related organizations in our school with CAT being the strictest followed by Boy Scouting then Girl Scouting.
Upon studying in an exclusive school for girls in college, despite the views of people that students who chose to study there are said to be either a tomboy or a too girly type of person that they emphasize more on fashion and being prim and proper. Perhaps what people without real knowledge of how this type of school works didn't know that it enabled us to become a well-rounded students in terms of learning how to become independent and working together as a team without the aid of men (except for music and art students in our school as they accept male students in their programs). I can say that I'm not the typical Scholastican that the outside people would project me to be such as either a tomboy or too girly, but I can proudly say that I'm the ideal Scholastican that the school wants to embody in each and every student in the school. I know I'm not as self-serving as my other co-presidents or peers, but the fact that I was not labeled either of the two extremes (since I'm not a lesbian and I'm not that too girly to the point that when there's no lesbian in the class/group you are always an automatic the person acting as a man in a play/dance or even the ones who would be doing the somehow dirty work like carrying stuffs or doing task that involves getting your hands dirty.), would allow me to be classified as an ideal one, especially I was a member of the college of leaders under Student Council during college.
Effect on View of Insecurity and Inequality
Perhaps this is the difference between growing up in a co-ed university versus an exclusive one. In a co-ed school, some girls would have a positive feeling of being admired by a lot of their male schoolmates. This in turn would allow the men to impress the girl that they like such as treating them or carrying their stuffs. Like during high school, you would know whether somebody is courting someone or whether they are in a relationship or not. Or else, why do those things to a girl if there were no motive right? Of course unless the guy is genuine enough to do those helping with the girls in need of one. In addition, the feeling of almost all girls would talk with you about the guy who is currently interested in you through courtship or would get jealous that you had sets of admirers. By being the center of attention, girls would have the tendency to boost their confidence in terms of knowing that somebody admires them, especially the male counterparts.
This is where I think insecurity comes in. Women would either don't care or they would think that they are not beautiful enough because they always see their male peers are carrying stuffs or accompanying the girl that these men admire while they are walking alone carrying loads of books and thinking if there is a person who would be nice enough to help them without any form of ulterior motive. I also think that aside from insecurity among same-sex peers, one would also deem oneself as a weak person since one would automatically depend on the guys to carry heavy loads. Even if the woman insist on carrying it, she would be deem as a too independent or have a feminist thinking if she refused the offer of a guy that would be willing to carry the heavy loads even for classroom purposes, which would make her end up giving the load to the person even if she knows she could handle it.
I'm uncertain if teachers are really concerned with the female well-being or there is really an inequality. I used to remember in high school wherein girls are somewhat limited in sweeping floors since that is the task that students would dodge as much as possible as the task is so tedious. In addition, the cleaning of blackboards and using of coconut shell ("bunot") are limited to males since it's been told that women cannot use it as something might happen to the female reproductive organ if they continue to use it. The fact that the school would almost constrain the women in sweeping floors - to the extent fixing chairs as there seem to be equality on that side, would mean that women are being conditioned to do the household related chores, while men are only limited to cleaning the blackboard, using the coconut shell to remove the chalk dust from the platform and help fix the chairs. Males would take about less than five minutes to finish the task of cleaning the board, while women would require more than five minutes to finish sweeping the floor.
This is where I think insecurity comes in. Women would either don't care or they would think that they are not beautiful enough because they always see their male peers are carrying stuffs or accompanying the girl that these men admire while they are walking alone carrying loads of books and thinking if there is a person who would be nice enough to help them without any form of ulterior motive. I also think that aside from insecurity among same-sex peers, one would also deem oneself as a weak person since one would automatically depend on the guys to carry heavy loads. Even if the woman insist on carrying it, she would be deem as a too independent or have a feminist thinking if she refused the offer of a guy that would be willing to carry the heavy loads even for classroom purposes, which would make her end up giving the load to the person even if she knows she could handle it.
I'm uncertain if teachers are really concerned with the female well-being or there is really an inequality. I used to remember in high school wherein girls are somewhat limited in sweeping floors since that is the task that students would dodge as much as possible as the task is so tedious. In addition, the cleaning of blackboards and using of coconut shell ("bunot") are limited to males since it's been told that women cannot use it as something might happen to the female reproductive organ if they continue to use it. The fact that the school would almost constrain the women in sweeping floors - to the extent fixing chairs as there seem to be equality on that side, would mean that women are being conditioned to do the household related chores, while men are only limited to cleaning the blackboard, using the coconut shell to remove the chalk dust from the platform and help fix the chairs. Males would take about less than five minutes to finish the task of cleaning the board, while women would require more than five minutes to finish sweeping the floor.
Contrary in an exclusive school, when I entered St. Scholastica's College, my mom knew that my social life in terms of dealing with men would be a disaster as it would cut five years (eventually become six years as I got delayed due to sickness) of my teenage to early adulthood life of having a chance to mingle and understand them. However, she also thought that being in this reputable school would enable me to grow as a person and have a higher chance to land in a good career. In addition, my mom would feel safe as the school would teach the right values and enable us to be raised in a culture that not only allow us to be involved in the community by serving others, but to also impart the necessary values that we need in order to become a well-rounded person. True enough, I improved my extra-curricular, become active member of an organization and had various opportunities to be involved in different talks and seminars that would allow me to become more aware of the current situation in the country. It's just that the difference is, you actually have one less problem to deal with such as your insecurity whether you are beautiful or not, unless you are insecure that you do not get flowers every special occasion since you are in an exclusive school. Additionally, you would not need to be shy towards opposite sex and it would allow you to flourish as person without the need of approval and admiration from men.
Conclusion
In the end, it really takes a balance whether you grew up in an exclusive school or a co-ed. Balance in terms of when there are really things that you can do on your own without requiring the help of a person, do it on your own. Also, when somebody received flowers from an admirer, whether it is same sex or opposite sex, we should not look down upon ourselves thinking that we're not good enough to be admired. Perhaps it is not yet our time and we should keep on improving ourselves not only externally, but more importantly internally as it would enable our good attitudes to radiate towards our external beauty.
In celebration of Women's Month, let us remember that despite there are still inequalities in the world, we should keep in mind that we are in better place than before and all we need to do is to keep on striving for equality, by also treating men equal to us.
Conclusion
In the end, it really takes a balance whether you grew up in an exclusive school or a co-ed. Balance in terms of when there are really things that you can do on your own without requiring the help of a person, do it on your own. Also, when somebody received flowers from an admirer, whether it is same sex or opposite sex, we should not look down upon ourselves thinking that we're not good enough to be admired. Perhaps it is not yet our time and we should keep on improving ourselves not only externally, but more importantly internally as it would enable our good attitudes to radiate towards our external beauty.
In celebration of Women's Month, let us remember that despite there are still inequalities in the world, we should keep in mind that we are in better place than before and all we need to do is to keep on striving for equality, by also treating men equal to us.
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