Thursday, April 30, 2020

Event Review: Brown Bag "Working Class Women's Theatre in a Time of War"

The Center for Women's Studies brown bag lunch series has been an eye opening experience. I have been exposed to so many different points of views and issues that I usually do not even think about. One brown bag that really caught my attention is the brown bag about theatre as a form of activism. In this brown bag, Professor Rahasingham discussed the harsh treatment of Sri Lankan women factory workers. Women factory workers in Sri Lanka are expected to be disciplined to the point of controlling their bodily functions. The workers have so many of their freedoms taken away from them in the work place. They cannot go to the bathroom outside of designated times or even take breaks. I could not imagine having to work long hours without at least being able to go to the bathroom. When controlling their bodies becomes too much and the workers do break the rules, they are reprimanded for it.

I am glad I went to this brown bag because it opened my eyes to the fact that women everywhere are struggling for rights, not just American women. For me, it is easy to forget that the women's movement should not be local. It should be global. Women in Sri Lanka have to deal with issues that I do not, and here I am focused on myself and what I have to go through as an American woman. Although Sri Lanka is a long way from home, I truly care about the plight of Sri Lankan women after attending the brown bag. I believe that there needs to be a global sense of sisterhood. I feel this sense of sisterhood more strongly than I did before attending the brown bag. Women in America and everywhere should want equal rights for women around the globe not just for the women in their home country.

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