Beyond Cultural Consumption, Towards Cultural Confluence

Before this past Halloween, an article by Jarune Uwujaren for Everyday Feminism was circulating around the blogo-Facebook-sphere entitled “What’s the Difference Between Cultural Exchange and Cultural Appropriation?” Simultaneously, my class had been discussing audience interactions with culture through an article written for the Getty Conservation Institute’s spring newsletter entitled  “Cultural Tourism” by Dean MacCannell, professor in the Landscape Architecture and Geography Department at University of California, Davis.

Why Gender Equality Is More than Just a Women’s Issue

On April 8, in Portland, Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered the keynote speech to launch the World Affairs Council of Oregon’s 2014 International Speaker Series. Appropriately, the theme this year is “Women Changing the World.”  To say I was excited would be a complete understatement. Not even Bill elicited this level of internal hysteria and fangirling when he came to Tufts in 2012. Not only is this topic important to me, but Clinton is arguably the most vocal and high-profile advocate for gender equality, so to see and hear from someone of her caliber was thrilling. In many of her speeches throughout her decades of service, whether to corporate interest groups or state leaders, she often addresses the challenges faced by women around the world, including limited educational and job opportunities, literacy, and access to technology.

Said Clinton,

“These ceilings don’t just hold back women and girls. They hold back entire economies and societies. And that is because no country can truly thrive by denying the contributions of half its people.”

That night, Clinton offered up anecdotes from her foreign policy experience with various heads of states (Putin, Wen Jiabao, and Abe), but the crux of the speech focused on the importance of gender equality and the inclusion of women in the global workforce to international growth and stability.

Image Credit: Michael Lloyd/The Oregonian

1. Productivity and growth increase for economies.

Even for someone as powerful as Clinton, she admitted that when she brings this topic up to her counterparts (mostly men) in religiously and socially conservative nations, eyes glaze over and polite smiles are feigned, as though to say, “Oh, here she goes again…” For some reason, the issue of women’s rights is often seen as separate from society at large — that it’s just a women’s issue. As a result, it’s often relegated to the sidelines, and placed on the back burner. Only when the economic advantages tied to empowering women are clearly laid out do heads turn and leaders pay attention.

On being the Protagonist of your own Moral Life Story

There is so much to try to say, but it’s impossible. It’s incredible how close I am feeling to Anne Frank as I read her diary. I’ve chuckled at her remarks about the amusing characters around her. I’ve felt sympathetic toward her when she talks about the loneliness you can feel even when around so many others. I’ve cheered her on as her love for Peter develops. And as Peter and Anne find little moments to be together in that cramped Secret Annex. Many times, I’ve wanted to lay a friendly hand on Anne’s shoulder. To comfort her. To just be a friend.