Close to the end of the semester, I am sad to say goodbye to my Asian American Women's class. As an Economics and Math student, who has not taken any core courses before (I am a transfer student), this class has inspired me a lot.
The Angel Island story made me think about the migration process in relation to the inequality and discrimination that seemed to be normal behavior at that time. I am sure that the authorities of that time could cite many examples to support their policy decisions. I started to ask myself the question: We see our society today as relatively advanced but is it really advanced in view of the fact that discrimination still exists? We are all immigrants, so why therefore are European immigrants, Asian immigrants, and Mexican immigrants treated differently? The debate on immigration in American society appears never to terminate.
Stereotype has been one of the keywords of our class: The idea that an Asian girl is seen as a prostitute came as a big surprise to me. Human beings are the only species in the world who know how to organize, but they also love to categorize themselves. Initially a common ground is found between things but then this categorization starts to promote extension. There may be historical reasons for Asian women being seen in the role of a prostitute, but why should this stereotype continue? In today's American society, Asian women have achieved success in education. But still influential politicians on various occasions seem to compare Asian woman with races that lack of influence.
In the course of the class, I found an interesting phenomenon: the Chinese Hukou System is very similar to the immigration system in America. The Chinese Hukou System refers to a household registration record which officially identifies a person as a resident of an area and includes identifying information such as name, parents, spouse, and date of birth. However, within this system there are a number of inequalities:
1. The role of women is seen to be that of reproduction.
2. Cultural differences, and differing rights attached to those cultural differences, highlight the inequality in the Chinese Hukou System.
3. Social benefits, education and employment opportunities are directly linked to household registration and are designed to keep people in rural areas. Citizens must make numerous applications to obtain urban household registration and also pay a high price for non-agricultural household registration. If someone lives where they are not registered, he will be treated as a foreigner and will not be able to enjoy a variety of benefits, including adequate schooling and employment opportunities.
4. Even the process of marriage registration is controlled, and weddings cannot be conducted if the Ministry of Civil Affairs denies the request for marriage registration.
The status of women in China has always been inferior, but the problem is related to the environment: Here is America we have courses for women, but in China the oppression of women occurs without their realizing it. They continue to function according to the traditional culture, and in many areas interpret the inequality as a manifestation of virtue.
This class is not about human nature, but I want to record some of these insights into humanity, because I know that to overcome the evil in society, we must dare to recognize what is happening and longer be fooled into accepting injustice.
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