User:Selina761/sandbox

Although several countries had started extending suffrage to women from the end of the 19th century, France was one of the last countries to do so in Europe. In fact, the Napoleonic Code declares the legal and political incapacity of women, which blocked attempts to give women political rights. First feminist claims started emerging during the French Revolution in 1789. Condorcet expressed his support for women's right to vote in an article published in Journal de la Société de 1789, but his project failed. After World War I, French women continued demanding political rights, and despite the Chamber of Deputies being in favor, the Senate continuously refused to analyze the law proposal. Surprisingly, the political left, who are generally supportive of women's emancipation, repeatedly opposed the right to vote for women because they would support conservative positions. It is only after World War II that women are granted political rights.

In an interview with The Guardian Williams claimed that she dropped down to just 91 lbs and that "it was seeing photos of herself at her unhealthily low weight that made her realize [there] was no hiding her mental health struggles any longer".

However, she claims she's been recently actively working on her mental health through music and Psychotherapy. The sexualization of women involves the use of female bodies in a way that renders them the object of a sexual gaze or perception by others; their bodies are objectified and they are reduced to that of a sex object.

A 2011 study regarding Gender Identity and representation in Digital RPG s found that hyper-sexuality, which is often associated with female avatars, tends to negatively affect numerous types of gamers, who deeply identify with their avatar. The study found that this issue reifies the idea that "a woman's power, in-game or out, comes entirely from her sexuality".

The system requires trainees to maintain a "wholesome image" while remaining "private about their lives and thoughts".

Former trainees have reported that they were required to go through plastic surgeries, such as a Blepharoplasty or a Rhinoplasty, in order to adhere to the acceptable Korean beauty standards. Further criticism towards the trainee system arose regarding the companies' harsh weight restrictions, which often caused trainees to pass out from exhaustion or dehydration in an attempt to reach the required weight for their desired program.

In the European Union, reproductive rights are protected through the European Convention on Human Rights and its jurisprudence, as well as the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention). However, these rights are denied or restricted by the laws, policies and practices of member states. In fact, some countries criminalize medical staff, have stricter regulations than the international norm or exclude legal abortion and contraception from public health insurance. A study conducted by Policy Departments, at the request of the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, recommends the EU to strengthen the legal framework on equal access to sexual and reproductive health goods and services.

According to the United Nations, 21 EU’s member states are in the top 30 in the world in terms of gender equality. However, since 2005, the European Union has slowly improved its gender equality score according to the European Institute for Gender Equality. The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has raised gender inequality as one of the main human rights problems the European countries are facing and acknowledged the slow progress in bridging gender pay gap and addressing discrimination at work. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, the EU seems to be the closest to gender equality in the health and money domains but has a more worrying score in the domain of power. As acknowledged by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the EU is only slowly progressing when it comes to tackling women’s underrepresentation in political decision-making. The progress towards gender equality is uneven between member states. In fact, while Sweden and Denmark appear to be the most gender-equal societies, Greece and Hungary are far from it. Italy and Cyprus are the states which improved the most.

In 2018, the gender wage gap in South Korea is of 34.6% and women earned about 65.4% of what men did on average, according to OECD data. With regards to monthly earnings, including part-time jobs, the gender gap can be explained primarily by the fact that women work few hours than men, but occupation and industry segregation also pay an important role. Korea is considered to have the worst wage gap among the industrialized countries. This gap is often overlooked. In addition, as many women leave the workplace once married or pregnant, the gender gap in pension entitlements is affected too, which in turn impacts the poverty level.

Albania
In Albania, there have been 245 cases of violence against women reported in March, with 89 prosecutions, 33 arrests and 141 protection orders issued. As opposed to many countries, the number of domestic violence reports has decreased by 141. In fact, the number of reports might be higher, as the current restrictions make reporting more difficult. Roma women in Albania seem to be particularly affected. Many of them face increased domestic violence and are not able to report because they are scared, do not own a mobile phone ad cannot go out.

Female disadvantage
Regarding gender differences in academic performance, Buchmann, DiPrete, and McDaniel claim that gender-based accomplishments on standardized tests show the continuation of the “growing male advantage in math scores and growing female advantage in reading scores as they move through school”. Ceci, Williams and Barnett’s research about women’s underrepresentation in science reinforces this claim by saying that women experience “stereotype threat [which] impedes working memory” and as a result receive lower grades in standardized or mathematics tests. Nontheless, Buchmann, DiPrete and McDaniel claim that the decline of traditional gender-roles, alongside the positive changes in the labor market that now allow women to get “better-paid positions in occupational sectors” may be the cause for a general incline in women’s educational attainment.

Gender
Gender poses as one of the play's integral themes. While disguised as Ganymede, Rosalind also presents a calculated perception of affection that is “disruptive of [the] social norms” and “independent of conventional gender signs” that dictate women’s behavior as irrational. In her book, Penny Gay analyzes Rosalind’s character in the framework of these gender conventions that ascribe femininity with qualities such as “graciousness, warmth … [and] tenderness”. However, Rosalind’s demanding tone in her expression of emotions towards Orlando contradicts these conventions. Her disobedience to these features of femininity proves a “deconstruction of … gender roles,” since Rosalind believes that “the wiser [the woman is], the waywarder” she is. By claiming that women who are wild are smarter than those who are not, Rosalind refutes the perception of women as passive in their pursuit of men.

Singapore appears to be a popular destination for human trafficking with women and girls from India, Thailand, the Philippines and China.

According to the latest US Government’s Trafficking in Person’s Report from 2018, Singapore is making significant efforts to eliminate human trafficking as it imposes strong sentences against convicted traffickers, improve freedom of movement for adult victims and increases migrant workers’ awareness of their rights. However, it still does not meet the minimum standards as numerous migrant workers’ work conditions indicate labor trafficking, but conviction is not secured. In November 2019, a couple of Indian nationals were convicted for exploiting migrant women, making it the first conviction in the state. This conviction showed that Singapore decided to take strong actions against human trafficking.

Abusers quickly identified opportunities online to humiliate their victims, destroy their careers, reputations and relationships, and even drive them to suicide or “trigger so-called ‘honor’ violence in societies where sex outside of marriage is seen as bringing shame on a family”. According to a poll conducted by Amnesty International In 2018 across 8 countries, 23% of women have experienced online abuse of harassment. These are often sexist or misogynistic in nature and include direct of indirect threats of physical or sexual violence, abuse targeting aspects of their personality and privacy violations. According to Human Rights Watch, 90% of those who experienced sexual violence online in 2019 were women and girls. During these tours Dodie often involves herself in 'meet and greets' where she gives her fans the chance for a chat, photo and autograph. She has previously stated on Twitter and YouTube that she dislikes making fans pay to meet her and has said it isn't a "privilege" they should pay for.

Dodie has been quite outspoken about her mental health throughout her music and YouTube career, as well as her book. In one of her YouTube videos, she mentioned that she has been diagnosed with Depressionalism disorder, which "leaves sufferers feeling like they're not part of the world they live in". This disorder has led her to experience severe depression and anxiety, for which she has sought professorial help. However, as the disorder is fairly difficult to treat and diagnose, Dodie has made it a point to raise awareness and informational resources to her audience.

On 29 October 2019, Dodie performed at Dingwalls in London in support of Unreal, a charity for depersonalisation/derealisation, along with other special guests. The unfair treatment of K-pop singers and trainees has been prominent in the Korean music industry. As a result, Agencies including SM, FNC, and DSP were told by the FTC of South Korea to stop canceling trainee contracts on dubious grounds, such as morality clauses. Nonetheless, many pressing issues have yet to be addressed by the FTC of South Korea is the mistreatment from the South Korean entertainment agencies, which are manifested in Draconian and non-standardized contracts. These contracts often create manufactured and controlled identities, in order to maintain a façade of a "supremely talented and gorgeous, single, heterosexual star, seemingly accessible to fans of the opposite sex". Two successful idols who signed with Cube Entertainment were dropped from the company due to being involved in romantic relationships. In addition, both male and female idols are expected to achieve and maintain an unrealistically slim figure in order to even be considered for applying to trainee programs.

South Korea
Gender inequality in South Korea is derived from deeply rooted patriarchal ideologies with specifically defined gender-roles. The gender-based stereotypes are often unchallenged and even encouraged by the government. South Korea has the lowest rank among OECD countries in the Economist’s “Glass Ceiling Index”, which evaluates women’s higher education, number of women in managerial positions and in parliament. The gap has improved in healthcare and education, but it is still prevalent in the economy and politics. In fact, out of 36 OECD countries, South Korea ranked 30 for women’s employment in 2018. Victims of gender-based discrimination struggle to make a case and get justice as it is hard to prove gender discrimination and sometimes do not complain because they are afraid of the repercussions. The existing directives against gender discrimination are not effective because the law is weakly enforced and corporations do not comply. The inequality is even stronger in politics, with women holding 17% of the seats in the parliament.

Gender politics
Throughout many decades, the public and private sphere have been comprised of traditional gender roles. Women have mostly kept to the private sphere by staying at home, taking care of their children and attending to house chores. They were not able to participate in the public sphere, which was dominated by men.

The private sphere was long regarded as women's "proper place" whereas men were supposed to inhabit the public sphere. Although feminist researchers such as V. Spike Peterson have discovered roots of the exclusion of women from the public sphere in ancient Athenian times, a distinct ideology that prescribed separate spheres for women and men emerged during the industrial revolution. Even writing was traditionally considered forbidden, as "In the anxious comments provoked by the 'female pen' it [was] easy enough to detect fear of the writing woman as a kind of castrating female whose grasp upon that instrument seems an arrogation of its generative power".

Feminists have challenged the ascription in a number of (not always commensurate) ways. In the first place, the slogan "the personal is political" attempted to open up the 'private' sphere of home and child-rearing to public scrutiny. At the same time, there was a new valorisation of the personal – of experiential knowledge and the world of the body – as against the (traditional) male preserves of public speech and theory.

All the while, the public sphere of work, business, politics and ideas were increasingly opened up to female participation.

Theory of subjectivity
Michel Foucault defines discourse as a form of oppression that does not require physical force. He identifies its production as “controlled, selected, organized and redistributed by a certain number of procedures”, which are driven by individuals’ aspiration of knowledge to create “rules” and “systems” that translate into social codes. Moreover, discourse creates a force that extends beyond societal institutions and could be found in social and formal fields such as health care systems, educational and law enforcement. The formation of these fields may seem to contribute to social development; however, Foucault warns against discourses' harmful aspects on society.

China
Gender inequality in China derives from deeply rooted Confucian beliefs about gender roles in society. However, despite the existence of state programs, women still face discrimination in China. According to the United Nations Development Program, China was ranked 39 out of 162 countries on the Gender Inequality Index in 2018, while it was ranked 91 out of 187 in 2014. According to the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap index, China’s gap has widened and its rank has dropped to 106 out of 153 countries in 2020. It ranked last in terms of health and survival. According to Human Rights Watch, job discrimination remains a significant issue as 11% of postings specify a preference or requirement of men. In fact, Chinese women are often asked whether they expect to have children during interview as it is considered an obstacle to the job application, and as women generally retire around 40, it is difficult for them to advance. In addition, Chinese women earn 78.2% for every dollar paid to a man in 2019, according to a study conducted by Boss Zhipin.

Skin whitening is a major issue throughout Asia. In South Korea, light skin is considered an ideal of and most South Koreans believe that having paler skin is the only way to look beautiful. In South Korea, skin whitening is a multi-billion-dollar industry. The K-pop and K-drama industries are saturated with fair-skinned celebrities, some of whom serve as brand ambassadors and beauty ideals. The trend of having fairer skin can be traced back to several centuries, where white skin was a sign of being high in the social hierarchy since those who were wealthier did not have to work outside in the fields. The increasing popularity of K-pop and K-beauty has driven the skin whitening trend elsewhere in Asia, especially in poorer countries like Thailand, where many have begun to use unsafe skin-whitening products.

Affection and Restraint
The theme of physical and emotional displays of affection in British 19th century novels is often embodied by restraint. Through her protagonists, Bronte demonstrates how Heathcliff bluntly displays his affection towards Catherine. Some scholars claim that his lack of restraint in pursuing Catherine strongly relates to his abusive upbringing. Regarding the theme of restraint, Sonya Rose claimed that “Gender is a symbolic system for representing difference,” and it is heavily displayed in the novel. In Wuthering Heights, Catherine demonstrates restraint by succumbing to society’s conventions, which prevent her from being with Heathcliff. Rose also mentioned that. In 19th century England, “to be manly was to be honorable and respectable, which meant being brave, strong, and independent. For a woman, by contrast, the same traits signified “sexual purity, domesticity, and motherhood”.

Russia
According to United Nations Development Programme, Russia’s gender inequality index is 0.255, ranking it 54 out of 162 countries in 2018. Women hold 16.1% of parliamentary seats and 96.3% have reached at least a secondary level of education. Researchers calculate the loss to the annual budget due to gender segregation to be roughly 40-50%. Although women hold prominent positions in Russia’s government, traditional gender roles are still prevalent, and there is room for improvement when dealing with gender pay gap, domestic violence and sexual harassment.

Additional criticism denounces that while the body positivity movement changed what is currently acceptable, it does not dive into the reasons why people have such relationships with their bodies and put the responsibility of feeling better with the body on the person within it. Others criticize the movement for refusing to acknowledge the fact that there is not an approach that is right for everyone. In her book, Penny Gay analyzes Rosalind’s character in the framework of these gender conventions that ascribe femininity with qualities such as “graciousness, warmth … [and] tenderness”. However, Rosalind’s demanding tone in her expression of emotions towards Orlando contradicts these conventions. Her disobedience to these features of femininity proves a “deconstruction of … gender roles,” since Rosalind believes that “the wiser [the woman is], the waywarder” she is. By claiming that women who are wild are smarter than those who are not, Rosalind often refutes the perception of women as passive in their pursuit of men. In the book A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare, Carol T. Neely supports this claim by mentioning that through her actions, Rosalind often adopts “masculine behavior,” manifested by “[initiating] conversations” and “[arranging] marriages”. Arthur Mizener noted that whereas social isolation is often depicted as a negative consequence of characters’ behavior in most of Nabokov’s novels, Timofey Pnin, the Russian emigrant and protagonist of Pnin, seems to embrace it. Mizener claims that Pnin “carries on with easy confidence of success and a firm assurance of his own common sense” instead of wallowing in self-pity over his social isolation. In relation to his criticism towards the American society, Mizener indicates that Pnin’s “innocent self-confidence” illustrates the story’s “remarkable observation of American life”. As the narrator of the mentions, “it was the world that [is] absent-minded and it [is] Pnin whose business it [is] to set it straight”

Although studies about social media and body image are still in early stages, there seems to be a correlation between social media use and body image concerns. It seems like body image is positively or negatively affected by the content to which people are exposed on social media as well as the content they upload (people tend to have a negative body image after posting a picture of themselves).

Asia is considered to have strict beauty standards, such as fair skin, the so-called “Instagram face”, characterized by full lips, strong eyebrows defined cheekbones and poreless skin and shiny hair. More particularly, South Korea is known for its unrealistic beauty standards, transforming the skincare industry. They look after a doll-like “look”, defined by a “very pale skin, big eyes with double eyelids, a tiny nose with a high nose bridge, and rosebud lips”, a small face and subtly pointed chin. As these standards are difficult to achieve, cosmetic surgery became very popular. South Korea has the highest rate of cosmetic surgery per capita, and it keeps rising. In an interview for The Huffington Post, Bareilles explained that writing and releasing one of her earliest singles, "Love Song", posed as a defining moment for her music career, since she was "fighting for the essence of some truth inside [of her], which to [her was] a beautiful love song."

The current law on cosmetics in the USA do not require cosmetic products and ingredients to have FDA approval before going on the market except from color additives. A new bill, the Cosmetic Safety Enhancement Act of 2019, has been introduced in December 2019 by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey which seeks to empower the FDA’s oversight. It will require cosmetics manufacturers to register their facilities and cosmetics ingredients with the FDA, as well as notify the FDA of any customer complaints associated with side-effects of their cosmetics products withing 15 days of learning of them. In addition, the bill would empower the FDA to conduct safety reviews of cosmetics’ ingredients and mandate recalls of products associated with serious adverse health events.

According to Wandering Pioneer, beauty standards in France seem to concern someone’s style rather than the body shape. In addition, one would argue that the French approach to beauty is about enhancing natural features rather than achieving a specific look. According to some dermatologists, looking young is not a beauty criterion. Instead, women want to look toned and their skin to look firm. According to the World Economic Forum, South Korea is placed at number 124 out of 149 countries in the world in regards of economic participation and opportunity for women. Women are often faced with questions regarding their marriage status, or whether they are planning to have children when applying for a job, and are even prompted with suggestions that jobs in 'male dominated' fields aren’t appropriate for them.

Among OECD countries, South Korea leads with the largest pay gap at 35 percent, while the OECD average pay gap stands at 13.8 percent, and the country's glass ceiling extends to both corporate boards and leadership roles. A new bill aiming to empower the FDA in overseeing the cosmetic market, the Cosmetic Safety Enhancement Act of 2019, has been introduced in December 2019 by Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. of New Jersey. In addition, a new legislation requiring online retailers to “verify high-volume third-party sellers” in order to protect American consumers from sales of counterfeit products.

According to a survey conducted in 2019, 68.4% of respondents declared they had experienced racial discrimination, and many of them said they experienced it due of their Korean language skills (62.3%), because they were not Korean (59.7%), or due to their race (44.7%). In August 2020, a controversy over the use of blackface emerged on social media. Several Korean students posed in blackface, in a parody of the of the “dancing pallbearers” meme from Ghana, which sparked public outcry, as many criticized the costumes as being culturally insensitive and racist. Some Government policies are considered discriminatory, such as those banning migrant workers from freely changing workplaces, providing job information at public job centers for foreigners with specific visas, and excluding refugees from applying for South Korea’s public housing scheme. In addition, the outbreak of COVID-19 has given rise to additional problems, as some foreigners are not eligible to apply for a government subsidy amid the economic devastation, and the children of immigrants and refugees are not able to receive a proper education due to the lack of an online curriculum designed for them at a time when most schools across the country have adopted online teaching.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death the debate about colorism and skin tone in India has been discussed in several media outlets, and as part of the general critique a big Indian matchmaking website, Shaadi.com, has removed a filter where people could use to mark skin color preferences for their potential partner CNN, 2020).

The access to and resources to purchase skincare products or services impacted the notions of colorism among African American women, since enslaved and impoverished black women were more limited in their grooming, which affected the way they were treated by their masters. For example, more light-skinned, black women were marketed as “Negroes fit for domestic service” in their masters’ homes.

However, some rape cases, where there was no bond between the victim and the rapist, have led to big protests in India as well as a lot of international media coverage. One of the most debated cases, known as the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, a 23-year-old female was gang-raped, tortured and later died from the fatality of her injuries. Following the news of the case and later the death of the victim, big protests spread across the whole country, where protesters demanded safety for women and legal justice for rape victims.

Yet, the extent of the practice is not fully known and is mainly based on anecdotal reports and anthropological studies, as neither reports by national groups nor documented evidence have been found


 * In September 2020, amid condemnation from Western countries, China’s leader acclaimed the success of his policies in Xinjiang in a 2-day conference expected to set the countries policy for the next years.

In September 2020, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has warned that the killing and abductions of Rohingyas have not stopped, despite the International Court of Justice ordering Myanmar’s leadership to prevent genocide and stop the killings in December 2019.

In September 2020, Afghanistan has secured a seat on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women for the first time, an achievement that is seen as a “sign of progress for a country once notorious for the oppression of women”.

The United States military had been using prostitution services in South Korean military camptowns during and following the Korean War. Some prostitutes later accused South Korea’s former leaders of “encouraging them to have sex with the American soldiers who protected South Korea from North Korea”. In addition, they claimed that the Korean government saw them as “commodities to be used to shore up the country’s struggling economy” after the Korean War. In 2017, it was ruled that the South Korean government broke the law by detaining prostitutes.

After the controversy erupted, after it was reported that Paramount Pictures examined the possibility of using CGI to make Scarlett Johansson appear “more Asian.”