THE CICAK.com

We’re not staying home and making babies

By POH SI TENG

There is a song from the classic musical The Sound of Music that reinforces sexual stereotypes. And it used to be one of my favorites.

The socially constructed gender roles in the song sung by two lovers in Salzburg, Austria, may have been appropriate for audiences in the 1960s, but it cannot and should not be imposed on the young women of our generation. Not in primary or secondary school plays, nor in choral speaking competitions.

It’s subtle, short and sweet. And hidden in the verses of Sixteen Going on Seventeen.

As 17-year-old Austrian chap, Rolf tries to woo Liesl, Captain Von Trapp’s eldest daughter, he bellows with great affection that she is “timid and shy and scared” about things beyond her comprehension, and needs protection from the “world of men.”

But what really got me shouting “wholly crap” inside, as I listened to this song being blasted at San Francisco State University’s swimming pool hall last week, was this:

“You need someone older and wiser telling you what to do,
I am 17 going on 18 I’ll take care of you.”

The “take care of you” part, I like. But the “need someone older and wiser telling (me) what to do” line, had me choking gulps of chlorinated water, as I tried to swim my twelfth crawl-stroke lap.

I couldn’t help but think of my convent school days, where the motto, “Simple in virtue, steadfast in duty,” was indoctrinated in my 11 years of primary and secondary school education. There were several teachers in the tiny school by the Butterworth pier who preached, “Girls are to be seen and not heard,” and that girl and boy-scout campfires were bad because there would be copulation and pregnancies before the fires were doused in the wee hours of morn.

It’s no surprise that these very teachers would imply or overtly say that no matter how successful or influential we might one day become, that our place would still be at home. And that our role was to be good wives and make babies.

Are you kidding me?

It’s infuriating that these teachers are in schools throughout the country, teaching young girls to be subversive and subordinates to their future husbands. These educators further enhance the patriarchal system and perpetuate inequality between the sexes.

Instead, we should teach our young to strive for fairness among women, men and those who do not fall into specific gender categories, at work, at home and in the bedroom.

Girls in the “first class” (students were streamed into different classes based on their academic results) would probably not take sexist comments like this to heart. However, under-privileged students, many who do not have the opportunity to go to college, will live their lives believing that this is so. And this is dangerous!

There will be less outrage over politicians like chauvinist fart and tourism minister, Tengku Adnan, for making smart-mouth comments like this:

“Bloggers are liars. They use all sort of ways to cheat others. From what I know, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.”

We need more competent leaders, rather than sexist men in power.

It’s still a long way to go before women are proportionately represented in all layers of the Malaysian government and anti-sexual discrimination laws are passed.

But we shouldn’t be pessimistic or think it futile. Instead, we need to educate young men and women in Malaysia that it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of sex. This means women should not tolerate nasty sexual comments at work, or accept lower salaries compared to their male colleagues, on the premise that they don’t have to support a family. Women are breadwinners too.

And a good place to start educating our future leaders is at home and in schools.

In January, I returned to Penang for a short vacation after practising journalism in the United States for more than three years. The principal of my alma mater invited me to speak to fifth formers about career and tertiary education opportunities to about 25 young women. In a tiny, muggy, little library, we swapped stories of our dreams, goals, ambitions and aspirations.

I spoke about why it’s important to stay clear from sexist teachers and family members who weren’t supportive, and to seek counsel from those who would help them realize their potential.

“Much is expected from those who have a lot,” my favorite English teacher, Mrs. Kate Loh, once said to me. It was she who hammered in me the importance of self-respect, self-worth and self-discovery. She told my classmates and me to believe in ourselves; to see, understand, and live muchly.

It’s sad that many motherly and supportive teachers like Mrs. Loh have retired. But all is not lost. On the flip side, conservative old school educators who believe that might is right and rule with a cane, are dying out. Let’s just hope there’s no sudden increase of religious fundamentalists infiltrating our schools and them ordering women to wear burqas.

As for The Sound of Music, I still love the ageless and evergreen songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. And I still love Julie Andrews as the impulsive but genuinely kind Roman Catholic nanny.

So instead of singing the love song by Liesl and Rolf, I’ll do a rendition of Climb Every Mountain.

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POH SI TENG is the director and co-founder of theCICAK.

Poh Si came to the United States in search of free speech and expression. Last summer, she interned as a science reporter for The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. She has written for the Oakland Tribune, the Vallejo Times-Herald, the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota and the New Straits Times in Malaysia. She will be interning as a multimedia producer at The Virginian-Pilot this summer and The Miami Herald in the fall. Visit her site.