Work Load Gender Discrimination

society, women need to be influenced by their consciousness, education and sisterhood. 1 Having Consciousness Lerner 1993:274 defines women‟s consciousness about feminism or feminist consciousness as “1 the awareness of women that they belong to a subordinate group and that, as members of such a group, they have suffered wrongs; 2 the recognition that their condition of subordination is not natural, but societally determined; and 3 the development of an alternate vision of the future”. According to her, feminist consciousness embraces a strong sense of responsibility for and empathy with other women. It is more socially responsible and political than the individualism. Women‟s consciousness about their rights is the first thing women should gain before they struggle against gender discrimination. Gender discrimination is so pervasive and many women do not even notice the ways a patriarchal, male-dominated society oppress them. To be able to challenge the patriarchy, women have to notice the discrimination itself and raise their consciousness first, as it is stated by Hooks 2000:7 that before challenging patriarchy, people have to change themselves; they had to raise their consciousness first. It is impoertant for women to learn about the system of domination or patriarchy, how it becomes a custom and how it remains exist in the society. Women can raise their awareness that they are exploited, victimized, and even oppressed by learning about male domination and also sexism Hooks, 2000:7. Awareness of gender discrimination will lead to the positive attitudes towards discrimination, which is struggling against it. 2 Getting Education Education is crucial for social movements, including the feminist movement. The idea that women are inferior to men has been embedded in a patriarchal system and the main element that enables people to slowly change the bias view of the world is through education. According to Hooks 2000:19, education on feminism has a goal to explain to both men and women how sexist thinking works and how people can fight and change it. He also states that everything people do in life is based on theory and education is an underlying theory which shapes people‟s thought and practice in fighting against patriarchal system. Education plays its role as the guidance for women to enforce patriarchy because being educated, women will be more aware of their rights and more confidence to claim it. They can also empower other women to challenge patriarchy. According to Hooks 2000:21, feminism can make revolution through formal and informal education by implementing feminist thought, respecting womens academic work, recognizing the work past and present, and ending gender biases in curriculum and pedagogy in formal education. He also affirms that “the institutionalization of womens studies helped spread the word about feminism. It offered a legitimate site for conversion by providing a sustained body of open minds. ”