Chapter 22 (675-689)

  After reading this last section, I tried to come to the conclusion the communism was not as bad as it may seem. This is because it not only brought hope to the injustices from the past; such as new opportunities for women, workers and even peasants but the industrial side of it was quick enough to give these opportunities, and this was a great thing. But the problem with communism- although making changes for the better and giving everyone the opportunity for work- communism was the cause of millions of people killed, and put in prison for the wrong reasons. There was a also the problems of MASSIVE famine, human rights violated, and many people in the mindset of  doing the impossible. It was hard for me to pick a side for whether I though communism was a good or bad topic, because although it is against my moral values, it still gave women the opportunity in the work fields and industrial life and that is a significant part of who I am today and could be in my future.

Section 5 and 6

   The catholic social teachings is what these sections were about. They explained the guidelines in which they were allowed to teach as well as the boundaries and how far they are allowed. They want YOU to be the one to learn, be productive in the work they feel they are supposed to do and to love all that God as given you and created for you. The Catholic church does many activities to help in ways that they can in their communities as a way of bringing more people in and helping/ guiding them down their spiritual journey and walk with God. I thought these two sections were both great insights on how the Catholic Church is involved with the communities but more importantly the people.

Chap. 22 (659-674)

The specific section that caught my attention was on Communist Feminism and how communist countries actually encouraged and developed forms of women's liberation in the West. It was the new communist government who issued an entirely new set of laws regarding women. Some of the many included divorce being legalized as well as easier, abortion too, pregnancy leave for employed women was mandated, illegitimacy was abolished, political equality for women was legal, and many more. One of the major events performed by the party was the development a women's department called Zhenotdel. They organized conferences for women , trained them to run day-care centers and even medical clinics. They also entered the work force in farming and industrial jobs. The picture on the right of page 669 shows two women learning to drive a tractor. It is so great and interesting to me to see how women began as nothing but property and taken advantage of, to them having jobs and our society as a whole recognizing and treating the value of a women as equal to that of a male. It really took hundreds of years for women to gain and have truly fair and equal opportunities. Crazy ...

Intro part 6 (Chap. 21)

     In chapter 21 we learn about the collapse and recovery of Europe. There were two major factors that really seemed to catch my attention; Women and the Great War and The Bombing of Hiroshima. The Women of the Great War includes the women for both sides of the war. On page 630, there is a photo illustrating a woman putting on her jacket in the middle of men on one side dressed in uniform and women on the other side doing work. The words read "These women are doing their bit ... Learn to make munitions." Not only does this show how involved women were in the war and in this time but it is also interesting to see a man in the background looking at her, raising his hand as if in agreement to her getting ready to work. The words are also very important because they signify the invitation and promotion of women during this time. They are advertising the roles of women in this picture and it is a positive one. This is important to me because it shows the equality developing between both men and women and men are not refusing the help of women as if they were incapable of doing the job (like the past).
     The dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima was important to me because it was the ending of the World War 2. After this event, all of the survivors were in devastation and in loss of everything. They really had no where to go and no where to turn to, all they could do was rebuild all that was gone. The majority of women during this time became known as "comfort women" whose job was to serve the sexual needs of the Japanese troops. Although, there were many women taking the jobs in the industry as well, it was only temporary. Because many jobs had been reserved for men, women in this time in both the military and industry were only there until enough men were able and well enough to work again. I found this very interesting and different from the "usual" (women having no part in the working and military field).

Living Justice: Intro. and chap. 1&7

The sections that we read were about poverty among lower classes and human rights. Both of these involve the Church and Catholic teachings in these areas. These chapter talk about what the Church as a community to get involved and help with the unfair treatment of the lower classes by the upper classes. One way the Church gets involve is by holding community functions where the people feeling being treated unfairly, migrant workers, and lower class hardworking people are able to express their inequality towards the upper classes. This is a positive  activity and also very active because it is a great way to come up with solutions and try to fix their problem instead of just giving one person the job and following under their order. There are so many families  in poverty who are hard-working and just can not seem to bring themselves out of their poorest. The Church helps make things equal as well as spread their Catholic teachings.

Chapter 20 (607-614)

As education began to rise in the colonial era so did religion. Both became very popular in New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and mostly in non-Muslim Africa. The attractions of Christianity in these places came from not just population and faith but mainly the lowered confidence of military defeat. Many people, especially that of the African culture, needed hope and faith in something so they turned to christianity. Because both religion and education boomed around the same time and places, together they were a great match. While teaching upon subjects of english, math and history, religion was allowed and actually enforced as part of their curriculum. From this, missionaries were able to offer not only religion but European medicine, education, gender roles and culture.

Chapter 20 (589-606)

Women working in the colonial economy had it rough. As people began to colonize and move African men were given more and more wage labor making it much more difficult for the domestic responsibiliesof the women. Because women were given so many responsibilities they became the leading experts in selling foods, stuffs, cloth, and inexpensive imported goods making them domininant in the marketing buisness. The men however focussed on the import-export trade and profit. This was a great way for Africans during this time period to live a better life than before. Too bad this was the way of life for only some parts of West Africa and not all.