Cycling can cause women to get sick? Five feminist objects that drive the change of the Times

Female artifacts Si, technology let's go further?

On 38 women's Day this year, the United Nations Women's Empowerment agency collated 5 of the most improved items for women's rights, taking you from technology to clothing, and a brief retrospective of other artifacts, si. These things we have seen in television or life, but do not know their invention, the use of the process, in fact, are full of twists and turns.

1. Drum Bucket/Hippopotamus bucket (Hippo roller)

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According to a2017 survey by the World Health Organization, 2.1 billion people in the world still live in areas where there is a lack of clean water, especially in Africa such as Uganda, Malawi and other countries. The work of fetching water is often the responsibility of the mother or daughter (scene: Malawi reports: Here, girls are all prep wives ) in the rolling yellow sand, African women have to walk for hours a day to collect water, which in fact also attracts some serious problems. Women, for example, are vulnerable to attack on long and sparsely populated water. In addition, spending too much time each day on water and preventing them from getting an education or work makes the problem of women's poverty only replicated by the next generation.

However, such a scenario is slowly improving. Since 1997, two South African engineers Pettie Petzer and Johan jonker have invented drum buckets, and many new products are being tried to make it easier for women to get water.

Take the drum bucket as an example, it is made of wire through the plastic barrel, designed a lightweight, low-cost, high storage life of the action bucket, and water storage is five times times the average bucket, to help African women save time and effort, once to obtain more water. This allows them to spend a day collecting water, greatly reducing the cost of energy, and having more time to deal with other matters.

2. Bicycle (bicycle)

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In the 19th century, the first wave of feminism, Susan Anthony, a feminist who fought for the right to vote, Susan Antony the bicycle as a woman's free machine. It also makes the bicycle a symbol of free and unrestrained female force.

On the one hand, because of the popularity of bicycles, women are allowed to go out alone for the first time in history without having to rely on guardians, carriages or rides, and even to make women more organized and involved in women's voting rights campaigns. In the historical photos of many voting rights campaigns, women can be seen holding bicycles to participate in the parade. On the other hand, it has even indirectly changed the fashion of women's costumes in the 19th century: women are finally allowed to go out without wearing a waistcoat shirt (corset) with their breasts on their chests or wearing loose knickers (bloomers).

However, any science and technology, as an opportunity for political reform, is vulnerable to a backlash from conservatives. Vox reports that the 1895 American Magazine Literary Digest (literary Digest) published this text describing a female-specific "bicycle face Disease" (bicycle):

The face was flushed, sometimes pale, and the corners of the mouth were drooping, and now there were dark circles, and they always looked tired. (usually flushed, but sometimes pale, often with lips more or less drawn, and the beginning of Dark shadows under the eyes , and always with an expression of weariness.)

This ambiguous text is used to emphasize that women are prone to the disease as long as they ride a bicycle. But in fact, anyone can have such a facial expression because of a bicycle ride. It was not even until the 1897 that doctors were able to cycle for women, confirming that bicycle disease did not exist and that cycling promoted women's health.

3. Internet (Internet)

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In the 90 's, the rise of the internet significantly reduced people's contact costs, increased efficiency, and brought opportunities for the global community to connect. The most obvious example is the series of gender vocal issues that began in the 2017, from #METOO campaigns, #NiUnaMenos (not less) to #TimesUp (you may be interested: Gender Watch | #METOO era, love is consensus, not hypothesis ) and is showing that it is very helpful in promoting feminism.

But it has to be mentioned that the rapidly rising online community is like a double-sided blade, providing opportunities for women and sexual minorities to empower on the one hand, and extremely prone to strong backlash on the other: unequal access rights, the rise of the vendetta community, online stalking, illegal transactions, and fake news are also still creating new tests for these gender movements.

4. Tampons (Sanitary pads)

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One joke is that a little boy made a wish to make a birthday, hoping to get a box of tampons. Adults asked why, the little boy imitated the advertisement word said: "Because I can go swimming, running, high jump, horseback riding, skating, no one will find." 」

Menstruation, from ancient times to the present, has always been a woman's difficulty in opening the secret. Before the invention of tampons, women had made flax, wool, cloth, animal skins and other materials to cushion the menstrual blood. Also because of the limited mobility, can not go very far, can not swim in the water. In many areas, the taboo of religious folklore is more integrated, such as the unclean blood, so women can not casually say the export, tide can not go to the temple worship and so on.

Élise Thébaut, a French journalist, Diaipo in his book menstrual inequality that when the United States finally emerged in the late 20th century, when the first commercial tampons, which were sterilized by gauze and cotton, were extremely poorly sold. But the reason is not that women do not want to buy, but because the social worries about the poor perception of tampons at that time, prohibit any media advertising of tampons. (Scene of the same field: Choosing a book for you | menstrual inequality, first menarche and last slap )

Looking back at history, we always feel absurd and unconcerned. But to this day, we know that there are still a lot of stigmatization of menstruation that exists in you and my society ( Gender Watch | Menstrual stigma only in India? Oscar Anonymous review: "I just think menstruation is disgusting!" "). Menstrual stigma is never just a personal war of women against the womb, but a crackdown on vulnerable bodies in society as a whole.

5. Female trousers (pants for women)

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Women's clothing is never just used to show appearance, and clothes can of course be a symbol of gender empowerment. In the past, women in the West were not allowed to wear men's clothing. The best-known example is Joan of Arc, and perhaps you don't know that when she was strapped to the scaffold in 1431, one of the notorious charges was that she was wearing male-specific armor, robes and stockings (armour, tunics and hoses).

Pants in Western history, of course, is also "man" clothing. We know, however, that the development of the world is often driven by cruel realities, such as war. After World War I, Europe was short of manpower, and women were gradually able to wear trousers because they had to take over men's jobs for the time being. French designer Chanel's trousers suit makes women wear trousers and become fashionable.

The small revolution of life is often also a great progress of society

Looking back at this si of women's rights and interests, we found that they all went from the past to the present, from innovation to good intentions, to attract criticism, and finally gradually become a daily landscape, along the way is always long. On 38 women's Day, we can also re-examine what gender objects there are in life, and it is you and I who have not paid attention to their influence. They are all worth a thank you and me.