Women's History Month; "Women of Cueforce"

Okay, this is going to be the first segment of the Women's History Month series. This segment airs on the morning of March 2nd, 1992 at 7.50 a.m. Jenny Goldson's piece is edited under the back of this, as it runs his one continuous piece. See Jenny's notes for the overall length, and here we go. Next month, during her visit to Wichita, Yolanda King, the daughter of the late civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, talked about the American melting pot in the 20th century, now being more of a mosaic, where each culture is a separate and distinctly colorful part of the overall American picture. That raises the question, though, of just what is the American culture? We put that question to Dr. John Gaston, the chairperson of minority studies at the Wichita State University. I don't think there's anything that we could really call the American culture, what we see is kind of an umbrella, I suppose you could describe it in the mini culture, sharing some common views and values, but what we really have is a number of subcultures, and that's

what makes up what we call America. Cheryl McAfee is a black woman who also is an architect. She is not, as some would say, a black architect. McAfee, who is part African American, part Native American, and part Scottish, says family traditions, indeed cultural traditions, often make life difficult for those who must work hard to maintain their strong cultural background. I think it is a struggle. I think maintaining any struggle in a collective society is hard, but I do find value in the culture. I find beauty in culture and a richness. There's richness in values, America needs those values, I think that racism and sexism and those types of things are reflections of the values and morals of the United States are things that reflect us right now, and they're very poor, morals and very poor values and they should not be tolerated.

Like many well-defined cultures, the African American culture has a long history of being patriarchal in nature. Martha Sanchez, a professor of minority studies at the Wichita State University, says there is probably more equality between men and women in the African American culture than one would suspect, and for a very interesting and historical reason. The history, we need to consider that back during colonial times and how the African person was brought and enslaved, and at the very beginning, the woman's responsibility was to her master and never to her children, that was her first priority there, then her children would come in next. Something to keep in mind here when we talk about a slave marriage is how there was equality between both the men and the women, but it was an equality of oppression because the male figure here never had any economic autonomy nor did he have any control over his family or children because the master was the one who was in control here and made those kinds

of decisions here. One question that comes to mind as it affects women in America who come from diverse cultural backgrounds is which is easier to be a woman or a man within your culture. The answer is clear for Cheryl McAfee, it's easier to be a woman. But for McAfee, who was educated at Kansas State University and has a graduate degree in urban planning and design from Harvard, it's easier to fit into a much broader culture. I feel that I am much more valuable in a global culture. I enjoy culture, I enjoy different cultures, I am very much interested in how all the various countries, economies fit in together. The American Cultural Mosaic, while it still exists, is changing. Dr. John Gaston feels there are a lot of questions which beg asking as cultural lines begin to blur from generation to generation. As you begin to chip away at the cultural norms, at the cement of the culture, what impact

does that have? What is the long range of implications of that? There's always a trade-off on the one hand as women break out of traditional roles and enter the mainstream in positions of power. How does that affect the family? How does that affect the culture? And not saying that that's positive or negative or simply raising that question and seeing what that's going to do. People have mentioned things like, well, as more women enter into the mainstream, there's evidence of more physical ailments that women are suffering that they did not traditionally have problems with the defector lifespan, how it affects child care, child development. There are other elements of African-American culture at its impact on women within that culture. K&W's Jenny Goulson talked with one woman, whose roots in the African-American culture,

enabled her to function successfully in the broader American society. Describing Jean Pounsel is not an easy thing to do. She feels many roles, depending on which day of the week it is and sometimes even depending on which part of the day. Most notably, she is a librarian at Sweet Briar Branch Library and also notably, she is a storyteller and she is much more. I feel myself woven, thick, and cruel as a mother, as a wife, as a sister, as a daughter, as a grandmother. As a compassionate one, as a caring one, as the one who is able to draw from the strength of my forefathers, with my work, with my talent, I feel that we're woven through and through. A significant part of her life, as it is with many African-American women, is her faith

and she uses her faith to help her function in a largely white society, and traces the basis of her faith to the history of her people. Back with my forefathers, when we were captured and we were bought to this country by force, we had nothing else. We couldn't escape, because of this, we couldn't escape, so we had to have something to hold on to, and all those spirituals, all those things, those are strength that we were drawing from our religion, and those are the things that we've had to depend on. In addition to overseeing the workings of the Sweet Briar Branch Library, Gina is also a popular storyteller. She can weave a tale of high suspense and drama in a way that can make you see everything she describes and swear that you heard the creek in the door hinge and the footsteps on the floor. As a skill she uses in her storytelling sessions for young children, it's a skill with which she can intrans an adult audience, and it's a skill she teaches to others.

It is also a skill which has been developed in her ancestors as far back as Africa, where it was the means of recording history and in America where it was used by slaves. Going back, where we as a people was denied the opportunity to read, to write, it was against the law. Certainly, we had to pull upon the strengths that we have, and it was one of the traditions of the Black family. We would gather on the porch on Sundays, I one day off, there's no TV, no radio, it was our form of entertainment. The storyteller and the family would sit there and would weave these tales and tell stories, and we would sing and we would dance. This is a part of our culture. As an African-American woman, Jean Pouncil has no regrets and no desire to be anyone or anything else. We're just the strength. We've been there for them and we're still there and we'll always be there for them. And I just feel that the Black woman has this inner.

There's a strength that we can pull upon that I haven't seen in a man. Maybe I have, and this is not to say, oh man, but I haven't seen it yet. But the women seem to have that strength. I don't know if maybe we get it from our religion, from our church because the church is full of women. There are some men there, but you find women. For KMUW, I'm Jenny Goalson. This is going to be part two, program number two in the Women's History Month series. And this one will air at 6.27.50 and 9.20 a.m. on 3.99.92, that's Monday the 9th. And here we go. If there is one thing that seems to unite women across cultures, it is religion.

John Gaston, the chairperson of the Minorities Studies Program with the Wichita State University, says that is especially true among women whose roots lie in the Black and Hispanic cultures. I think with most of the cultures that we're talking about, you cannot separate religion from the culture itself, the so-called separation of church and state, you can't do that. It is very much interwoven. It is almost everything that is done has some religious significance to it. And so that's going to be a factor. With that in mind then, the role of the women in the culture is often defined to a great extent by the religion, the roles that women play. Estella Martinez is a first-generation American. Her parents came to this country from Mexico as children. Martinez, who with her husband Oscar, operates an interior design business, recently served as the Wichita City Council representative from the 5th District. For Martinez, her church was an integral part of her Hispanic upbringing.

We always had to go to church every Sunday. If we didn't go, we couldn't go to the movie and it was one of those types of things. In our whole society, I think our whole socialness was built around our little petrol-help church. We had our Mexican dinners there. We had what we used to call a Bizarre's and there was Heller's Grove that was a picnic area on North Arcansis where we had baseball games. It was an all-day affair on a Sunday or a Saturday and we had baseball games and different types of games where they would grease a pig and try to catch it, grease a pole and climb it and also Mexican food and then in the evening there was a dance and so it was everyone working together, networking together just to have a good time. It was done many times, it was done to raise money for the church so a lot of these functions were done in conjunction with the church. Among many cultures, language is a central element. It is in the broader sense a demonstration of ethnic loyalty. Martha Sanchez, a professor in the WSU Minority Studies program, says though, as generations of women from the Hispanic culture assimilate into the broader American mosaic, ethnic loyalty

often fades. We don't speak Spanish anymore, particularly after generations move along, that's just not a language that is not very useful or helpful anymore and certainly it is lost and so when we talk about ethnic loyalty, why do we have to think or even consider of that language? When in reality it's an integrity that keeps this ethnic group together because there's still many families in our own area that we can relate back to five generations and when you lose a language, you're losing so much particular communication and how can you build a relate with that clearly speaking to someone who understands you. As Sanchez points out, one role of women in society is to function as the keepers of the culture. For Estella Martinez, the woman is central to that culture. How much the intertwining fiber, I think, of a family, the mother is always very, very violent, very important. And is the woman in Hispanic culture seen as being the keeper of the hearth or as much

of a contributor to income as in the broader American culture? Well, traditionally keeping the member that is home, keeping the hearth, if you will, as you say. But traditionally now with the new role and after someone is here for a while in the assimilation and a matter of economics, many women are working outside of the home. Are they doing both? Of course, you have to, yes, because the family still is very, very important to Hispanic. As to the relationship between the broader American society and the Hispanic culture, Martinez feels for her at least both fit together nicely. For Thanksgiving, we can hardly ever have Thanksgiving dinner without having mole and mole is our gravy that we use. Instead of gravy, we always have mole, which is a red sauce that we put on our Spanish rice and turkey. We have the ideas with our Thanksgiving dinner, you know, it's just a matter of mixing the two cultures and it's like the best of all worlds. But for Martinez, she feels her Hispanic culture is the stronger of the two.

I have to say that I feel the Mexican background is the strongest. And I wish that whenever we had movies, they always depict us as the low life. And that is so sad because they don't know the tradition of the Mexican. Whenever someone comes into a home, children always have to go and greet an adult. They may disappear and never see them again, but there's always that respect. As we continue with our series on Hispanic women, King and UW's Jenny Goulson visits with another woman whose Hispanic roots branch off in a different direction. Maria Balderas came to Wichita from Cuba 24 years ago as a young teenager. She did not speak English and it was years before she could function in a mainstream classroom, or would dare to speak English in front of others for fear they would laugh at her. There came a point, however, when she decided that she would succeed and she is now educated, professionally employed, and one of the most respected women in Wichita. If her name is familiar, perhaps you heard it during her bid for a seat on the city council,

both during the last election and during the procedure to replace councilman Jim Ward, who resigned his seat to take a seat in the Kansas legislature. Maria was a strong contender for the position, but when the council could not cast a deciding ballot that I was broken by the city attorney who appointed another candidate. Today she is employment supervisor at Sesna, a job in which she must function with all kinds of people. From her Hispanic heritage, Maria believes she has acquired the qualities of respect for other people and also a religious basis for the way she lives her life. That is, the golden rule shapes her attitudes and behavior. She says she has not raised her three daughters to see themselves as outside or separate from the American culture because of their Hispanic roots. I tell my daughters that remember that you are created equal, we are all different, but yet created equal. And always remember that no one is better than you and that you are not better than anyone

else. Maria says she has been reluctant to use her heritage as a way to separate herself from other Americans. It's not something that we have utilized, our heritage has not been utilized as to create a conscious awareness that you are so different, that is possible that someone will use that as an excuse to not provide you with certain things. And I'm not saying that's not done in today's society, but I truly am of the belief that some of us get to be a little bit paranoid and so self-conscious of what we are, that we are self sometimes overreact to potentially even this lightest situation. Baldaris has adjusted to life in America, earned her college degree and has worked her way

up to her present job. She believes that she has never been discriminated against because of her heritage. There has been things that I have attempted to do and have not been successful at doing. And I have never blamed the fact that I am Hispanic to have been the cause of that. But simply the fact that perhaps I was green, I didn't go about it the right way, I didn't try hard enough. So I always look back at myself and how it is that I am reflecting and projecting and what it is that I am doing, I analyze my actions first before I pass judgment on what others or what the reason may be. She does, however, recognize that not all people are treated equally in our society. I recognize that there is a severe lack of sensitivity in the general population, that not everyone is sensitive to the needs, nor recognize as I recognize that we are the

only de-created equal. This is the Women's History Month program to air on Monday, the 16th of March 1992 at 5, excuse me, 6, 20, 750, and 8, 20, or the 9, 20 AM. And here we go. Throughout history, women have long been recognized as the keepers of the heart, but they also

were keepers of the culture, for it is the woman who, in most cultures, maintains many of the traditions. Martha Sanchez, an instructor of minority studies at the Wichita State University, says across cultures, the family is central to that culture, especially among women who are fairly recent transplants into broader society. Because of my experience with different women, I would think that, of course, we have our differences, but anytime we talk about issues, we come up with the same kind of agreement that, yes, we are women who happen to care about our families and those values and everything else that we bring along with that. But what I see mostly, the difference here, is that if you're one who's still a first-generation, immigrant or one who might be second-generation, then you still have a lot of ethnic loyalty that goes on within your family system there. There's still a lot of cultural awareness that those children might still happen to have. But as generations move along your third and fourth and fifth, you become so assimilated

that you have lost a lot of those values and perhaps what once used to be very important isn't so anymore. John Gaston, the chairperson of minority studies at W.S. Hughes, has women from an Indo-Chinese background are placed in an especially difficult position. It's a real difficult situation that women are placed in, understanding that women tend to be the transmitters of the culture. And that is also interesting because the women generally are those persons who are going to spend the most time with the children, they're the ones who are going to instill the values, the norms and so forth. And so they have that responsibility along with taking care of the house, along with their eight to five if they have one. And that makes a big difference. The economic situation being what it is in the United States, if you do not have both parents working, then the children are going to suffer because of the limited income in most cases that only one person working can bring in. W.S. Hughes, Martha Sanchez, agrees.

She feels Indo-Chinese women often are more demure and nature than women from other cultures. Because of this, she says they face difficulties many of us find it hard to imagine. They don't really speak out. And they're out there really working and pushing for their families that it's more or less been looked at as a model minority compared to all the other ethnic minorities because we talk about the Asian-American people as of doing less complaining than any other ethnic minority group and certainly from women. Hong-Wing is Vietnamese and a recent immigrant to America. For Hong, there are some fundamental differences between herself and her Western sister is born and raised in this country. In Vietnam, the husband takes care of the family and the woman doesn't work. It's her job to take care of the house. In the United States, the American woman works. She and the man are equal, both bring in money to take care of the family. Simon Vaughn is Cambodian. She says that's also true for women from her culture.

The mayoral is not to bring the income home. It's the husband role to do that. The mayoral of the audience woman is to stay home, take care, to make sure that the family have good kids, good king and cleaning that's the main role. Vaughn adds there is one difference between Cambodian women and women who've been a part of the broader American mosaic for a longer period of time. The main role is to take care of your children, take care of the housework. They don't have to go out there and then work by job, get money, bring it home. That's not their role. American women work. When, since they're little, they know that they have to go to school just like a man get education, then go to work, that's the main difference. There is one aspect of cultural integration of women into the broader American mosaic, that of intercultural marriage.

KMUW Special Correspondent Rose Stanley looks at how that has affected some Hindu Chinese women. One very clear dilemma which often presents itself to women from strong cultural backgrounds is the one of forming interracial or intercultural relationships with men. Martha Sanchez of which Tostates Minority Studies Center says there aren't the old tapos now that used to exist years ago. At one time I could say it was something brown and bomb, but I think because of the kind of messages we're receiving from the media, it's okay and it's accepted. And it makes me think about the movies that have been recently released during the past summer and that's like Jungle Fever, Black Male dating of white female. And anymore we turn on our TV stations. We see a lot of that interracial dating and marriages and couples that- So the media has made it okay? Yes. And I think society is starting to accept that, accept one thing that was pointed out to me by a student who comes from the South. She said, I realize that hearing canzes, there's a lot of open dating among the races or the different ethnic groups here.

She says, but you go back to the South and that's not as open and that's not as acceptable. For Sam and Vaughn, whose Cambodian heritage is strong, the only possible problem is one of communicating with her family. For me, dating American, man, I don't see anything wrong with that, it's just maybe with the family, for example, I'm going to bring American guys home, my parents, communication problems, that's the only problem. Kathy Torres knows about the differences between women and men who come from different cultural backgrounds. Kathy, whose heritage is Hispanic, has grown up in America. She teaches English at the Indochinese Center in Wichita. She says many Indochinese women who have recently immigrated to America in reality have two jobs. For the most part, when they've been, when they've been, when they've been newly arrived from their country, they would prefer to stay home and take care of their family and have the husband go out and work.

Is that more of a traditional role? Yeah. But when they get over here, they find they have to work too. So they take on the double role. The role that the American women are trying to get away from, they work full time. The Indochinese from what I've seen, they will work full time. And then when they go home, they will take care of the house full time. WSU's Martha Sanchez says it's not uncommon for men from one distinct racial or cultural background to date and marry women outside their culture. Kathy Torres, whose husband's Vietnamese, agrees and says those relationships are often one way in nature. You see more Indochinese men marrying American women than the other way around. For when an Indochinese man marries an American woman, they had, they seem to have a little bit more, they have more, they have a little bit more difficult time adjusting than if an Indochinese woman marries an American man because the American man can either live with

a career woman or a traditional woman. He can adjust to that much easier and most Indochinese women are more traditional oriented. And Torres adds, her experience has led her to believe that Indochinese men are very flexible in their attitudes toward their wives. For living with two Indochinese men, they don't complain if I do something that they don't like. They just kind of adjust to it. Torres says in her experience teaching both Indochinese women and men, both for the most part, are taught to be modest in self-effacing, giving credence to WSU Minority Studies Professor John Gaston's observation that men and women from the Indochinese culture are indeed the model minority. For KMUW, I'm Rose Stanley. And this is going to be the Women's History Month series segment, excuse me, for 323.92,

this is segment number four for 323.92, so stand by because it's coming at you shortly. Of all the cultures we've been looking at during our series on women across cultures, there is one which it's probably safe to say is the mother culture in this country, the one into which other cultures have blended rather than the other way around, because Native Americans were a part of this land long before people of Hispanic, Indochinese, and African heritage. John Gaston, the chairperson of the Minority Studies Department at the Witch Tostey University, says Native American women, though they may have more visibility in society today, throughout history, have lived in the shadow of Native American men. For example, we have Wilma Mankiller, who is chief of the Cherokee, and so she's kind

of the exception to the rule, but historically women have been in the subservient roles. Martha Sanchez, who teaches in the Minority Studies program at Witch Tostey, agrees that some Native American women are beginning to take leadership roles in their tribal councils. There are still women who are wanting to be in contact, let's say, with reservations in their families there, and yet living in our mainstream society, where they're caught between two cultures. And I know that many still will go back to the reservation, and still want to have that contact in here. Again, we're talking about that ethnic loyalty. One thing to keep in mind here is what we used to think as only controlled by men, that is a tribal council, that we are beginning to see more Native American women take the leadership in these councils also.

One such woman is Melissa Cornell, Cornell, who is from the Ponca City, Oklahoma area, lived on land that once belonged to American Indians. That land now, though, belongs to the state. Cornell recently spent a year in Witch Tostey studying in a local vocational school. Although she left her tribe to study, she has returned. She says it's not easy to be a part of two cultures. Fitting in is having to make myself fit in. Example, I've never seen anything come easy. I was one of those that was raised by old Indians, and looking at the beauty of everything around me cultural wise. And with the world changing as it does each day, it's been very hard, and I would say each day that the world goes around, it takes a different step, but yet the cultural aspects

are taking a step backwards. For Cornell, it's important to assert herself as an individual, but then her culture, she says, the man is still considered dominant. The man is stronger, the man is anything that comes towards you is going to hit the man first. In other words, to put it, he's to protect you, but meanwhile, you're to give him all you've got as far as making his life better. According to Wichita's state, John Gaston, men in many societies often are seen as dominant because the woman of that culture confer power on the man. This is Gaston that does not mean women or without power because if at any point women decided not to, they could change the whole situation. If there was agreement, women simply said, no, there's one example, a Greek play, I think it's the women or something like that, maybe the name of it, I can't recall, offhand, where

the women decide that war is just detrimental to society as a whole and they decide, hey, unless you guys stop fighting, we're going on strike and swords, they drop the spears ball so that there is this potential that women have to have an impact on what happens. According to Gaston, women are the transmitters of culture, but Melissa Cornell says, for many Native American women, it's more and more difficult to maintain cultural traditions. A lot of the people, Indian people are losing interest because of the way that things are adapting and what society calls for. We don't have the land to roam, you'd say we're restricted, anymore we're restricted. It's getting to the point where it's just pathetic because you see so many Indian people, even the language is gone.

K.A. New W. Jenny Goulson talked with one woman who struggles to live in two very different cultures. She does so because it's important for her to function as an American in order to serve her Native American people. Linda Brown is a social worker, she is also Native American and she says that being a Native American woman in a mainstream America affects her entire life. As a Native American, I'm looking at coexistence with the mainstream society and not integrating into the mainstream of society and part of that is my value system. The values that I live by are not necessarily the values of the society of which I live in. As a social worker, Brown must be able to function and work with all kinds of people, ultimately in her profession that means working with the values of mainstream American society. For example, a value of the culture in which she grew up is not to intervene in other people's lives, but that's what a social worker does.

And Brown says there is a difference between Linda Brown at work and Linda Brown at home. In the morning, it's just like putting on a wet black suit that you see those divers wear. And I put that on and then I'm Linda Brown, the social worker, the person who talks to people right up front, has direct eye contact, is expected to communicate very well with other people and to be very professional in which I try to be. And then I get home and then I take off that wet suit and I am zip it and take it off and it's like I can breathe, I can beam myself on the shy person that when someone knocks at the door, I run and hide and let my children answer the door. The one who's, you know, I don't look directly in the eyes of people when I'm with my own people.

I hold my head to the side and it's just part of the way that I was raised and I simply revert back to that person. She says people ask why she just doesn't integrate the two as many other minority people do. I probably could but then I wouldn't be me, I would take away from what I was and that's the only way that I can live in two worlds. Other people have their own ways of dealing with it but the only way that I could live in two worlds is to put on my wet suit, wear that when I'm in that world and be, relate to people as they're used to people relating to them, as people who are successful in that world and then I come back to my Indian world and then I have to take that off because the two can't mesh with me.

And Brown says it takes a lot of energy for the shy person she is in her Native American world to take charge of her job and function in what is largely a white world but she says it's important to both sides of her to be her two selves and to do what she does in such a way that is true to both selves. As a child I grew up in what they call poverty, I didn't know it at the time, I didn't know I was poor, I felt I was pretty well off and I had a happy childhood but we had involvement with social workers, with helpers from social service agencies and I remember the humiliating situation in the embarrassment of dealing with these people who put you down, who gave a superior attitude and I remember thinking as a child that if I could be a social worker that I would always treat people with respect that I would never act in a way that you would humiliate them or put them down in any way.

Living in two cultures is not easy. Linda Brown does so however to try to help others who sometimes must also do so. She says she values and is valued most in her Native American culture. I have my value in the Native American community. That's what I am, it's who I am and it's where I belong. This other world is a world that I have to live in and that I have to have certain skills and talents to survive in and I'm talking about economic survival but it's like a visit you go there but you come back home. For KMUW, I'm Jenny Goelsen. And this is going to be the last segment of the Women's History Month series to err

on 3.30, 92. This is segment number five, Gordon Basham first part, Jenny Goelsen second part and it appears at 5.50, 6.20, 7.50 and 9.20 am and here we go with this last segment standby. There are many cultures which are driven by religion. Dr. John Gaston, the chairperson of the Minorities Studies Program at the Witch Haas State University, says culture and religion are tightly interwoven. Only know where is that more evidence than within the Islamic culture. Martha Sanchez, an instructor in Minorities Studies, says women who practice strict Muslim customs often are very noticeable. These women are coming into the classroom completely covered where only we can see their eyes and the first thing that comes to my mind is of course they're practicing a very

strong belief that they have but this is the United States of America, why do they not dress like the rest of us so we can see who they really are behind what they have covered here because all I can see is their eyes. That sort of least makes me think that we let those ethnic loyalties get in our way. Exactly and that's exactly what I'm pointing out here is because I want them to put that aside because I want to see who they are. John Gaston agrees, he says Islamic women often are seen as being very mysterious. I think that mystery appears because of our lack of information about the culture obviously we don't understand why people dress the way they dress if they don't dress like us. The idea of women being veiled has always been something mysterious because we like to look at a person from the head to toe and we make judgments about people based on that and so what you see is very little of the person and it also in most cases means that women are not to be out front in terms of their position in the culture and to extend the way

they dress the veil dictates that and of course the religion is the prime factor in determining what those particular roles are going to be. Nick Nareza came to the US from Malaysia a little over two months ago. She says, for women who closely follow Islam, it's not hard to fit into the broader American culture. You are a strong Muslim, okay, it is not that difficult to fit into this American culture because if you are a strong Muslim you know what to do and you know what to avoid in this American culture because the truth is there are a lot of things to be avoided in this American culture. Like what? Dressing for example, there are a lot of, well when I came here I'm very surprised especially on their social aspect of life, it is very materialistic, very, very worldly. Nareza says there are some strong differences between American women and Muslim women. I see that women over here are very ambitious, they don't mind working and well I don't

know what they talk to their husband, if their husband say, I prefer you not to work and I prefer you to take care of the children and all, I don't know how they respond but back in my country they don't follow what their husband say because it's not a waste of time either because doing household is not as simple as you see. Islamic women often are portrayed as being subservients but says Nareza there is more to their role than that. Being a good housewife is one of the reason that gives a strong support for your husband but people just don't realize that and the truth is that women who feel bored I think they shouldn't feel that way because morning husband go to work and then they have got to take care of the children and send their children to school and then do their house routine. And then after that they can spend a lot of time reading and improve themselves as a woman, as a mother, as a lover to their husband.

WSU's John Gaston says though it may be offensive to many, a large number of societies cast women definitely in a secondary role. It's very difficult when you look at it to find societies in which women are not in the subservient position. Look around the world and basically that's the case and then basically that's what the whole women's movement has been about, at least a part of it, of trying to raise the status of women and give women more equity in the system. You look at parts of the world where I look at China in some areas where they're having a birth control and the family's only allowed to have one child and almost always they want a son. And so that gives us this kind of indication of how males are prized that we're around. Other women who have grown up in the Islamic culture, either as participants or observers, have other views. Here's KMUW's Jenny Goulson.

Marty Amar is second generation Lebanese and is a woman whose life has been heavily influenced by Islam, although she and her family are Christian. She not only has lived in a culture heavily impacted by Islam but also holds a degree in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and has continued to study the Arab and Islamic cultures since leaving school. I think ultimately Arabic culture is equivalent to Islamic culture that when you travel throughout the Arab world you find that the Christian communities and the Islamic communities are very much the same and have the same historical influences. For instance, there are Christian communities you can go into in the Arab world villages that have been wearing the veil even that preceded Islam and that was not necessarily an Islamic concept, the veiling of women. So I think that from my observation and from my life and growing up here in Wichita as an Arab American, I see that my culture and the role of women has been very much influenced

by Islamic culture and the prevailing culture of the Arab world. Amar says the role of women in the Arab world has been reflected in her life as a Wichitan. I think there's still an emphasis on boys and having boys that people prefer to children that are boys rather than girls. I think there's an emphasis on the education of boys and not just education in terms of liberal arts and well-rounding and individual, but education in terms of professionalism going out and getting the best job, doing the best kind of work and being as productive as possible. Yet those things have been reflected in the way I've been raised and I see them every day. She says she lives between two cultures and in her daily life draws from each of them. It becomes ambiguous for women and that we have opportunity as modern American women and we have opportunity within our own culture that gives us a lot of strength and power within

the family that American women don't always have. So I think that sometimes it clouds the issue, but I think it's also a rare opportunity to take advantage of the best of both those worlds. Omar says that while people who are non-Arab or non-Islamic perceive women of that culture not to be empowered, there is an empowerment that exists within the intimacy of the family. I believe that the Arab women and probably Islamic women in general, but I can only speak mainly for Arab women myself, have really gotten a bad rap in terms of feminism and the woman's movement throughout the world because of Islam in traditions of failing and things like that, that people have always seen Arab women as subservient. I think that there is a certain true to that that we see in the Arab world today, but I also think that there's a strength of Arab women within the home, the power within the home, the childraiser, the provider, sort of the superwoman that we all sort of dislike

in this country of going to work all day and then coming home and still being working while the husband or the spouse is laying on the couch reading the paper. But the Arab woman has a lot of power within the family because she feels such an enormous void and has so much control in terms of childraising and child rearing and just family matters. Omar says that before affirmative action began to take effect in America, for many years the only female professionals she saw were Arab women, which calls into question in her mind that American stereotype of the subservient islamic woman. For her, her own empowerment is drawn from the parts of the Arab culture and the parts of the American culture that allow her to function with strength. I think they just compliment each other, it's sort of what day it is and what moment and what that immediate issue is, which one I feel the most empowered by, but ultimately my goal is to take both of them and empower myself.

For KMUW, I'm Jenny Goldson.