My Worth and rights are not questions, they are statement

 

Active awareness means active advocacy 

If it’s not seen then it’s not spoken about

 Let our rights be heard

 

 

 

I chose women equality as a topic I feel strongly about, as it is a on going issue. It is an issue I see everyday and also experience myself first hand due to my race and gender.  Worldwide gender equality is being fought for. For my project I chose to do a poster in reference to women’s rights and equality. On my poster in bold letters, it reads “My worth and rights are non- negotiable”. On the bottom of the signs, I chose to paint a closed fist with the women’s feminism symbol. In the poster I decided to highlight the word non- negotiable because I feel as a woman and someone who was raised by women, that our rights should not be debatable. Women are seen as the lesser sex because of gender and are treated differently because of it.  I found chapter 5 Civil Rights to be a very helpful guide into figuring out my idea, view on gender inequality, and creating my poster.  I found that this quote stuck to me while creating my poster “They only had moments to capture the attention of drivers and walkers, so the design needs to be as big, bold, and simple as possible” (page4).  For my poster I took reference from the 1963 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) protest art where members of the group hung a flag on 5^th avenue saying “A man was lynched yesterday”. I wanted to be as direct while incorporating my artistic abilities and still keeping the poster simple yet straight forward and to the point. For the placement of the sign, I wanted my poster to be seen by many so I placed it in an area of my town that many run, jog, and walk through and is a busy street. I placed the sign on a park bench right where the bus stop was because I felt that’s where the sign would be most noticeable. I also  placed it in other places in my town in front of objects that are noticeable.

I also took inspiration for my poster from the 1968 strike, fighting for the right to unionize. African American protesters decide to take the question of “Am I a man?” and turned it into a statement. “They changed the question into a statement, in the form of this striking, simple poster. The message? We are no longer asking you, we are telling you (pg 9, Civil rights).  Like the protesters I wanted my poster to reflect the idea that we as women are no longer asking for equal rights but we are stating that our rights and our worth will no longer be staggered by men and society. Our worth should not be measured by our gender, as we are an equally important and contributing factor in society; We work, raise men and women, run households, and are an equally important and contributing factor in the world. We should not be underestimated, overlooked and ignored. We are worth just as much as the men we raise. We are human and deserve the same rights, respect, pay and acknowledgements as men. All in all i enjoyed actively bringing awareness to women's equality.